Child maintenance
This content applies to England only.
Housing laws vary between England and Scotland. Get advice relating to Scotland
Even when parents separate and are living in separate homes, they both remain financially responsible for supporting their children.
What is child maintenance?
Child maintenance is regular financial support that help's towards a child's everyday living costs. Child maintenance is paid by the parent who does not have main day to day care of the child to the parent who does. In some cases, this can person can be a grandparent or guardian.
Why is child maintenance important?
Child maintenance doesn't only have to be about exchanging money – it can help pay for things like clothing, food and other essentials. It can also help to keep both parents involved with their children’s lives.
Whatever type of maintenance arrangement you put in place, it’s important to remember that it can help to give a child the best start in life – and it is a legal responsibility.
What are the ways to arrange child maintenance?
Parents can choose to make an arrangement between themselves, by agreeing with each other about the amount and type of child maintenance that one will pay to the other. This is known as a family-based, or family arrangement.
If you can’t agree, or if an arrangement between parents isn’t working, either you or your partner can apply to the Child Support Agency (CSA), a government agency who can set up an arrangement for you.
In some cases you can also use the courts.
Where can I go for more information?
You can contact a service called Child Maintenance Options. It’s free and impartial, and gives access to specialist support and information. There’s a helpline, a website and a face to face service if you need it. Visit their website or call 0800 988 0988. The phone line is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 8pm, and on Saturday from 9am to 4pm.
You can also visit the Child Maintenance Options blog or follow them on Twitter.
Child Maintenance Options can also put you in touch with other specialist organisations that are there to help you with the range of issues that you might be facing when you’re separating or if you’re already parenting apart.
It's always a good idea to get independent advice on your particular circumstances - use our directory to find a local Citizen's Advice or other advice agency, or use the Community Legal Advice Legal adviser finder to find a lawyer or adviser specialising in family law.
Family arrangements
The quickest and easiest way to arrange child maintenance is for you and the other parent to set up an arrangement between yourselves. There are lots of benefits to having a family arrangement, for example:
- a family arrangement is totally private, and no one else needs to get involved in your affairs
- it’s flexible, because you can make special arrangements or change it at any time, quickly and easily, and you can also be flexible about how, what and when payments should be made
- if you can keep lawyers and the CSA out of it, it may be a lot easier to keep things friendly.
Child Maintenance Options can talk you through all aspects of a family arrangement and help you to get started.
Their child maintenance calculator gives you an indication of what your payments should be. You could use this amount as a starting point for your family arrangement. It is a good idea to keep a record of payments paid and received. You can also use the Child Maintenance Options family-based arrangement form to keep a record of what you have agreed with the other parent.
If a family arrangement doesn’t work out, you can change things, including asking the Child Support Agency to set up an arrangement.
Child Support Agency arrangements
A family arrangement isn’t for everyone. If you don’t know where the other parent is, you don’t have a good relationship, or domestic abuse or violence is involved, you might need to look at the other options.
Either parent can apply to the Child Support Agency who can:
- work out how much payments should be and when they should be made
- trace the other parent (if you don’t know where they are)
- collect and enforce payments
- allow both parents to avoid contact.
Maintenance Direct
The Child Support Agency (CSA) also offers a service called Maintenance Direct, where the CSA will work out how much and how often your payments should be, but you set up and manage your own payments (with the other parent).
With Maintenance Direct, parents can agree between themselves how and when money is paid, and can vary child maintenance amounts if circumstances change.The CSA is still available to give advice and guidance if any changes mean a new calculation needs to be made, or step in if a parent doesn’t make the payments that are due.
You can get an idea of how much child maintenance you might pay or receive through the CSA with the CSA Child Maintenance Calculator.
You can find more information about statutory arrangements from Child Maintenance Options.
What about using the courts?
The final option for arranging child maintenance and enforcing payments comes through the courts. It’s usually only the best option if you are going to court for other reasons (like arranging a divorce or dividing property or other assets), as courts rarely grant orders otherwise.
You can find more information about going through the courts on from Child Maintenance Options.
What happens if I am on benefits?
Legal changes have happened in child maintenance during the last few years. They mainly affect parents with the main day-to-day care who are on benefits.
Since October 2008, all parents have been able to choose a family arrangement rather than having to go through the Child Support Agency.
Until the law changed, if you were the parent with the main day-to-day care and you were on benefits, you didn’t have this choice.
Also, since April 2010, all parents with the main day-to-day care who receive income-related benefits have been allowed to keep all of their child maintenance. Any child maintenance you get is unlikely to affect your benefits, so you may be better off, but you should contact Jobcentre Plus to check.
What if my partner has gone abroad?
If your ex-partner moves abroad and is no longer ‘habitually resident’ here, you may still be able to get child maintenance through a process called Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (REMO). Under this scheme, participating countries can enforce a UK court order on behalf of UK residents.
Find out more about child maintenance when a partner is abroad from Direct.gov.
What about delays in maintenance starting?
If you make a family arrangement, your payments can start as soon as you agree the terms of the arrangement with the other parent.
If you can’t make a family arrangement and you decide to use the Child Support Agency, it could take up to 12 weeks for child maintenance to start being paid.
However, there may be some additional financial support available to you, including state benefits. Child Maintenance Options can put you in touch with organisations that may be able to help you.
Remember, both parents can contact Child Maintenance Options on 0800 988 0988 or visit their website for more information.
