CHILD MAINTENANCE - Everything you need to know -

INTRO: This is a long post, but it covers everything you need to know about child maintenance. It might be worth copying and printing this post for reference.

Child Maintenance Service and Child Maintenance

Calculate your child maintenance – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

(Or use the link to the Child Maintenance Service on SFM website ‘Resources’ page.)

CMS take into account:

how many children you have
the paying parent’s income
how much time children spend with the paying parent
whether the paying parent is paying child maintenance for other children.

UK law says you don’t have to pay CM if you are a full-time student, in prison, or don’t have an income.

You’re normally expected to pay child maintenance until your child is 16, or until they’re 20 if they’re in school or college full-time studying for A levels, Highers or equivalent.

Child maintenance might stop earlier – for example, if one parent dies or the child no longer qualifies for child benefit.

Expenses covered by Child Maintenance

Child maintenance payments are designed to cover everyday living expenses for a child, ie. food, housing, clothing, childcare costs and educational needs. There is currently no law in place that states the primary carer must provide evidence of spending child maintenance solely on everyday living expenses for the child. (This is because in practice it may be used to cover a mortgage, rent or other essentials.)

In theory, you can include whatever you want the CM to cover, as long as you both agree. However, it is common for significant expenses, such as school uniform and school excursions or residential trips to fall outside the scope of CM as they are not ‘everyday living expenses’.

CM Income Calculation

Basic rate child maintenance is calculated using the total, gross income from employment or self-employment, before tax and National Insurance, but after pension contributions. Earned income includes all earned compensation, including overtime, bonus or any reward that is technically taxed as a capital gain, – often assessed using a recent P60 or tax return. This can be weekly, monthly or yearly.

On the basic rate, if you’re paying for:

one child, you’ll pay 12% of your gross weekly income
two children, you’ll pay 16% of your gross weekly income
three or more children, you’ll pay 19% of your gross weekly income.

If your gross weekly income is more than £3,000/week, you can apply to the court to make a child maintenance ‘top-up’ order.

Where a payor’s gross income exceeds £156,000 per annum, the court has jurisdiction to determine child maintenance. But before the court will deal with your application, they’ll need to see a Child Maintenance Service calculation showing this.

Child maintenance amounts based on weekly pay

Gross weekly income	Rate	Weekly amount
Unknown	Default	£38 for one child, £51 for two children, £61 for three or more children
Below £7	Nil	You don’t pay any child maintenance
Between £7 and £100 or if you’re on benefits	Flat	£7 a week
Between £100.01 and £199.99	Reduced	Use the child maintenance calculator
Between £200 and £3,000	Basic	Use the child maintenance calculator

Taking overnight stays into account

If over the year your child is with the paying parent between:

52 and 103 nights: child maintenance is reduced by 1/7th for each child
104 and 155 nights: child maintenance is reduced by 2/7th for each child
156 and 174 nights: child maintenance is reduced by 3/7th for each child
175 nights or more nights: child maintenance is reduced by 50%, plus an extra £7 a week reduction for each child.

Paying CM for children from another relationship

If the paying parent’s gross weekly income is between £200 and £3,000, and they pay child maintenance for other children, this is taken into account when working out how much they should pay. The CMS simply reduces the amount of weekly income that it takes into account. For example, if the paying parent is paying for:

one other child, their weekly income will be reduced by 11%
two other children, their weekly income will be reduced by 14%
three or more other children, their weekly income will be reduced by 16%.

CMS Collection fees

If CMS have to enforce payment, there is an additional fee of 20% (added to the payment) for paying parents; plus 4% (taken off the payment) for receiving parents.

Contact the CMS on 0800 171 2345 or an online account

Agreeing CM without the CMS

You can make child maintenance arrangements for your children if both parents agree. This might cover their living costs and care. For example, you could both agree that one parent: