Child maintenance is calculated on the Paying Parent’s ‘Gross Weekly Income’ This is the amount of income before any deduction for tax and national insurance, although any contributions for pensions are deducted.
Rates
CMS ascertain your annual income, usually from information provided by HM Revenue and Customs. It will include work based pensions, but any private pensions must be reported to CMS.
The Gross Income Scaheme has a Two Tier System for calculating maintenance:
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
Allowances are available for children living in the paying parents household, known as ‘Relevant Other Children’. These rates are:
• 11% one child
• 14% two children
• 16% three+ children
Example 1
Richard has 1 qualifying child to pay maintenance for. His income is £1000pw. The calculation would be:
£800 x 12% = £96 PLUS £200 x 9% = £18
Total maintenance liability is £114pw
If Richard now moves in with his girlfriend Victoria who has 2 children, child
maintenance would calculate as:
£1000 x 14% = £140. £1000 – £140 = £860
£800 x 12% = £96 PLUS £60 x 9% = £5.40
Total maintenance liability is now £101.40pw
Example 2
William has a salary of £45,000 pa and 2 qualifying children. He was awarded a special expenses variation for £1256 per annum for contact costs. Child maintenance would calculate as:
£45,000 – £1256 = £43,744 which equates to £838.93 pw
£800 x 16% = £128 PLUS
£38.93 x 12% = £4.67
Total maintenance liability is now £132.67
William’s ex-partner Rebecca contested the income being used in the calculation, and makes an ‘Additional income’ variation. CMS confirm William received £25,000 dividends from his company in addition to his salary. Rebecca’s variation is also successful.
CMS would now calculate the maintenance using the aggregate sum for both
variations:
£45,000 LESS £1256 PLUS £25,000 = £68,744 which equates to £1318.38pw
£800 x 16% = £128 PLUS £518.38 x 12% £62.21
Total maintenance liability is now £190.21
Once a child maintenance calculation has been made, further adjustments might apply if the Paying Parent has any overnight contact with the qualifying child(ren) for more than 52 nights per year. This is known as Shared Care. The amount of reduction for shared care depends on the number of overnight stays per year.
Band Equal shared care does not remove the liability to pay child maintenance. For a CMS case to close on the grounds of Equal Share there must be evidence that both parents provide the day to day care of their child to an equal extent.
If you feel your maintenance is not correct, a consultation with our team will help you unravel the uncertainty, and provide all the relevant information for you to decide any further steps needed to challenge the decision.
