childcare vouchers in lieu of child maintenance

Hello AverageBloke14

Child maintenance is generally a payment between parents who have separated and living apart. The parent who has the main day-to-day care of the child is entitled to receive a financial contribution from the other parent to help with the everyday living costs of their child. This can be set up between parents in different ways and Child Maintenance Options is an organisation that can provide you with information about all your options.

Many parents are now choosing to sort out their maintenance between themselves as it can be the quickest and easiest way of setting up a maintenance agreement. As family-based arrangements are not legally binding, they do allow parents a great deal of flexibility within their agreements, and can be easily changed if either party has a change in circumstances.

As you do not have any strict rules to follow, if you do wish to include the child care vouchers you are receiving at work in to your agreement, then you can both negotiate this and come to an arrangement that you are both happy with.

If you do wish to continue with your family-based arrangement Child Maintenance Options do have various tools and guides that can help you negotiate with your partner and come to an agreement that you are both happy with.

Parents do suggest that when they make a family-based arrangement it does tend to last longer as it is just an agreement made between the two of them and collaborating together may also be better for your child.

You have mentioned that you have already used the Online Calculator and this is available to calculate an amount of maintenance that the Government consider a reasonable payment. You and your partner might find this a good starting point for your negotiations for your family-based arrangement.

There are different ways you can negotiate your agreement with your partner and Child Maintenance Options do have some supporting tools on their website at www.cmoptions.org that might help you both come to an agreement.

Their Talking About Money Guide and Discussion Guide are full of information about how you can plan your conversation with your partner and how to negotiate your agreement. They also point out the financial costs involved in raising a child and can give you both ideas about what can be included in your agreement.

If you are able to negotiate your agreement, you can record this on their Family-based Arrangement Form. Although it is not a legally binding document it can put your agreement on a more formal basis. You can also agree a renewal date for your agreement in case either of you have a change in circumstances in the future.

If you find you are not able to renegotiate your family-based arrangement you may wish to consider making an application to the Child Maintenance Service. They are the Government’s statutory maintenance service and can either calculate your child maintenance, then leave you to arrange payments between yourselves, or they can collect payments and pass them on for you.

If you decide to ask the Child Maintenance Service to arrange your child maintenance for you in the future, your responsibility to pay will start from around the point that your partner is contacted by them, not from when you first make your application.

For further information about putting in place a statutory arrangement and the fees involved with this, you will need to contact Child Maintenance Options directly and their contact details can be found on their website.

You may also be interested to know the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have a website, 'Sorting out Separation'. It aims to make it much easier for separating and separated parents (and childless couples) to find the support they need, when and where they need it, and encourages them to collaborate on a range of issues. The link is www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk/
For more information and for a more personalised service, you may wish to visit the Child Maintenance Options website yourself.

Regards

William