Child maintenance laws to help ensure that your children don’t lose out financially if they are separated or divorced from you. They also provide financial help to the primary carer and financially assist in paying home and children’s food and clothes.
If you need support with maintenance, you can ask Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to get the maintenance for you:
- You cannot agree with the other parent regarding maintenance.
- You had an understanding that you failed
- Domestic violence or abuse has happened to you.
- The CMS is unable to arrange maintenance if you get it less than a year old by court order.
It is also ideal that you will be able to conduct the maintenance arrangement with the paying parent directly. This is free of charge and faster.
Can I apply?
If you are responsible for taking care of the child on a day-to-day basis, then you should apply to the CMS. You could be a parent or anyone else, like a grandparent. You need to be eligible for Child Benefit on behalf of the child.
Check the given rules, these are mandatory to apply to the CMS:
- you are all ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK
- the child is less than 16-20 and have the required education
- Through the CMS, no one else has been receiving maintenance for the child.
Habitual Resident of the UK
The maintenance can only be arranged through the CMS if you and both parents are all habitually resident in the UK and the child who will get your maintenance is also a habitual resident of the UK. This means you’ve established UK as your home and plan to live here for the moment.
Child’s Qualification
16 years and under is a qualifying child.
- If they’re 16 or over, they are qualified for child maintainance if all the following apply:
- they’re under 20
- they’re in recognized education or training .
- they were never married, nor in a civil partnership
Applying for child maintenance
How much does it cost
Applying to the Child Maintenance Service costs £20. You won’t have to pay if either:
- you’re under 19
- you’ve been a victim of domestic violence or abuse
Information that you should have
The CMS will require detailed information about you and your family. This includes:
- your bank account details
- your National Insurance number
- Date of birth and name of your child
- the number of nights in a week that the child sleeps with each parent
- The names of both parents, full
You will also need to provide enough information so the CMS can identify and locate the paying parent. For instance, you should provide their address if you have it. The CMS will be able to arrange maintenance fastly if given as much information as possible.
Applying to the CMS
You can request the CMS to establish your child maintenance scheme over the internet or via telephone. When applying online, you will be asked if you would prefer to arrange your own child payments or make use of the Child Maintenance Service.
- If you wish the CMS to organise this for you select ‘use the Child Maintenance Service’.
- Apply for child maintenance through GOV.UK, at the bottom of the page you need to click on ‘start now’ button.
- You can also call CMS if you fail to apply their online.
If the CMS fails to find a paying parent
Alternatively, the CMS may call you to get paying parent’s additional information or request you to complete a form. They may request details like the holder’s national insurance number and date of birth.
Don’t let their appeal slip by because if you do, your application will not progress. If you do not know all the information, say that you do not know.
The CMS can find the parent who pays by checking with any organization that has their info, such as:
- Their current or previous employer
- The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)
- HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
How much benefit would i get
You can visit GOV.UK to see how much you might receive. You’ll need to know:
- the amount of earning by the paying parent
- number of children the paying parent is or will be responsible for
- the number of nights in which a child sleeps over at the paying parent per week
- if there is any other child or children living with the paying parent
If the payer parent gets benefits
You will only get £7 a week if the paying parent is on some other benefits like:
- Carer’s Allowance
- Income Support
- Employment and Support Allowance
- Pension Credit
- Jobseeker’s Allowance
- State Pension
The basic rate of Universal Credit calculated assuming they have no income.
Getting the CMS assessment
4 weeks is usually the time you will hear from CMS unless they face difficulties locating the person who will pay.
They will provide you with the result of their assessment so that you can confirm it. You’ll know more about how they determined the amount. This includes the income of the paying parent.
You and the paying parent then will receive from CMS a payment schedule for the year in which you agreed that it’s right. This will demonstrate when the paying parent should be making payment. It will have any charge of maintenance that they have to pay at the time you applied to the CMS.
Child maintenance payment
You can get the money:
- directly from the parent who pays, it is called ‘Direct Pay’.
- collect and pay via the CMS.
Direct Pay
You can use your own arrangement for payment. For instance, the amount can be delivered to your account every month through the paying parent. This won’t cost anything.
If you do not want to disclose your residential location for the paying parent, ask the CMS how you may get a non-geographical account. This is an account using a sort code that doesn’t provide information about where you reside.
Collect and Pay
You can request the CMS to manage maintenance and pay only if:
- if you’ve suffered from domestic violence or abuse, for example, you don’t want to pay directly.
- you made a cash payment but that fell apart.
- we had a secret understanding and it fell apart
- Your paying parent and you pay a payment for using Collect and Pay:
- 4% of the amount you receive in maintenance will be deducted from whatever you get.
- 20% of the amount that has to pay in terms of maintenance will be added by the paying parent
People May Also Ask
How long does child maintenance take to process UK?
You will normally hear something from CMS regarding your application for Child Maintenance in about six weeks. If there is a problem with contacting the paying parent, it can take up to 26 weeks.
What are the child maintenance guidelines in the UK?
It is mandatory for you when your child is on the said age to have a child maintenance plan. Both parents owe the merit of paying for raising their children even if they don’t see them. If you already have an account with Child Maintenance Service, log in.
How much do you get paid for child maintenance UK?
On the basic rate, if you’re paying for:
- For one child, you’ll have to pay 12% of your gross weekly income.
- For two children, you will pay 16% of your gross weekly income.
- For three children, you will pay 19% of your gross weekly income.
What are the rules for child maintenance in UK?
Both parents are legally obligated to provide any children with financial support. If the maintenance was arranged by the Child Support Agency CSA or the Child Maintenance Service CMS under one of 1993, 2003 or 2012 Child Maintenance schemes and you do not pay it then they can make an application to court to get a order that is known as a liability.
How long do CMS cases take?
You will generally hear from the CMS in a month unless they have issues locating the paying parent. They will send you the assessment result so that you can verify it. You will find more details as to how they arrived at that amount. This involves the income of the paying parent.
Is a father allowed to refuse payment of child maintenance UK?
Parents who do not want to pay child support will be hit with faster sanctions because Ministers declare that new powers are being examined and introdused in order to guarantee fast execution of strong enforcement action, as well as other reforms aimed at making Child Maintenance Service CMS more fair.
