Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission (CMEC)

CMEC offers information and support, in addition to an effective enforcement service for child maintenance.
Among other things, CMEC is responsible for taking charge of maintenance payments.

CMEC is a non-departmental public body whose prime objective is to ensure that maintenance arrangements are in place. Thousands of children suffer when absent parents neglect their duties.

CMEC provides financial support to children who live with a lone parent or legal guardian.
CMEC creates policy and provides information for the child maintenance system.
Financial arrangements for child maintenance can be provided through a statutory scheme or can be arranged privately between the child's parents.
CMEC performs a number of functions: * It promotes that parents have a responsibility to provide for their children financially and ensures that non-resident parents acknowledge the importance of their child maintenance contributions.

Hence, CMEC aims to ensure that parents living apart understand their responsibilities and take appropriate action to provide financial help to their children. * It provides information and support on the different options that are available to parents. Support is offered online, on the telephone, or in-person.
Issues including housing, legal, and financial concerns can be discussed in confidence, and CMEC provides additional understanding of how things work * It provides an efficient statutory maintenance service, with improved assessment, collection, and child support enforcement processes.

In addition to informing non-resident parents of amounts due and the dates when payments are expected, both the court and Child Support Agency can force employers of non-resident parents to deduct maintenance payments directly from earnings. * The Child Support Agency, or CSA, enforces regulated financial payment and provides vital resources for many lone parent families.
The payment is paid by the non-resident parent to the resident parent, or parent with care, after the CSA has examined income information provided by the non-resident parent's employers.

CSA reform will trace the non-resident parent and issue payment instructions in the event that a parent evades payment of support for a child.
The Child Support Agency provides a maintenance service, by which parents with care can register an application for assistance.
For enforcement of child maintenance orders, steps like the freezing of accounts, early sale of property, or even imprisonment can be taken if there is a violation or refusal to pay child maintenance.

If you need information and support on how to arrange maintenance, or on selecting among private or statutory maintenance options, you can always relay on the Child Support Agency.