The Department designed the current child maintenance system to emphasise collaboration between parents, with the CMS available as a voluntary safety net for those separated parents to choose to use if they decide to.31 Written evidence from the Domestic Abuse Commissioner referred to the Department’s data suggesting “a strong prevalence of domestic abuse among receiving parents accessing the CMS”.32 Around two in three applicants to the CMS in the quarter ending September 2021 did not have to pay the application fee because they reported that they or their child had experienced domestic abuse.33