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Child Maintenance

05 August 2008

CHILD MAINTENANCE

Are you involved in one of the 1,361,900 cases currently being handled by the Child Support Agency (CSA)? And more importantly, are you satisfied with how your case is being dealt with? Since its introduction in 1991, the Child Support Agency has been the subject of severe criticism from its users, the government and the media alike, including problems with delay, collection and enforcement.

However, on 5th June 2008, new law regarding the Child Support Agency (CSA) and child maintenance payments received royal assent. The new law sets up the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission which will replace the CSA. It also makes far reaching changes in calculations and enforcement. So far, only small parts have so far come into force.

The existing law:-

Under this, the Non-Resident Parent (NRP) is the parent with whom the child does not live and the Person With Care (PWC) is the person with whom the child lives and who usually provides the child’s day to day care. Both the NRP and PWC can apply to the CSA for a child maintenance calculation.

Under the existing rules, the NRP will pay a proportion of his/her net income (i.e. gross income including bonuses and overtime less income tax, national insurance and pension contributions) to the PWC as follows:-

1 child   15% (of net income)
2 children  20%
3 or more children 25%

Factors which may result in a decrease of the amount of child maintenance payable by the NRP are:-

• If the NRP has other relevant children living with him or her; or
• If the child or children for which the NRP is paying maintenance stays with the NRP for 52 or more nights per year.

The new law:-

New percentages will be introduced which will now be calculated by reference to the NRP’s gross income as follows:-

1 child   12% (of gross income)
2 children  16%
3 or more children 19%

Benefits

Under the old law, in an effort to reduce the burden on the tax payer, a claim for certain benefits by the NRP (e.g. income support and job seekers allowance) was automatically deemed to be application for child maintenance. However, the new law now abolishes this to allow parents to be able to reach an agreement between themselves.

If you are not getting your money then in the future new penalties will be introduced including disqualification from driving and imposing curfew times. This is yet to come into force. 

An initial indication from the CSA is that the Government hopes to have all the new provisions in force by 2013 so those of you experiencing problems with the current system may have a long wait before any significant improvements are seen.

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