Child Support

What you need to know:

The child maintenance system (formerly the Child Support System) aims to ensure that non-resident parents contribute to the financial support of their children. From 1st April 2008 the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Division replaced the Northern Ireland Child Support Agency and has taken over the responsibility for providing the statutory maintenance service locally. The Child Support Agency has not been abolished. The role of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Division continues to be to make sure that parents who live apart from their children contribute financially to their upkeep by paying child maintenance. There is a transition period from the Agency to the new Division during which time both names may be used – the aim of the change is to improve on the performance of the Child Support Agency by getting more maintenance money to children, more quickly and more effectively.

The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Division will have three main functions:

• promoting the financial responsibility that parents have to their children,

• providing information and support about the different child maintenance options available to parents, and

• providing an efficient statutory maintenance service with effective enforcement.

It is important to stress that there have been no changes yet to the actual system – maintenance will be collected and paid in the same way, arrears still have to be paid and claims are still made in the same way. The new system will be introduced in stages – these will be well publicised and if you are an existing client with the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Division, they will contact you to explain the changes.

 The main changes will be:

• removing the requirement for parents with care who claim benefits to apply automatically

• ‘encouraging’ parents to make their own informal child maintenance arrangements or move to the new system

• significantly increasing the amount of maintenance that parents with care on benefit can keep before their benefits are reduced or stop

• simplifying the child maintenance assessment process

• improving the collection of maintenance and sending out a clear signal that non-payment of maintenance will not be tolerated

• increasing efforts to collect debt owed

The Child Support system was introduced in 1993 and significantly amended in 2003. If your case was opened before 3rd March 2003 it was processed under the ‘old rules’ and those opened after this date are processed under the ‘new rules’.

Making an Application:

How you come into contact with the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Division used to depend on whether or not you are working or claiming certain benefits.

Previously lone parents receiving Income Support were treated as automatically applying to the service to set up their child maintenance arrangements. From 14th July 2008 new parents with care applying for Income Support with the Social Security Agency are no longer compelled to use the statutory maintenance service to set up their child maintenance arrangements. For the first time you can choose to use the statutory maintenance service or make your own private arrangements. This choice will extend to all existing cases from 27th October 2008 - You should take advice now if you think you might be entitled.

When you are working:

Child maintenance will not affect Tax Credits and will be paid on top of your wages and Tax Credits and will therefore increase your family income when you are in work. If you have been unable to come to a voluntary agreement with the non-resident parent you can make an application directly to the Statutory Maintenance Service to have an assessment made. The Statutory Maintenance Service can then arrange to collect the money from the non-resident parent and pass it on to you.

If you think that your assessment amount is wrong you can appeal the decision - if you decide to do this contact our Freephone Advice Helpline for advice and support. The non-resident parent also has the right to appeal the decision.

If you are receiving income - based benefits (Income Support)

From late October the amount of child maintenance that parents with care can keep before losing any benefits - the disregard - will double to £20 per week and there will be a full disregard in Housing Benefit. Additionally, the statutory maintenance service will pay any child maintenance that it receives directly to the parent with care.

If your claim is under the ‘old rules’ you may be able to claim a ‘Child Maintenance Bonus’ if you are going into work after being on Income Support. This will be made up of child maintenance that was not being paid while you were on benefits, this will have been held for you until you go back to work. The bonus can build up to a maximum of £1,000 – you cannot get more than this even if the amount of child maintenance held back was greater. You should

claim it within 28 days of starting work. The Child Maintenance Bonus scheme will cease for old scheme clients by the end of 2008 - you should take advice if you think this affects you.

How it is worked out:

If your case was opened before 3rd March 2003 it was processed under the ‘old rules’. If you need further information on how the maintenance is worked out for these cases you should contact the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Division for advice or download or view the following leaflets from their website:

CSA 2002 – Advice for Employers

CSA 2008 – A Guide to Child Support Maintenance

Website - www.dsdni.gov.uk.

Phone - 0845 608 0022

The Child Support system was revised from 3rd March 2003 and introduced a simplified method for working out maintenance – these are known as the ‘new rules’:

For a non-resident parent earning about £200 or over per week, or more, child maintenance will be worked out at a

flat rate as follows:

• 15% of net income for one child

• 20% of net income for two children

• 25% of net income for three or more children

Non-Resident Parents with an income of more than £100 per week but less than £200 will pay a reduced rate of maintenance. This rate is £5 per week plus a percentage of the net weekly income over £100. The percentages used take account of the number of qualifying children and the number of other children that the Non-Resident Parent has living with them.

Non-Resident Parents with an income of £100 per week or less or who are on benefits will pay a flat rate of £5 per week. A small number of non-resident parents do not have to pay maintenance. These include:

• Students in full time education

• Young people in full time education

• Prisoners

• 16/17 year olds getting Income Support or Income Based Jobseekers Allowance

• People in residential care or nursing homes and receiving help with the fees

Shared Care:

The amount of maintenance can be reduced if your ex-partner has overnight contact with the children for at least 52 nights a year – at least one night a week all year or for a total of 52 nights over the whole year. This is worked out as

follows:

Enforcement and Collection:

The Statutory Maintenance Service of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Division can deal with all of the arrangements for collecting maintenance from your ex-partner. It has a range of enforcement powers to ensure the maintenance will actually be paid once an assessment is made.

If a Non-Resident Parent persistently defaults on paying maintenance due, the Statutory Maintenance Service can issue a “Deduction from Earnings Order” (DEO) which means they can take the amount owed directly from wages.

The Statutory Maintenance Service can then, if necessary, take court action to enforce payment by obtaining a liability order which could then lead to the removal of a Non-Resident Parent’s driving licence or seeking a prison term. The Statutory Maintenance Service can also take actions against employers, accountants, the other parent or anyone who knowingly provides false information or fails to provide information when requested to do so.

The Division also has specific powers to investigate in cases where there is evidence that someone appears to have a lifestyle inconsistent with their declared income and can take action against individuals, employers or others who try to frustrate the system.

Standards of Service:

The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Division has published Standards of Service – you have the right to expect that these standards are adhered to. The Division also has a comprehensive Complaints procedure – our Advice Service can advise you on this and help you prepare a complaint. We can also advise you of external bodies that can deal with your complaint such as the Independent Case Examiner (ICE) and the Ombudsman.

For your information:

The child maintenance system can be quite complicated and we recommend that you take advice before taking any action. You can get advice on dealing with the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Division from Gingerbread – we can help advise you on the child maintenance reforms, on how the Division and process works. We can help you prepare information for the Division, offer you help with writing letters and can provide help with appeals.

You can get a child maintenance application for a new claim from the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Division on - 0845 608 0022.

You can also apply online:

Website - www.dsdni.gov.uk/eserviceeservice

If you need any more information or advice please contact us:

Freephone Advice Helpline - 0808 808 8090 Website – www.gingerbreadni.org Email – advice@gingerbreadni.org

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