Can you be made to pay maternity payments if you are not

if the father is not named on the birth certificate, but the mother makes a claim to CMS child maintenance services for child maintenance, then there would be a presumption that the person being named as the father is the father and the could indeed be made to pay child maintenance.

However, the person being named as the father, can challenge this and insist on a paternity test to establish whether they are indeed the biological father or not. If the mother refuses, then the matter would go to the family court who will order a DNA test to establish paternity.

So all this happened 48 years ago.?

The main issue you would have now is establishing a paternity test. The child is no longer a child and as an adult can simply refuse a test and no court can order the adult to give a test.

You would need to seek their consent to do that.

If they do consent and it is established that they are not your child, then it could be possible to take action against the mother.

There is case law where a person named as the father paid child maintenance for 4 years, then later sought a paternity test when roomers speak that he was not the father, the test proved that to be the case and the court awarded him £25,000 damages.

Correct the starting point would be to have a paternity test