Key Facts - Did You Agree?

Up to 40% of pregnancies in Western countries are unintended
(Smith et al., 2022)

Research shows that people who have experienced sexual coercion are significantly more likely to face unintended pregnancy
(Rowe, et al., 2016)

Around 3 million single-parent families live in the UK
(UK Parliament, 2023)

61% of Child Maintenance Service users are dissatisfied with the service
(Gov.UK, 2024)

Only 49% of paying parents using the Collect and Pay service paid more than 90% of the maintenance due in September 2021 — highlighting widespread issues
(One Parent Families Scotland, 2024)

The Child Maintenance Service cost taxpayers £322 million in 2020–21 and still failed to collect £60 million in unpaid maintenance
(National Audit Office, 2022)

Since 2012, £614.3 million in child maintenance has gone unpaid
(Gov.UK, 2024)

40% of children in lone-parent households live in poverty
(UK Parliament, 2023)

1 in 5 UK households with children are in serious financial difficulty
(Action for Children, 2023)

While precise figures are not published, policy and user testimony confirm that many non-resident parents are required to pay support even when they have no contact with their child and both non-resident and resident parents report that the system is weaponised against them — raising legitimate concerns about fairness, accountability, and the separation of rights from responsibilities
(Gov.UK, 2015; Callan, 2023)

Legal parenthood is currently assigned based on biology or registration, not consent
(Gov.UK, 2015)

The DWP Child Maintenance Service now spends 36p for every £1 it collects — up from 35p a decade ago
(National Audit Office, 2022)

References

Action for Children, 2023. Charity warns cost-of-children crisis leaves families in serious financial difficulty. [Online]
Available at: https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/media-centre/charity-warns-cost-of-children-crisis/
[Accessed 13 April 2025].

Callan, S., 2023. Independent Review of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) response to Domestic Abuse. [Online]
Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63c5742d8fa8f572a2abf028/independent-review-of-the-child-maintenance-service-response-to-domestic-abuse.pdf
[Accessed 2025].

Department for Work & Pensions, 2022. Survey of Separated Parents. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/survey-of-separated-parents/survey-of-separated-parents
[Accessed 13 April 2025].

Gov.UK, 2015. Parental rights and responsibilities. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/parental-rights-responsibilities
[Accessed 2025].

Gov.UK, 2024. Child Maintenance Service statistics: data to December 2023. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-maintenance-service-statistics-data-to-december-2023/child-maintenance-service-statistics-data-to-december-2023
[Accessed 2025].

Gov.UK, 2024. DWP Customer Experience Survey: Child Maintenance Service 2023 to 2024. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-customer-experience-survey-child-maintenance-service-2023-to-2024/dwp-customer-experience-survey-child-maintenance-service-2023-to-2024
[Accessed 2025].

National Audit Office, 2022. Child Maintenance. [Online]
Available at: https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Child-Maintenance-Summary.pdf
[Accessed 2025].

One Parent Families Scotland, 2024. Child maintenance: broken promises and system failure. [Online]
Available at: https://opfs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/OPFS_Child_Maintenance_Report_1.pdf
[Accessed 13 April 2025].

Rowe, H. et al., 2016. Prevalence and distribution of unintended pregnancy: the Understanding Fertility Management in Australia National Survey. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 40(2), pp. 104-109.

Smith, I. et al., 2022. “You are not alone”: A big data and qualitative analysis of men’s unintended fatherhood. SSM – Qualitative Research in Health, 2(1), p. 100085.

UK Parliament, 2023. Single-Parent Families Vol. 729. [Online]
Available at: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-03-14/debates/2A21A4E5-5CE0-44C3-A40A-E173E2766881/Single-ParentFamilies
[Accessed 13 April 2025].

Viscount Younger of Leckie, 2023. Child Support (Enforcement) Bill. [Online]
Available at: https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/mp/viscount-younger-of-leckie/bill/2022-23/childsupportenforcement
[Accessed 2025].