If you have a child maintenance assessment made before March 2003 you will find all our leaflets with information about how your maintenance was worked out in our publications section. The current child maintenance scheme was introduced for our new clients on 3 March 2003. This scheme was designed to be easier to understand and fairer to everyone involved in child maintenance cases.
Since then, we have gradually been moving cases set up before 3 March 2003 to this current scheme when they become linked to new child maintenance applications made on or after 3 March 2003.
For example, if a parent with care already receives child maintenance for one child, and they make a new application on or after 3 March 2003 for another child who has a different non-resident parent, we will move the first child maintenance case so that both cases are set up on the current scheme. This is because the first case is linked to the new application.
We will contact you to tell you that we are moving your case to the current scheme and we will start to work out the revised amount of child maintenance.
As far as possible, we will use the information we already have to work out the new amount of child maintenance. However, in some cases, we will need some more information from you. We should be able to collect this information within a few weeks.
Once we have all the information, we can work out child maintenance within a few days. We will then write to both parents, telling you what the revised calculation is and what information we have used to make this calculation.
How has maintenance changed?
The current scheme is designed to be simpler to manage, easier to understand and better suited to parents' needs.
- In the current scheme, we work out child maintenance using a system of rates based on the net weekly income of the non-resident parent. The four rates are:
- basic rate
- reduced rate
- flat rate
- nil rate.
Non-resident parents who are on benefits will usually pay the flat rate
- The way we work out the net income of a non-resident parent is simpler
- If the non-resident parent shares the care of a qualifying child for at least 52 nights a year, we will reduce the amount of child maintenance they have to pay. If the non-resident parent pays a flat rate because they are getting benefits, they will not have to pay any child maintenance if they share the care of their children.
Will the amount of child maintenance change?
In most cases, the amount of child maintenance will change when you move to the current scheme. Payments may be higher or lower. We will phase in any changes to the payments, so that both parents have time to adapt to the change in their budget.
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