How is child maintenance calculated by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS)?

If the Child Maintenance Service do not get the information they need to calculate the maintenance payment they can either make a “best evidence assessment” or a “default maintenance decision”.

A best evidence assessment uses previous information held about a paying parent’s gross income to work out the amount of child maintenance that must be paid.

A default maintenance decision is made where there is no information about the paying parent’s income. It is a fixed amount based on the number of children the paying parent must pay child maintenance for.

The default rates are:

£39 a week for one child
£51 a week for two children
£64 a week for three or more children

The basic rate applies if the paying parent’s gross weekly income is between £200 and £800. The child maintenance payment will be a percentage of the paying parent’s income.

The following percentages of gross weekly income will apply:

12% for one qualifying child
16% for two qualifying children
19% for three or more qualifying children

If the paying parent’s gross weekly income is over £800 per week, the basic rate will be used for the first £800 and a ‘basic plus’ rate for income over £800 per week.

Gross income over £3000 per week will not be included by the Child Maintenance Service in the child maintenance calculation.

Call Child Maintenance Options for more information:-

Telephone: 0800 953 0191 (Mon – Fri, 8am – 8pm)

A reduced rate is used where the paying parent’s gross weekly income is more than £100 but less than £200.

The reduced rate has two parts:

• an amount equal to the flat rate of £7 per week plus
• a percentage of the gross weekly income above £100 per week

The percentages are:

17% for one qualifying child
25% for two qualifying children
31% for three or more qualifying children

Example

If a paying parent’s income is £110 per week and there is one qualifying child, the child maintenance payment would be:-

The flat rate of £7 plus 17% of £10 (the weekly income over £100)

£7 + £1.70 = £8.70

If the paying parent’s gross weekly income is £100 per week or less, or if they receive an income based benefit, a flat rate is used for child maintenance.

The flat rate is a £7 per week regardless of the number of children.

No child maintenance is payable if the paying parent is:

• a person with a gross weekly income of less than £7
• a child under 16 or a young person under 19 who is in full-time non-advanced education (up to A-level or equivalent)
• a person who is aged 16 or 17 and getting income support or income-based jobseeker’s allowance
• a young person getting a work-based training allowance
• a prisoner
• in residential care or a nursing home and getting help with fees or on certain benefits
• a patient in hospital who has had their benefits reduced

If your child’s other parent is paying maintenance for children from another relationship the amount of maintenance you receive will be reduced.

If your children’s other parent has a child from another relationship living with them (a relevant child) this will also reduce your maintenance payments.