Child maintenance is a recurring payment made by one parent to the other following separation or divorce, and it may also be payable where the parents of the child have never been in a relationship. It is intended to contribute towards the child’s day-to-day living costs where care is not shared equally between the parents.
Child maintenance is distinct from spousal maintenance. Its sole purpose is to ensure the children are properly supported.
The recipient of child maintenance is the person with whom the child lives for more than 50% of their time. This may be a parent, grandparent, or other legal guardian. The paying parent is the individual who spends less time with the child and therefore contributes financially towards their living costs.
If your child/ children spends exactly the same amount of time with both parents, neither has to pay child maintenance. This is the case even if one of you is better off financially.
Child maintenance payments are typically calculated by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) through a structured six-step process designed to ensure a fair weekly contribution. This calculation considers several factors, including the paying parent’s income and personal circumstances, to determine an appropriate amount. Alternatively, parents can choose to make a private agreement between themselves, setting the level of child maintenance without involving the CMS.
There is an incentive for parents to reach an agreement as to the level of child maintenance that is payable, because if the CMS are used to collect the maintenance on an ongoing basis, then both the payer and receiving parent pay for using the service. You can use the government online calculator www.gov.uk/calculate-your-child-maintenance here to estimate how much you will have to pay.
If the paying parent earns more than £156,000 gross per annum, you can apply to the court under Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989 to “top up” the CMS maximum assessment. In a top-up application, a judge may consider whether a child’s standard of living should more closely reflect the paying parent’s actual wealth, and order significantly more as a result. The difference between the CMS capped figure and a court “top up” can run to tens of thousands of pounds per annum.
There has been an evolving landscape of child maintenance in high-net-worth cases, particularly through Mr Justice Mostyn’s judgements.
In James v Seymour, Mostyn J sitting in the High Court of the Family Division gave guidance as to how the “top up” should be calculated, building on a formula he had previously recommended in a case known as CB v KB [2019]. The Judgment introduced three new acronyms: Child Support Maintenance (CSM), the Adjusted Formula Methodology (AFM), and the Child Support Starting Point (CSSP). These tools aim to provide a structured yet flexible framework for determining maintenance when the payer’s income exceeds £156,000.
The AFM adjusts gross income for factors like pension contributions and school fees, offering a “loose” starting point for awards.
However, Mostyn J emphasised that discretion remains key, particularly in complex or atypical cases.
The introduction of the Household Expenditure Child Support Award (HECSA) in Collardeau-Fuchs v Fuchs also marked a significant shift, allowing courts to award payments which may extend beyond the expenses of the child and support the caregiving parent’s household expenses, where those costs are necessary to maintain the child’s standard of living. This approach diverges from the traditional CMS formula, especially in cases where there is no concurrent spousal maintenance claim.
To determine a reasonable level of household expenses to be covered by a HECSA, Mostyn J directed that the court should look at the parties’ current standard of living, and if relevant, the standard of living enjoyed by them prior to the breakdown of their relationship.
The HECSA was reaffirmed in Re Z (No 4), where Cobb J applied it in a Schedule 1 claim, emphasising that child maintenance should alleviate financial anxiety for the carer and reflect a realistic assessment of household needs.
When a CMS application is made, maintenance is typically due from the date the application is received by the CMS, not from the date of separation.
When a top-up order is made via the court, a judge has discretion over whether and how far to backdate payments. If you are the receiving parent and the paying parent has failed to meet their obligations, acting swiftly and with legal support and make a significant difference to what you may be able to recover.
Yes. Dependant on circumstances, the court has the power under Schedule1 of the Children Act 1989 to order a parent to pay a child’s school fees or vocational training costs.
The most cost-effective way to receive child maintenance payments is directly – i.e. the paying parent makes a transfer directly to the recipient parent.
If the paying parent refuses to engage with Direct Pay or defaults, you can make an application to the CMS for Collect and Pay. If used, the CMS will collect the amount either from the paying parent’s employer or take the amount directly from their bank account. Whilst helpful in some cases, the CMS charge a 20% fee to use of this service and the receiving parent 4%.
The child maintenance calculation also considers your other financial responsibilities, including children from previous relationships and your obligations towards them, as well as the amount of time the children spend with you.
To apply to the CMS, you first need to use the Get help arranging child maintenance service on gov.uk website. This provides information about getting support for your child, including how to make your own arrangement with the other parent (called a family-based arrangement). Through this service you can get a reference number and start your application to the CMS.
The CMS calculation is based on:
- How much your child’s other parent earns
- How many children they pay maintenance for
- Whether your child stays overnight with their other parent
- If there are any other children living with your child’s other parent
You may need to challenge the calculation because:
- You believe the CMS has used wrong information in their calculations
- Your / the other parent’s circumstances have changed since the calculation was made
- You want new information about the other parent’s income or circumstances to be taken into account
The first step is to contact the CMS to find out more. Ask how they calculated the child maintenance – what figures were used and what information was considered.
If you remain unhappy with how the CMS responds, there are four potential routes to challenge the assessment:
1. A mandatory reconsideration – if you think their initial calculation was wrong
2. Supercession – if there has been a change of circumstances that means a new calculation needs to be made
3. Variation – if you think other types of income should be taken into account by the CMS
4. Appeal – if you want to appeal a decision made by the CMS
We can work through the various options together and provide guidance. It is essential to act quickly, particularly if you are seeking a mandatory reconsideration as you have 1 month to ask for this after receipt of the original calculation letter.
Enforcing payment can become more challenging if the paying parent moves abroad, as the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) may no longer have direct powers to compel payment. In such cases, the resident parent may need to seek a court order under Schedule 1 of the Children Act, setting out the level of maintenance payable. If an order is granted, enforcement may still be possible internationally through the Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (REMO) scheme, provided the other country is part of the relevant agreement.
If you are married and going through a divorce, the courts can make separate orders for both spousal maintenance and, if there has been a maximum CMS assessment or one of the parents lives outside the UK, child maintenance. Any order will usually be incorporated in the body of the financial order.
Sometimes the courts will make what is called a “global” order. This provides for an overall award of maintenance which includes both child and spousal elemenets, but allows for that award to be reduced by the amount of child maintenance paid under the CMS.
If you are not married, then you will not be able to apply for spousal maintenance, but the courts have interpreted the needs of a child of high-net-worth non-married parents in Schedule 1 claims generously.
No, the parent receiving child maintenance has full discretion over how the payments are used and is not required to account for their spending.
Child maintenance usually ends following your child’s 16th birthday if they leave full-time education or training. However, if they remain in approved full-time education such as A-levels or college, payments can continue until they finish that course or reach the age of 20.
Payments can be extended beyond for the rest of their lives, if “special circumstances” justify the order continuing, such as a child suffering a disability which makes them dependent on others for the rest of their lives.
Yes, as well as seeking maintenance through the CMS an application can be made on behalf of a child under Schedule 1 of the Children Act, allowing the court to order financial provision such as regular maintenance payments, lump sums, or housing for the child. The court typically requires the return of the property to the owner when the child attains the age of 18/ finishes secondary education unless exceptional circumstances apply.
(a) top up maintenance (only if a maximum maintenance assessment has been made by the CMS) [see above];
(b) payment of school fees;
(c) lump sum(s);
(d) a “carer’s allowance” e.g. to provide for childcare costs/a nanny, running a car to transport the child etc; and
(e) the purchase or transfer of a property to the parent with care of the children, which will be returned to the parent who funded it, when it is no longer needed by the child(ren) e.g. they have finished their education or reached majority.
