Hi I'm new and have a question

Hello Purpleprincessemma

In the majority of cases children benefit most when both parents provide for them and the can make arrangements between themselves. With that in mind I’d like to start by explaining how a family-based arrangements works. This is a flexible agreement which you and the other parent set up and manage between yourselves. You can both agree who will provide what for your child/children, without the involvement of the Government or legal system.

Although this isn’t a legally binding way to arrange child maintenance, working together to set up and maintain a family-based arrangement is better for a child, as it shows that both parents are putting aside any differences to focus on making arrangements for them.

If you think using a third party to negotiate could help you reach an agreement you may find the information about this in our Managing conflict with your child’s other parent guide useful. You can view this, as well as our other tools and guides, on our website at www.cmoptions.org

Something you may wish to consider when negotiating is that a family-based arrangement doesn’t only have to be about money, if you both agree, it can included other kinds of support, such as the other parent buying clothes, toys and other essentials or paying for a house bill.

Our Talking about money guide and Discussion guide may be of use to you, as they can help you plan your conversation, as well as help you consider what you’d like to include in your arrangement. You can view these on our website.

It can sometimes help your discussion if you use our online calculator to give you an indication of how much would be expected to be paid long Government guidelines. Although this figure isn’t set in stone, you and the other parent could use it as a starting point to negotiate around.

If you do reach a family-based arrangement it can help to make a written record of it. With our Family-based arrangement form you can record the details of your agreement and both sign it as a commitment to it. Although the form won’t make your arrangement legally binding, feedback we have received from other families is that it makes it feels a little more formal and therefore more likely to be kept to. It can also help if your child maintenance payment is set up on an automated transfer, such as a Standing Order.

If you find you can’t reach a family-based arrangement you may wish to consider making an application to the Child Maintenance Service, which is the Government statutory maintenance service. Either you or the other parent can request to use their Direct Pay scheme. This is where they’ll calculate the maintenance for you and then the two of you decide how and when the payments should be made together.

Although with Direct Pay the Child Maintenance Service don’t monitor the arrangement once they’ve calculated your child maintenance, it is a legally binding arrangement. Therefore, you need to notify them as soon as possible if there are any problems with payments or any changes to circumstances so that they can take the appropriate action.

Something to consider when thinking about making an application to the Child Maintenance Service is that in most cases there’s a non-refundable application fee of £20.

If you don’t feel Direct Pay would work for your family the Child Maintenance Service have a Collect and Pay scheme. This is where they calculate, collect and pass on the payments for you.

In addition to the application fee of £20, there are collection fees to both paying and receiving parents for collecting and passing on child maintenance payments. This will mean that if you use the Collect and Pay scheme the other parent will have to pay 20% in addition to the weekly maintenance and you’ll have 4% taken away from the weekly maintenance.

They also apply an enforcement charge, which the paying parent would have to pay, if they need to take enforcement action because payments aren’t made in full or on time.

The best way to avoid charges altogether is to put in place a family-based arrangement and not use the Child Maintenance Service at all. However, if you find that isn’t possible, there’ll be no collection fees with Direct Pay arrangements, only the application fee.

If you decide to apply to the Child Maintenance Service the other parent’s responsibility to pay will start from around the point that they’re contacted by them, not from when you first make your application.

You can contact us by telephone or email for the reference number you’ll need in order to make your application if you decide to ask the Child Maintenance Service to arrange your child maintenance for you. This number is personal to you and shows that you’ve spoken to Child Maintenance Options before applying for a statutory child maintenance arrangement.

The alternative to a family-based arrangement and the Child Maintenance Service is to arrange maintenance using the legal system. This is known as a Consent Order in England and Wales. These types of arrangements are usually included as part of separation/divorce or division of assets. You can negotiate through a solicitor/lawyer or mediator and then the arrangement is made legally binding through the courts. Once in place it can be enforced by your local Magistrates’ court if it isn’t kept to. Something to consider with this option is that there may be legal fees involved.

You can find information about family-based arrangements, the Child Maintenance Service and Consent Orders/Minute of Agreements in our Information for parents with the day-to-day care of their child guide.

For more information on the different ways to set up child maintenance and for a more personalised service, you can visit the Child Maintenance Options website at www.cmoptions.org

The DWP have a sorting out separation website that you may find useful. It offers help and support to separating and separated families. The link is: www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk/

Regards

William