On 4 September 2026 the DWP confirmed in the Commons what has been building all year: it intends to remove Direct Pay and move child maintenance to a single, enhanced Collect and Pay service, to replace court-based liability orders with administrative ones, and to tighten the income tolerance from 25 per cent to 15 per cent. The stated aim is that the Child Maintenance Service can see every payment, spot non-compliance faster and act on it sooner.
Two things are true at once. This is the biggest change to how child maintenance moves between parents since the CMS replaced the Child Support Agency in 2012. And none of it is law yet — all of it needs legislation, and the Government has said it will bring that forward when Parliamentary time allows.
This page sets out what has actually been confirmed, what it does not touch, and what is worth doing now rather than waiting for a commencement date that has not been announced. Everything here is checked against the DWP's own written answers, the published CMS statistics to March 2026 and the House of Lords debate of 8 June 2026.
The four changes, and what each one does
| Change | What it actually means | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Direct Pay removed | Payments stop moving parent to parent and run through the CMS, which would then be able to monitor every payment on every case. | Announced, needs legislation |
| Administrative liability orders | The CMS issues enforcement orders itself instead of asking a court, cutting the delay between a missed payment and enforcement. | Regulations in preparation |
| Income tolerance 25% → 15% | A smaller change in income is enough to trigger a recalculation, so the figure on the case is refreshed sooner. | Planned, needs legislation |
| Unearned income in the calculation | Rent, dividends and similar income would count towards the maintenance calculation, not just wages. | Calculation review completed, options being explored |
Why Direct Pay is the one being removed
Direct Pay is the older and simpler of the two services: the CMS works out the amount, then the paying parent sends the money straight to the receiving parent. In the quarter ending March 2026, £292.3 million of maintenance was arranged that way — the large majority of everything the Service handles — and the DWP does not measure whether any of it actually arrived.
That blindness is the Government's argument for change. Where one parent controls the money, Direct Pay keeps the two of them in contact and keeps the other parent dependent on the first one's timing. The DWP's position is that a single Collect and Pay service removes the need for that contact and closes off a route for economic control. It estimates the change could lift around 20,000 children out of poverty on the relative low-income after housing costs measure.
The honest caveat
The House of Lords Public Services Committee looked at exactly this and was not persuaded. Its report, debated in the Lords on 8 June 2026, said it was concerned that transferring every case to Collect and Pay would produce poorer results, and it recommended the Government publish clear evidence that removing Direct Pay leads to greater compliance and more money reaching children. That evidence has not been published. It is the strongest argument against the reform, and it is worth knowing before you plan around it.
What the numbers say about the current system
From the CMS statistics for the quarter ending March 2026, and the Lords Library briefing on the Committee report:
- £405.1 million of child maintenance was due in the quarter — £292.3 million arranged through Direct Pay, £112.8 million through Collect and Pay.
- Of the Collect and Pay total, £86.5 million was paid and £26.3 million was not. That £26.3 million is the part the Service can see and chase. It cannot see the equivalent figure for Direct Pay at all.
- 240,000 paying parents were due to pay through Collect and Pay, and compliance — paying parents who paid something — sat at roughly three-quarters, the figure the DWP has been pushing upwards for a decade.
- Around £2.9 billion a year is transferred to children in separated families, keeping around 120,000 children out of relative low income.
- There are 2.4 million separated families in Great Britain covering 3.9 million children. About 35 per cent have no financial maintenance arrangement at all, and the CMS is the sole organiser for only about 18 per cent.
What the reform does not change
Worth being precise, because most of the coverage has blurred these:
- The formula itself. The Government is not changing how the calculation works. It is still based on the paying parent's gross weekly income and the number of children, with shared care still reducing the amount.
- Shared care rules. The night thresholds that decide how much shared care reduces a payment are not part of this package.
- Private, family-based arrangements. If you agree maintenance between yourselves and no case is open with the CMS, none of this applies to you.
- Spousal maintenance. Child maintenance and spousal maintenance are separate. Unearned income and assets matter in divorce settlements already; this change is about the child maintenance calculation.
- Your case right now. Nothing changes this month. No commencement date has been announced.
It is also worth separating two things the headlines have merged: the 25% to 15% income tolerance is about when an existing calculation gets recalculated after an income change, and unearned income is about what counts as income in the first place. They are different changes with different effects on your case.
What to do now, whichever side of it you are on
If you pay through Direct Pay
Start keeping your own record of what you have paid, when, and against which week. Not because anyone is accusing you of anything, but because if payments do move inside the CMS, your history is what a future calculation and any arrears query will be built from. Bank references written as "child maintenance" or "CS" make that reconstruction easy; a stream of unlabelled transfers does not.
If you receive through Direct Pay
The same record matters more to you, because missed and late payments are exactly what the CMS cannot currently see. Log what was due and what arrived, with dates. If enforcement ever becomes relevant, a dated record of the pattern is the thing you will be asked for — not a memory of it.
If you are self-employed, or your income is rent or dividends
This is the change with the most direct effect on your likely figure. The calculation review has been completed and the DWP has said it plans to include unearned income in the standard calculation. If a large part of your income sits outside PAYE, this matters more to you than the Direct Pay change does. Nothing is confirmed on the mechanics yet.
If you are owed arrears
Administrative liability orders are aimed squarely at the delay between a missed payment and enforcement. The DWP's claim is that the new process should reduce the time taken to secure an order in most cases. If you are carrying arrears now, the thing you control is the quality of your paperwork: what was due, what was paid, and when.
What to watch for next
- A bill. The reforms hinge on legislation. When a bill is introduced, the detail that matters is whether Direct Pay is removed outright or phased, and what transition period is given.
- Commencement regulations. Administrative liability orders need regulations, and the DWP has said work with HM Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Government is ongoing. This is the earliest of the changes likely to bite.
- The method for unearned income. "Include unearned income" covers a lot of ground, from straightforward property income to dividends and overseas income. The detail decides who is affected.
- Collection fees. Collect and Pay carries fees that Direct Pay does not. If your case moves, check the current CMS fee figures on GOV.UK before the change lands rather than after.
Where this leaves the day-to-day
None of this changes what a calm week of co-parenting looks like: the schedule agreed and visible, costs split without an argument, and a record of both that is not a phone full of messages. If money is the part you are trying to sort out, the free UK child maintenance calculator works out an estimate on the current CMS bands, and the co-parenting expense calculator is for everything the CMS does not cover — school shoes, clubs, the dentist.
And if the reform leads to a conversation you would rather not have, the same habit that helps with arrears helps here: agree it in writing, keep it dated, and keep it out of your camera roll. Our guide to documenting co-parenting for court is about exactly that, and the MIAM and mediation guide covers what to do when a disagreement about money turns into a wider one.
This page is general information about the child maintenance system in England, Wales and Scotland as it stood in 29 September 2026, not legal advice and not financial advice, and not a statement of what the law will be if and when these reforms are enacted. Child maintenance rules differ in Northern Ireland. For advice about your own case, speak to a family solicitor or contact the Child Maintenance Service directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Built for every family
🐦 LARKLING keeps the schedule, the messages about money and the record of what was agreed in one place — and works whether or not your co-parent logs in. The core features are free; Premium is £6.99 a month per family.
🐦 Try Larkling Free →