Child Support

What you need to know:

The Child Support system aims to contribute to alleviating child poverty by ensuring that parents contribute to the financial support of their children. Significant reforms to the Child Support system have been introduced since March 2003 - the new system is intended to make the assessment and payment of Child Support easier and faster for all concerned.  The new rules will mostly only apply to new applicants to start with and existing cases will be automatically transferred to the new system over the next few years.

How you come into contact with the Child Support Agency can depend on whether or not you are working or claiming certain benefits.

If you are working and claiming Tax Credits:

If you are working and claiming Working Tax Credit you can choose whether or not to apply to the Child Support Agency to collect maintenance from the non-resident parent. Child Support 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 are claiming Income Support:

If you are claiming Income Support you do not have a choice about whether to apply for child support. You will be obliged to co-operate with the Child Support Agency as part of the conditions of claiming Income Support. If you do not wish the Agency to become involved you need to show “good cause” why this should be – you will need to show there is a risk of undue harm or distress to either yourself or your children, this could be the threat of harassment or violence from your ex-partner, for example.

If you do not show “good cause” or refuse to give the details of the non-resident parent, the Social Security Agency can impose a benefit penalty of 40% of your Income Support Personal Allowance. If you do not want the Agency to be involved, wish to argue that you have “good cause” or you are facing a benefit penalty you should contact our Freephone Advice Helpline for advice.

Child Support maintenance will count as income for Income Support and will not necessarily make you any better off. The Child Support reforms mean that in new cases you will be able to keep up to £10 of any maintenance on top of your Income Support.

How it is worked out:

The new Child Support system has a simplified method for working out maintenance:

• For a non-resident parent earning about £200 per week, or more, Child Support 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 CSA will 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 Child Support, the CSA can issue a “Deduction from Earnings Order” (DEO) which means they can take Child Support directly from wages.

The Agency can then, if necessary, take court action to enforce payment by obtaining a liability order which could then lead to the Agency removing a Non-Resident Parent’s driving licence or seeking a prison term.  The CSA can also take actions against employers, accountants, the other parent or anyone who knowingly provides false information to the CSA.  The Agency 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 Support Agency has published Standards of Service – you have the right to expect that these standards are adhered to. The Agency 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 and the Ombudsman.

For further information:

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

Gingerbread offers a Freephone Advice Helpline on:

0808 808 8090

Monday - Friday 10am - 4pm (closed 1pm - 2pm )

The Advice is FREE; So is the call!