MPs have demanded urgent action over 'systemic' failings with the Child Maintenance Service after a damning Mail exposé.
Campaigners called for a 'complete overhaul' of the government agency after we revealed how parents are being financially crippled, losing homes and even driven to suicide after being hit with massively inflated charges.
Computer glitches and staffing issues are suspected of causing the long-running problems with the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), which has led to tens of thousands of parents being overcharged – forcing some to rely on food banks or move away from their children.
Over 800,000 UK parents have payments to a former partner managed by the CMS, which is meant to ensure children are provided for when relationships end and they spend more than half the time living with one parent.
One of the shocking cases highlighted was that of Jonathan O'Neill, 41, of Huddersfield, who tragically killed himself after a demand for an extra £4,200 – and whose family continued to receive new payment demands for months after his death, according to his sister Joanna Smith.
