Child maintenance: inclusion of earnings from “special occupations” in the 2012 CMS scheme

Please note this briefing was last updated in March 2017. Up-to-date information can now been found in the Library Briefing Child maintenance: Calculations, variations and income (UK)

Under the 2012 scheme, administered by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), earnings from such occupations are taken into account having been disregarded under the 2003 child maintenance scheme run by the Child Support Agency (CSA).

This means that those in such “special occupations”, which also includes auxillary coastguards and part-time fire fighters and lifeboat crew members, will see any earnings from such roles being included in the calculation of their gross weekly income which is used to derive how much their child maintenance liability.

This briefing paper sets out the current approach, why the policy was changed, and notes that by including earnings from the “special occupations” the 2012 scheme is broadly similar to the original 1993 statutory child maintenance scheme.

This note applies to Great Britain.