Good morning
my partner received a weird letter in October setting out his payment schedule with no figures on it. He spoke to his ex who said she had moved house and this had stopped child benefit and she would sort it. He has kept paying for his 17 year old daughter. However, we decided to login to his account - it says the case is closed. In letters from cms it says that his daughter is no longer eligible for cms. However the date on the system is October but date on actual letter is may this year. Yet his says he can stop paying from September 2022? Anyone experienced this? Technically he has overpayed by a lot of this is the case. Thanks for any help
Hi,
CMS is pegged to child benefit. So payments stop when child benefits stop. The discrepancy in the dates is likely due to termination dates for child benefit. Please see:
I think it will be very difficult trying to reclaim overpayments. Can try ask CMS. They may suggest you use small claims court. Or you can try cms complaints route
I would definitely raise a complaint - if they say you weren't liable from October, but have taken 6 months to tell you that, then I would say that's bordering on negligence on their part, so I'd consider a small claims against CMS rather than your ex, and let them recover the money from her.