The Double Cost of CMS: £117 Million in Deaths — and the Hidden Cost to the Taxpayer

 

Parliament has previously estimated the economic cost of suicide at approximately £1.67 million per death. This figure, cited in a 2016 Health Committee report, is based on earlier data and has not been updated for inflation.

More recent studies use different methodologies and often describe their estimates as “conservative,” meaning they are not directly comparable. What is clear, however, is that the £1.67 million figure represents a baseline rather than a maximum, and the true cost today is likely to be significant.

That cost is not abstract. It includes:

  • Lost employment and tax revenue
  • NHS and emergency service costs
  • Coroner and legal processes
  • The long-term impact on families and society

One suicide costs the taxpayer £1.6 million

Screenshot from Parliamentary Health Committee report (2016) referencing the estimated economic cost of suicide.See paragraph 16

The FOI Evidence

A Freedom of Information response has confirmed:

  • 35 suicides among CMS paying parents in approximately six months

Using the Government’s own figure:

  • £58.45 million in just six months

If that rate continued across a full year:

  • £117 million per year

The Cost of Running the System

The annual net cost of running the Child Maintenance Service is estimated to be:

  • ~£116 million per year

Which leads to an unavoidable conclusion:

The economic cost of suicides identified in FOI data alone could match the entire cost of running the CMS.

The Hidden Cost: Children Left Without Support

The impact goes far beyond the numbers.

When a paying parent dies:

  • A child loses a parent
  • A family suffers long-term trauma
  • And critically, financial support is lost completely

When a paying parent is forced out of work:

  • Income is reduced or disappears
  • Payments become unaffordable
  • And again, children lose financial support

This creates a fundamental contradiction:

A system designed to support children can result in them losing both a parent and the financial support the system was meant to provide.

___________________________________________________________________________________

A Real Case: When the System Breaks People

The statistics are not abstract.

They represent real people.

James Anderson, now 78, attempted to take his own life after what has been described as years of distress linked to his dealings with the Child Maintenance Service and its predecessor. Watch James's interview with STOPS  Cases like this are not isolated—they illustrate the real-world impact behind the figures.

He survived—but only after spending months in hospital.

Many do not.

Cases like this highlight an important point:

This is not simply about financial calculations or administrative processes.

It is about the real-world impact of prolonged stress, unresolved disputes, and enforcement action on individuals and families.

Campaign groups have raised repeated concerns that the system can, in some cases, contribute to serious mental health deterioration.

While each case must be considered on its own facts, the existence of cases like this reinforces the need for proper scrutiny, transparency, and investigation.

Where systems are repeatedly associated with distress of this scale, the issue is no longer whether individual cases exist—it is whether they are being properly examined.

___________________________________________________________________________________

The Hidden Cost: People Forced Out of Work

There is also a wider economic cost that is rarely acknowledged.

Where maintenance is:

  • Incorrect
  • Disputed
  • Or unaffordable

—but enforcement continues regardless—the pressure can become overwhelming.

In my own case:

  • I was paying voluntary and had been paying more than demamnded
  • The arrears were disputed
  • Enforcement continued regardless
  • The stress led to a breakdown
  • I was sent home from work

The result:

  • Loss of tax revenue to the Government
  • Increased reliance on benefits
  • Long-term economic impact

This creates a double cost to the taxpayer:

  1. Lost tax income
  2. Increased welfare expenditure

A Pattern That Cannot Be Ignored

Independent analysis has already shown:

  • Death rates among CMS paying parents are up to three times higher than the general population

Further FOI disclosures show:

While not all of these deaths are suicides, the scale of the disparity raises serious concerns about excess mortality.

A Failure of Basic Logic

At its core, this is a question of common sense:

  • A system designed to collect money
  • Removes people from employment
  • Reduces tax income
  • Increases welfare dependency
  • And is associated with significant human and economic cost

This is not efficiency.

It is the opposite.

Conclusion

Using the Government’s own figures:

  • ~£117 million per year — projected cost of suicides identified through FOI data
  • ~£116 million per year — cost of running the CMS

And that does not include:

  • The cost of people forced out of work
  • The loss of financial support to children
  • The long-term burden on the benefits system
  • The wider societal impact

These are not just statistics.

They are parents.
They are children.
They are families left behind.

The cost has already been calculated.

The question is no longer whether there is a problem.

The question is:

Why is no one investigating it?


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