Child maintenance

Why is child maintenance important?

Child maintenance can make a real difference to children as it can help pay for things like clothing, food and other essentials. It can also help to keep both parents involved with their lives. It doesn’t always have to be about exchanging money, providing support by paying for things like clothes and trips out can make just as much of a difference.

Whatever type of arrangement you put in place, it can help to give a child the best start in life. It’s also important to remember that paying maintenance for your child is a legal responsibility. Over half a million families choose to make an arrangement between themselves, by agreeing with the other parent about the amount and type of child maintenance that one will pay to the other. This is known as a family-based or family arrangement.

Arranging child maintenance with your child’s other parent

There are three different options you can use to arrange child maintenance. You can either do this privately with each other with an agreed amount. You can use a maintenance calculator and have this collected through the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). The third option would be made through a court order. It is important to note that if there has been domestic abuse, you can ask for the CMS to arrange maintenance for you and you will not have to pay a fee.

If you choose to do a private arrangement, this may be the most helpful option. Obviously, this depends on your relationship with the other parent and whether you can work this out amicably and fairly.  

If you are going through the courts to finalise a divorce or separation you may be able to make arrangements for child maintenance to be a part of this process. This would be called a consent order. There is more information about making a consent order on GOV.UK.

You may choose to use the Child Maintenance Service if you do not feel able to work out a private arrangement. This may be because you cannot agree on a private arrangement, not sure where to locate the them or you do not want to have direct contact with the other parent. If the other parent is a full-time student or are in prison, then you will not be able to use this service to get child maintenance. If they are released from prison or have finished their studies, then you can ask the CMS to relook at your case.

You might have to go to court to arrange child maintenance if the other parent lives outside of the UK or earns more than £3,000 a week and you would like them to top up the maintenance received through the CMS. You might also have to go to court to ask for more maintenance if you have to pay for extra costs from your child’s disability or possibly education.

If there is a disagreement regarding the parentage, you may find it helpful to read this information from GOV.UK.

Using the Child Maintenance Service

The Child Maintenance Service can help by:

• Working out an amount to pay
• Arrange payments and take action if the other parent refuses to pay
• Sort out disagreements about parentage
• Try to locate the other parent if you are unsure about their location

You can use the Child Maintenance Service to arrange child maintenance if you do not want your child’s other parent to know your personal information, location, etc. The CMS offers two kinds of arrangement:

Direct Pay, where the Child Maintenance Service works out the amount of child maintenance a paying parent must pay. Both parents agree between themselves how and when the paying parent will pay the receiving parent direct. If the paying parent doesn’t pay in full and on time the Child Maintenance Service may move the case to Collect & Pay and may take immediate enforcement action.

Collect & Pay, where the Child Maintenance Service works out the amount of child maintenance to be paid, collects payments from the paying parent and passes them on to the receiving parent. If the paying parent doesn’t pay in full and on time the Child Maintenance Service may take immediate enforcement action. 

Fees and charges

If you decide to use the Collect and Pay service, you’ll also have to pay fees for collecting and paying out child maintenance. They want to encourage more parents to work together to arrange child maintenance instead of using the Child Maintenance Service or the courts.

The fees are: 

• A 20% collection fee for paying parents using the Collect and Pay service, on top of their usual amount
• A 4% collection fee for receiving parents using the Collect and Pay service, deducted from their usual amount
• A range of enforcement charges for paying parents who fail to pay their child maintenance in full and on time.

There will be no collection fees for parents who work together to agree their own family based arrangement, or use Direct Pay.

How much child maintenance will I pay or receive?

With a family arrangement, you and the other parent can agree between yourselves how much child maintenance should be paid, and how often. A family arrangement also allows for times where you would rather pay for or receive specific things for your child, for example new clothes or a school trip, instead of money for child maintenance.

You can get an idea of what your payments might be by using this calculator. You could use this figure as a starting point for a family arrangement. 

When child maintenance stops

Child maintenance usually ends when your child turns 16, unless they continue with approved education or training. In these cases, it can last until they reach 20. However, maintenance stops if they start an advanced course like a university degree or if their employer pays for their education. Parents will be offered help and support throughout this change or can get advice from the GOV.UK website.

Making a complaint or disagreeing with a decision

If you are not happy with the amount the CMS are saying you will receive, you can challenge a decision about this. This is called asking for ‘mandatory reconsideration’. You must ask for this within 30 days of the date on your decision letter. If this decision is still unresolved after the mandatory reconsideration, you can appeal to the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal. This needs to be done within one month of the mandatory reconsideration letter. You can download and use the Form SSCS2 and please send it to the address on this form. You can also make a complaint about the CMS by following the DWP complaints procedure.

Other organisations that can help

Get Help Arranging Child Maintenance (GHACM) is a helpful tool from GOV.UK

Citizens Advice Bureau have some helpful advice on child maintenance

Resolution have some useful information for frequently asked questions around child maintenance