Petition · past parliament

A redesign of the Child Maintenance System.

Rejected 15 signatures

What the petition asks

Government needs to redesign how child maintenance is calculated in order to stop the disadvantage to non resident parents fighting to have a relationship with their child(ren). The maintenance structure should only be authorised by family courts when court proceedings are ongoing.
Not all parents play fair.

The current system encourages financial gain & court advantage for the parent who can stop access to the children for the non resident parent.

Those that have found themselves no longer in the family home have to try to get rehoused while at the same time paying horrendous fees for solicitor and court costs. They are placed at a huge disadvantage in trying to provide a new home compatible with shared contact.

This is detrimental to the welfare of children.

Why it was rejected

It was not clear what the petition asked the UK Government or Parliament to do.

Petitions need to call on the Government or Parliament to take a specific action.

We understand that you are concerned about how child maintenance works at present, but we're not sure exactly how you'd like arrangements for child maintenance to be changed.

You could start a new petition explaining clearly what you would like the Government or Parliament to do.

Timeline

8 May 2023 Petition opened for signatures
10 May 2023 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 15
Status Rejected
Rejected 10 May 2023

Follow this petition

Sign in to get an email when the government responds, a debate is scheduled or held, or the petition closes.

Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.