An overview of child maintenance payments

What is child maintenance?

When a couple split up, both retain the responsibility for the cost of bringing up any children from the relationship. Usually, the non-residential parent will make payments to the resident parent to help cover the costs of homing and providing for the children and these payments are known as child maintenance payments.

There are various ways in which these payments can be worked out, which we consider below, along with advice on what to do if the payments are stopped.

Independent financial arrangements

If you and your ex still trust each other and can communicate with each other in a rational and mature way, it may be possible to decide on the level of child maintenance payments between you. Along with general property and living costs, other issues to include in any independent discussions include how pocket money, extra-curricular and sports activities, birthday and Christmas presents are funded. For those struggling to agree, an impartial family mediator can arbitrate between you and help you reach an agreement.

Once a mutually agreeable amount has been accepted by you both, the non-residential parent can arrange to pay this each week or month via a standing order. The advantage of this method is that it is easy to amend the amount of maintenance payments if circumstances change. The disadvantage is that the amount agreed, and the payment plan is not legally binding.

Consent orders

When a couple have reached an independent agreement on child maintenance, one way of making this legally binding in English and Welsh law is to have the arrangements detailed in a consent order drafted by a family lawyer, which is then approved by the court.

More generally, when a couple divorce the financial settlement is written into a consent order and this will include the details of any child maintenance payments. The knowledge that the agreement is now legally binding can provide valuable peace of mind.

However, the main drawbacks of consent orders include inflexibility, cost and delays if the order is ignored or needs to be amended. In the event of a change in circumstances, the consent order can only be amended by going back to court and if your ex is refusing to pay, it is expensive to enforce the order. If things go badly wrong and you decide the order is not working, you must wait 12 months from the date the order was approved to apply to the Child Maintenance Service for help.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS)

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is a government service able to calculate, collect and pay child maintenance. More information can be found here https://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance-service.

If you cannot agree on how much child maintenance should be, the CMS can calculate a fair amount based on the paying parent’s gross annual income before tax and National Insurance, but after any pension contributions.

Once this figure has been calculated and agreed on, parents can organise how and when the payments are made. This is known as Direct Pay.

What is Collect & Pay?

For those whose ex-partners refuse to pay, those who may have an abusive ex-partner and those who have been subject to domestic abuse, the CMS offers another service, Collect & Pay. In this instance no communication with your ex is necessary.

This scheme allows the CMS to take child maintenance payments directly from your ex’s wages and pass them on to you. It can also force the sale of property and assets.

There is a charge for this service, although victims of domestic abuse will often have any fees waived. When this is not the case, the CMS adds 20% to the amount of the maintenance payments and pays the recipient 96% of this amount. For example, if the maintenance payment was £2,000, the CMS would take £2,400 from the paying parent’s wages and give the recipient £1,920 (£2,000 less 4%).

Can child maintenance payments be varied?

If circumstances change and a parent loses a job, gets a new job or big pay rise, it is possible to vary the amount of child maintenance. With independent family agreements, this is simply a case of agreeing on a new figure.

When the payments are part of a consent order, it will be necessary to consult a family lawyer if a variation of payment is required.

If you are struggling with issues arising from separation and divorce, we offer a no obligation initial consultation for a fixed fee of £100 (incl. VAT), for up to one hour. At this meeting, we can advise you on all the issues relating to your personal circumstances, allowing you to make informed decisions moving forward.

To book an appointment please call 01444 472700, email us at info@tisshawssolicitors.co.uk or complete the form below.