Our thanks to Dougie for this. For many years the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) routinely made bogus claims of arrears, always from fathers rather than mothers, in order to generate revenue. Many suicides of men have been attributed to the scam, often after being asked for sums which were quite impossible for them to pay in the time required.

Many years ago I had the same experience with the now-defunct Child Support Agency (CSA), the precursor to the CMS. I was called out of the blue by a woman working for them, who claimed I owed a large sum (from memory, £15,000 – £20,000) in respect to arrears for child maintenance owed to my ex-wife for my two daughters, many years earlier. She explained that if I failed to pay speedily, I could be forced to sell my house to raise the sum, and the next day I had a letter from the CSA to that effect.

I told her there were no arrears, I’d paid every penny I was required to (and more), and asked what evidence she had of arrears. She admitted she had no evidence, but the computer record stated that the arrears existed, and that was that.

I told her she should contact my ex-wife to confirm there had been no arrears. The CSA woman said they had no contact details for her, so I gave her my ex-wife’s phone number. The next day she called to tell me my ex-wife had confirmed I owed nothing but I recall thinking at the time, what if the CSA woman had told my ex-wife that computer records shows a sum in arrears of £x, and my relationship with my ex-wife had been a poor one at that time? I could imagine many women saying, in order to get the money, “Oh yes, the arrears. About time he paid up!”, or words to that effect.

Bastards.

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