Service operator
Parental Contribution Service (PCS) is operated by Right First Time UK Ltd, Company No. 17493370.
PCS is a service of Right First Time UK Ltd. It is not a separate company, CMS, DWP, a court or a government body.
PCS Policies & Service Information
The important rules, privacy information, voluntary agreement, safety information and service notices for using PCS are kept together here.
Terms of Use
Read the terms that apply when creating and using a PCS account.
Read Terms of UsePrivacy
Read what PCS collects, why it is used, who can access it and how long different records may be kept, including messaging safety pauses and case reporting.
Read Privacy InformationFees & access
PCS costs £10 per parent, per year. This is a service-access cost and is separate from child contributions between parents.
Read Fees & AccessDomestic abuse & communication safety
Direct PCS messages can be paused for a family case where a parent has a safety concern. PCS does not investigate domestic abuse; specialist and official support should be used.
Safety & supportPCS Parent Charter
As a PCS service commitment, parents can expect fair and respectful treatment, plain-language information, clear records, appropriate privacy controls, access to the PCS records available to their account and a clear explanation of what PCS can and cannot do. This is a service standard, not a new statutory right.
Parent responsibilities
Parents should provide information honestly, keep important circumstances reasonably up to date, protect their login details, use child-focused communication and avoid knowingly submitting false or irrelevant material.
Accessibility & support
If you need larger text, simpler wording, help understanding a page or another reasonable accessibility adjustment, contact Right First Time UK. You may ask a trusted support person or professional to help you understand documents, but they should not use your login as if they were you.
PCS service notice
PCS is a voluntary Right First Time UK service. It is not the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), or a court. PCS records and calculations are not themselves statutory CMS calculations or court orders.
Records & agreements
PCS can help parents keep records of voluntary arrangements, agreement versions and recorded payments. The legal effect of any document depends on its contents and the circumstances in which it is used.
Private / Voluntary Agreement
Read the basis on which two parents choose to use PCS and how a proposal becomes part of the recorded PCS arrangement.
Read Voluntary AgreementCookies & your choices
Read which cookies PCS uses and choose whether optional usage analytics are enabled.
Cookie PolicyAnalytics & service usage
PCS records visitor figures, successful logins and page/tool use. Authorised service reporting may also count cases, agreement stages, care arrangements, contribution bands, messaging pauses and case outcomes. Private message text, evidence and bank/card details are not included in these statistics.
Read Privacy InformationCase activity & Directors reporting
PCS may use restricted, aggregated reports to understand how many cases are negotiating, agreed, paused, renewed or closed; how long messaging remains paused; and whether a case has reached the end of an agreed period. These reports are operational statistics, not public lists of families. A count is only displayed when the underlying record supports it.
How PCS uses case dataRetention, closure & information requests
Analytics retention and case-record retention are different. Closing a case or removing it from a personal list does not automatically erase shared agreements, payments or messages. Parents can ask for access, correction or erasure, subject to applicable legal requirements and any necessary retention.
Privacy & data rights