How is child maintenance calculated?
This briefing sets out how the Child Maintenance Service calculates the amount of maintenance payable under the 2012 statutory scheme.
Overview
Parents have financial responsibility for their children, even if they are separated. Child maintenance is a financial arrangement between a parent a child does not normally live with (the non-resident parent or paying parent) and the person who lives with the child and who usually provides day-to-day care for them (the receiving person or the person with care). If they live in Scotland, a child aged 12 to 19 and in full-time non-advanced education or training can apply for child maintenance.
It is not compulsory to have a formal child maintenance arrangement. Separated parents can arrange child maintenance themselves under a ‘family-based arrangement’. Where parents cannot agree, maintenance can be arranged through the Child Maintenance Service, under ‘a statutory arrangement’. The publications on this page cover arrangements made through the Child Maintenance Service.
About the Child Maintenance Service
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Child maintenance arrears and enforcement
Information on what action the Child Maintenance Service can take and the powers it has to collect unpaid maintenance
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Child Maintenance Service statistics
Statistics on the Child Maintenance Service, covering the number of users and the frequency collection and enforcement powers are used
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Child maintenance: Support for victims of domestic abuse
This briefing outlines support available for victims and survivors of domestic abuse when applying for child maintenance through the Child Maintenance Service.
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Child maintenance: Overseas cases and income (UK)
This briefing paper sets out how the child maintenance system operates where a Person with Care, Non-Resident Parent or a Qualifying Child, lives overseas.
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Child maintenance: the write-off of arrears on Child Support Agency cases (UK)
This Library briefing describes the UK Government’s policy to write-off arrears arising from the 1993 and 2003 child maintenance schemes. These schemes are now closed to new applicants and ongoing maintenance cases have been transferred to the 2012 scheme.
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New regulations remove the application fee for the Child Maintenance Service
Applicants to the Child Maintenance Service used to have to pay a £20 application fee. What does the service do and why has the fee been removed?
Using the Child Maintenance Service:
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Child maintenance: Challenging the undeclared income of paying parents
How child maintenance is calculated and what to do if a paying parent is suspected of not declaring their true income.
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What fees are charged when arranging child maintenance?
Outlining fees charged when child maintenance is arranged by the Child Maintenance Service and if there any exemptions
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Who is a child under child maintenance?
Information on the age of a child for child maintenance purposes, and when it is payable up to the age of 20.
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Child maintenance: FAQs on the paying parent's income
Information on why the person with care’s income is not included in a child maintenance calculation, using gross income and what happens when income changes
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How does shared care affect a child maintenance calculation?
Information on how a child maintenance calculation can be changed when the child stays overnight with the paying parent.
