Child maintenance is a payment from one parent to another to cover a child’s living costs. Typically, payment is made to the parent who the child lives with most of the time, by the parent the child lives with the least.

Child maintenance is payable for any child under 16 or under 20 if they are in full time education.

There are various different routes to getting Child Maintenance in place and a lot will depend on your child and the circumstances of your child’s other parent.

Making an Agreement between you

There is nothing to prevent you making a private arrangement with your child’s other parent about how much child maintenance should be paid. No one else has to be involved and the benefits of this are it is flexible and avoids the time in consulting the Child Maintenance Service (formerly known as the Child Support Agency) and/or the expense of court proceedings.

The Child Maintenance Calculator can be a good starting point for working out how much child maintenance should be paid and you could use this to help your discussions you’re your child’s other parent. However, if you are making an arrangement between yourselves then you can agree on any amount that is right for your child and for your as parents.

Using the Child Maintenance Service

The Child Maintenance Service can deal with child maintenance payments where the paying parent earns up to £156,000 per annum and they do not live abroad.

If you apply to the Child Maintenance Service they will determine how much child maintenance should be paid by using a formula that takes into account factors such as the paying parent’s income, the number of children and the number of nights the children spend with them.

You can also use the Child Maintenance Service to arrange child maintenance if you do not want your child’s other parent to know your location or personal information.

Child Maintenance through the Court

The court will only deal with an application for child maintenance if the paying parent earns more than £156,000 per annum (this is known as “top-up maintenance”), if there is a need to assist with a fee paying education or if the child is disabled and a maintenance order is needed to meet expenses associated with their disability.

It is sensible to seek legal advice before any application to court is made given the complexities involved.