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50 50 access 20% CSA to EX both pay 20%

u6c00
Platinum Member

20 Jun 13 #397978 by u6c00

Reply from u6c00

The current system of 50/50 shared care is the person who receives the child benefit is designated the parent with care, and the other the non-resident parent.

The NRP pays 15% of their income for one child, 20% for 2 and 25% for 3 or more children. The amount paid is then reduced by 50% and reduced again by £7 (fixed amount).

As an example, someone paying maintenance for 2 children with an income of £200 a week would pay £13 per week maintenance (200 x 20% = 40. 40 x 50% = 20. 20 - 7 = 13). There are other discounts if the NRP lives with other children or must pay maintenance for other children.

Lostboy is correct that under the new system parents with 50/50 arrangements will not have to pay maintenance. I read previously that was to come into effect last October but since then all mention of it seems to have disappeared.

I have heard from a number of people on here where they have a 50/50 arrangement for 2 children. In these cases they have disputed the child benefit for one of the children and won. In this case each parent can claim child benefit for one child, tax credits for one child and is liable for maintenance for one child. This means that in effect the parent with the greater income pays some maintenance to the parent with the lower income.

Fiona
Platinum Member

21 Jun 13 #398073 by Fiona

Reply from Fiona

I read previously that was to come into effect last October but since then all mention of it seems to have disappeared.

The child maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008 (Commencement No. 10 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2012 brought into effect the changes but only applies to new applications when there are 4 or more children. See;

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/3042/article/3/made

Apparently the intention is to iron out any teething problems before introducing the new scheme to all new applications and eventually transferring existing cases. In the meantime the current rules are the person in receipt of Child Benefit is usually the Parent With Care and entitled to claim child support.

You can agree between yourselves what you wish. However Child Benefit for one child cannot be split. When there are two or more children both parents can claim CB. If the claim is disputed it will be investigated and an officer who decides which parent gets the CB. As u6c00 said that means each parent may receive CB, CM and tax credits with the higher earning parent CM payments being more than the lower earner. You could be right about fairness but that is the current system as it exists.

Child Maintenance Options
Moderator

03 Jul 13 #399880 by Child Maintenance Options

Reply from Child Maintenance Options

Hello,

My name is William and I am a Child Maintenance Options consultant. After reading your post lostandonthesofa, I would like to give you some information to help answer your question and to clarify and add to some of the information given in the subsequent discussions.

When the Child Support Agency (CSA) calculate the amount of maintenance that a paying parent pays they take into consideration the number of nights a child stays overnight with them. This reduces the amount of child maintenance that is paid if the child stays overnight at least one night a week. If the child spends an equal amount of time staying overnight with each of their parents, the parent who receives Child Benefit for the child can apply for child maintenance. The other parent is classed as the paying parent. The CSA then works out how much child maintenance should be paid using their normal processes. The amount that both parents contribute towards the everyday living costs of the child or children is also taken into account.

You can read more on how the CSA calculate maintenance and their processes on the Government website Gov.uk using the following link www.gov.uk/how-child-maintenance-is-worked-out.

It has been mentioned that the Government plans to introduce a new statutory maintenance service (known as the Child Maintenance Service) and that they may calculate maintenance differently, when parents have equal shared care.

It is proposed that under the Child Maintenance service if the paying parent can prove that they carry out an equal amount of day-to-day care as well as having equal shared care, then the Child Maintenance Service will regard neither parent to be the paying parent so their child maintenance would be set as nil – even if one parent receives Child Benefit or tax credits as the child’s parent. Where there is equal day-to-day care and there is no paying parent means that there cannot be a statutory case, the Child Maintenance Service would not be able to process the application as there is no identifiable paying parent.

Currently only parents with four or more children are eligible to open a case with the Child Maintenance Service. Other parents wishing to use a statutory service will still use the CSA.

There maybe costs involved in using the Child Maintenance Service, such as an application fee, fees for collecting and paying out child maintenance payments as well as enforcement charges for paying parents who do not pay. We do not know the exact amount of the costs yet or when they might be introduced as they still need to be approved by Parliament.

As the Government introduces the new service to everyone, the CSA will start closing their existing child maintenance cases. Parents will then have to decide whether to make a family-¬base¬d arrangement or to apply to the Child Maintenance Service. Parents can avoid charges by making their own family-based arrangement. Help and support will be in place so parents can make the right choice for their circumstances.

For information about all of the options available to set up a Child Maintenance Arrangement, and for access to useful tools and guides to help parents set up a family-based arrangement, please visit our website at cmoptions.org. If you would prefer a confidential chat with one of our team, you can phone us on 0800 988 0988, which is free from a landline. We also have other information about separation on our website that may be useful.

Hope this helps.

Moderators: wikivorce team, rubytuesday, dukey, hadenoughnow, Tets, Shezi, Linda Sheridan, Forseti, Mitchum, WhiteRose, Lostboy67, WYSPECIAL, Bubblegum11

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