Maintenance arrears: keeping payment evidence

An arrears dispute is often a reconciliation problem: one record shows what was due, another shows what was transferred, and neither explains how payments were allocated. Start by matching periods, not by comparing two headline balances.

Build a due-and-paid ledger

For each payment period record the amount required, due date, amount received, transaction date and reference. Keep bank evidence alongside the ledger. Distinguish maintenance from birthday gifts, school purchases and payments towards a former joint debt.

If cash was used, preserve receipts or messages acknowledging receipt. State any uncertainty rather than treating an unsupported recollection as a verified payment. Where collection arrangements changed, identify the handover date so direct transfers are not counted twice or omitted.

Query the allocation, then the balance

Ask CMS which periods make up the alleged arrears and whether a payment is unallocated. Its collection arrangements govern how payment issues are handled. ^[1] Send the transaction evidence with the case reference and request confirmation of any correction.

If the underlying amount is disputed, use the calculation challenge process separately. Keep paying through the instructed channel unless a change is confirmed. For an informal arrangement, recording private maintenance terms helps establish what the parents actually agreed before calculating a shortfall.

Establish the opening balance before adding transactions Choose a starting date and identify the confirmed balance at that point, or state that the opening balance is disputed. Obtain the relevant assessment or agreed payment schedule for each period. If the amount changed during the year, use the effective date shown in the decision rather than applying the latest amount retrospectively to every month. A ledger can only produce a meaningful total when the obligation as well as the transfers has been recorded correctly.

Separate ongoing maintenance, arrears instalments and any collection charges shown by the service. These may explain why a paying parent's outgoings do not match the amount received by the other parent. Ask for clarification of an unfamiliar charge or adjustment instead of placing it into the maintenance column without explanation. The official account service allows users to view a payment plan and report relevant payment issues, so compare your working record with the actual case information. ^[1]

Match a bank transaction to the intended payment period For a transfer, retain evidence of the amount, date, recipient and reference. Where a single payment covers several periods, explain the intended allocation and provide any agreement or service instruction supporting it. Do not assume that a bank description written by the sender establishes how CMS has credited the money. Ask the service to confirm the treatment of a transaction that appears missing or allocated to a different period from the one expected.

A delayed or returned transfer needs its own entry. Record both the original attempt and any refund or replacement, so the ledger does not count a payment that never reached the recipient. If bank processing dates differ, preserve the available evidence rather than changing a date to force the accounts to match. For cash, identify the receipt or acknowledgement and any limitation in the evidence. Recollection can be recorded, but it should not be presented as a verified banking transaction.

Explain payments made outside the ordinary route An extra transfer, a payment to a school or the purchase of clothing may have a different purpose from the regular maintenance obligation. Record it separately and ask how it is treated under the applicable arrangement. A parent's belief that the purchase was helpful does not establish that it reduces arrears. Likewise, an adult debt repayment should not disappear into the maintenance history merely because the same two people were involved in both transactions.

When the collection method changes, note the service's instructions and the date they take effect. Identify transfers made during the transition so they can be checked for omissions or double counting. Do not send parallel payments through two routes simply because an account display has not yet updated. Ask CMS what to do if an instructed payment appears outstanding after evidence of a direct transfer has been supplied, and keep a record of the response and any resulting adjustment.

Request a correction that can be followed through A reconciliation request should identify the disputed balance, the particular periods and the transactions you say are missing or incorrectly treated. Provide a short calculation showing the effect of the proposed correction. This is more useful than sending an entire bank history with no explanation of which entries matter. Use a secure method for financial evidence and avoid disclosing unrelated account information more widely than necessary. Keep the material and submission confirmation together.

When a response arrives, check both the balance and the allocation. A headline reduction may still leave a particular period wrongly marked as unpaid, while a reassessment may affect several entries. Preserve the previous ledger and record the correction rather than erasing the history. If arrears remain, distinguish any proposed repayment arrangement from the current maintenance schedule and obtain confirmation of what applies. A disagreement with the assessed amount itself needs its own decision challenge; accurate payment evidence does not automatically resolve that separate issue.