Hi Shivermetimbers
I am William the
child maintenance Options consultant. I understand that your son left university and has now decide to go back into education and you would like to know if you need to start making any payments.
Under child support legislation, regular child maintenance payments must be made until a child is 16 years old, or 20 if they are in full-time, non-advanced education (A-level or equivalent), or for as long as Child Benefit is being paid. Before 10 December 2012, the upper age limit was 19.
Education must be full-time (more than an average of 12 hours’ supervised study a week during term time) and ‘non-advanced’. This includes:
GCSEs
A levels
iGCSEs
Pre-U
International Baccalaureate
NVQ/SVQ level 1, 2 or 3
BTEC National Diploma, National Certificate and First Diploma
SCE higher grade or similar
It doesn’t include ‘advanced’ education, eg:
a degree
Diploma of Higher Education
NVQ level 4 or above
BTEC Higher National Certificate (HNC)
Teacher training
You can find further information on the above online at
www.gov.uk/child-maintenance.
With your court order you may wish to speak to the solicitor who originally started the proceedings or you may wish to look at the following link:
www.gov.uk/find-a-legal-adviser to see if they can help you further.
Alternatively, if you prefer a confidential chat with one of our agents, you can call us on our freephone number 0800 988 0988. We are open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and Saturday 9am to 4pm.
I hope this helps.
William