Who can use the Statutory Maintenance Service

You can apply if you are a parent with care or a non-resident parent at any time to ask us to work out child maintenance and set up arrangements for payment.

Due to recent changes to legislation parents with care claiming either Income Support or Income Based Jobseekers Allowance are no longer treated as applying for child maintenance. Parents with care making a new application for benefits can choose to use the statutory maintenance service or set up a private agreement. Parents with care who have an existing case with the statutory maintenance service can also choose either to continue using the statutory maintenance or withdraw their case and set up a private agreement.

If you are receiving Income Support or Income-Based Jobseeker's Allowance you will need to declare any child maintenance you receive to the Social Security Agency.
You may be able to receive whatever benefits you're entitled to, plus a child maintenance premium - any amount up to £20 a week of any child maintenance that the non-resident parent pays.