Petition · past parliament · Department for Work and Pensions
Consider child maintenance payments as earnings for calculating benefits
Closed
30 signatures
What the petition asks
We believe child maintenance payments should be considered in calculating benefit entitlement, in the same way wages are, and should be considered as earnings. The receiving parent currently receives the amount the government states they need to live on & some of the earnings of the paying parent.
The paying parent of child(ren) will often be working full time, meaning the receiving parent will receive the amount set by CMS (usually a high amount). If the receiving parent isn’t working we believe every penny they receive isn’t earned and should be considered in the same way it would be considered in benefit calculation as if it was a wage. We believe the current system is completely unfair towards the paying parent, whilst the other parent receives hundreds on top of benefits.
Timeline
| 22 Mar 2024 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 29 May 2024 | Closed to new signatures |
Key facts
Signatures
30
Status
Closed
Department
Department for Work and Pensions
Opened
22 Mar 2024
Closed
29 May 2024
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.