Child Maintenance Options helps 84 per cent of parents finalise arrangements

More than 30,700 child maintenance arrangements have been finalised since the launch of Child Maintenance Options (CMO) in February 2019, it has been revealed.

The figures, published by the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP), highlight the effectiveness of CMO, a free service that provides impartial support to help parents make informed choices about child maintenance.

The hub, part of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), is designed for parents who have agreed to independently arrange child maintenance, known as a family-based arrangement, as well as for those who cannot agree and require legal intervention.

The service helps parents decide how child maintenance should be collected and paid, for example, via the CMS or directly between parents.

According to the report, more than 41,200 parents contacted CMO between February and April 2019, with around 84 per cent of those finalising an arrangement by August 2019.

A large majority (64 per cent) of those resulted in Child Maintenance Service intervention, while 20 per cent of parents were able to agree to a family-based arrangement. A further 16 per cent had no arrangement after contacting CMO.

Around eight in 10 (82 per cent) parents with a family-based arrangement, meanwhile, said the service worked “fairly or very well”.

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