Child Maintenance Calculations

The Gross Income Scheme will calculate maintenance on a Two Tier System. Gross income is defined as 'the amount charged to tax' and will rely on the latest information as held by HMRC.

Work based pension contributions will have been considered within the figures provided by HMRC, but any additional private pension contributions need to be notified to CMS immediately.

For the first £800 of gross income the following rates are applied:

12% one child
16% two children
19% three+ children

For income above £800 the following rates apply

9% one child
12% two children
15% three+ children

Example: A paying parent has 1 qualifying child to pay maintenance for and has £1000pw income. The calculation would be

£800 x 12% = £96 PLUS £200 x 9% = £18, Total maintenance liability is £114pw

There are different rates for Relevant Other Children, ie children that live in the paying parents household. These rates are:

11% one child
14% two children
16% three+ children

Using the same example above, but now assuming the paying parent has 2 Relevant Other Children, and 1 qualifying child, maintenance could calculate as;

£1000 x 14% = £140. £1000 - £140 = £860. This is now the assessable income on which maintenance is calculated.

£800 x 12% = £96 PLUS £60 x 9% = £5.40. Total maintenance liability is now £101.40pw

These amounts can be further adjusted by shared care allowances that may apply, or variation decisions that may increase or decreatse the level of income used.

There is a free online child maintenance calculator available on the CMOptions.org website, but this will only provide a basic calculation. If you know your maintenance may increase or decrease because of other factors that may fall under the variation scheme, the online calculator will not provide a true maintenance liability.