Maintenance when you and your children’s other parent share their care
Last updated: 10/02/2021
Shared care is where a child stays overnight with the parent who pays maintenance. This affects the amount of child maintenance the Child Maintenance Service calculates is payable to you.
The more nights that your child or children stay overnight with their other parent the more the weekly amount of child maintenance is reduced:
If care of a child is shared equally, neither parent has to pay child maintenance.
Number of nights of shared care each year
Reduction to child maintenance
52 to 103 nights
Reduction = 1/7th
104 to 155 nights
Reduction = 2/7ths
156 to 174 nights
Reduction = 3/7ths
More than 175 nights
Reduction = Half *
* Plus, an additional £7 a week reduction for each child in this band.
If there is a dispute about the number of nights the children stay with their other parent, and no agreement is in place, the Child Maintenance Service will assume one night per week, resulting in a reduction of one-seventh in the maintenance payment.
