consent orders and child maintenance payments

Hi,

My boyfriend has a Consent Order for payments for his son. It is now over 12 months old and be wants to apply to the CMS to pay through them. He phoned them today and they took all his details and then said that they have to phone his ex and check with her if she''s happy to accept going through the CMS instead of the consent order. If he goes through the CMS he''ll be paying approx £50 a month less to her so she''ll never voluntarily agree to go through them. They don''t talk at all and she will do anything to make life difficult for him.

I was hoping to get advice about what happens if she refuses to go through the CMS. Is this normal practice? Can he go through them anyway? I can''t understand how it can only happen if she "agrees" to it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Either parent can apply for assessment. It doesn''t need her agreement.

She can refuse to accept the money if she chooses but that is highly unlikley to happen

Thanks for your reply. When you say refuse to accept the money do you mean send it back to my boyfriend? That''ll never happen! So if she tells CMS she doesn''t want them to assess her case this doesn''t mean they will stop?

Thanks again