What is Child Maintenance?

Full Definition

Child maintenance is a regular payment made by a 'paying parent' (the parent a child does not mainly live with) to a 'receiving parent' (the parent the child mainly lives with) to help cover the everyday costs of raising a child, and can be arranged either as a private, family-based agreement between the parents or through the government's Child Maintenance Service (CMS), which calculates, and if necessary collects and enforces, a statutory amount. The CMS calculation is based primarily on the paying parent's gross weekly income (before tax and National Insurance, taken from HMRC records) and the number of qualifying children, using banded percentage rates: for income up to £800 a week, the rate is 12% for one child, 16% for two children, and 19% for three or more children; a reduced rate applies to gross weekly income between £100 and £200; a flat rate applies below £100 a week (or for those on certain benefits); and a basic-plus higher percentage applies to the slice of income between £800 and the £3,000 weekly cap, above which the receiving parent must apply to the courts for any further amount, which the CMS itself cannot assess. The calculated amount is then reduced to reflect shared care -- overnight stays the child spends with the paying parent -- on a sliding scale, and further reduced if the paying parent has other children living with them. The CMS charges a £20 application fee (waived in cases involving domestic abuse) and, where the paying parent does not pay voluntarily via 'Direct Pay', can arrange 'Collect and Pay' with additional collection fees on both parties, plus enforcement powers including deduction from earnings orders, deduction from bank accounts, and, in serious cases, disqualification from driving or passport removal.

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