Plain-English answers for both Receiving Parents and Paying Parents. Search for your question or browse by category.
CMS uses a percentage of the paying parent's gross weekly income after tax and National Insurance. The standard rates are:
1 child: 12% · 2 children: 16% · 3+ children: 19%
This is then reduced if the paying parent has other children living in their household (qualifying children), and adjusted for how many nights the child spends with the paying parent (shared care).
There are three stages:
1. Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) — request this within 30 days of the decision. CMS reviews their own decision. You must do this before you can appeal.
2. Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal — if the MR doesn't resolve it, you can appeal to an independent tribunal (HMCTS). This is free. You must appeal within 30 days of the MR outcome.
3. Independent Case Examiner (ICE) — for complaints about how CMS handled your case (maladministration), not the legal decision itself. Call 0800 414 8529 (free).
Direct Pay: CMS calculates the amount but the paying parent pays the receiving parent directly — by bank transfer, standing order etc. No CMS involvement in the actual payment. No surcharge.
Collect & Pay: CMS collects the payment from the paying parent and passes it to the receiving parent. CMS adds a 20% surcharge to the paying parent and deducts 4% from the receiving parent's payment. Total overhead: 24%.
A Variation (called a Departure Direction under the CSA) allows either parent to apply for the standard calculation to be adjusted where it would be unjust. Common grounds include:
Paying parent can apply for reduction: High contact costs (travel to see child), costs of supporting children in their household (special expenses), disability-related expenses.
Receiving parent can apply for increase: Paying parent has assets worth over £31,250, lifestyle inconsistent with declared income, paying parent receives income not captured by CMS (e.g. dividends, trust income).
CMS can only make a calculation where the paying parent is habitually resident in the UK. If the paying parent moves abroad, CMS jurisdiction ends — though existing arrears remain enforceable.
For cross-border cases, the UK has reciprocal maintenance arrangements with many countries. The process goes through the Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (REMO) unit. This is slow and complex.
If the receiving parent moves abroad, CMS jurisdiction also ends — the child must be habitually resident in the UK for CMS to act.
Yes — children who live with you and for whom you (or your partner) receive Child Benefit are called qualifying children. The number of qualifying children in your household reduces the percentage applied to your income.
The reduction works as a deduction from your gross income before the standard rate is applied. One qualifying child reduces income by 1/9th approximately. The exact calculation depends on total number of children.
Shared care is counted in overnight stays per year. The thresholds and reductions are:
52–103 nights (1–2 per week average): 1/7th reduction
104–155 nights: 2/7ths reduction
156–174 nights: 3/7ths reduction
175+ nights (equal or majority): flat rate only
If you have the child for 175 or more nights per year, you pay only the flat rate (currently £7/week for one child on standard income). If both parents each have 50% of nights, Regulation 50 cross-calculation applies — see below.
Where both parents each care for one child from the same relationship in separate households, Regulation 50 of the Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012 requires a cross-calculation. Each parent's liability to the other is calculated, and only the net difference is paid by the higher earner to the lower earner.
In many split-care cases this produces a nil or very small net liability. CMS often fails to apply this automatically — if it hasn't been applied to your case, demand it in writing immediately.
You must notify CMS of any income change immediately. CMS will request evidence (P45, confirmation of benefits claimed) and recalculate. If your income falls below £7 per week, the assessment will reduce to the nil rate.
However, payments do not automatically stop. You must report the change — CMS will not pick it up from HMRC in real time. Until the case is revised, the existing assessment remains in force and arrears accumulate.
CMS uses the self-employed profits declared to HMRC — the net profit figure after allowable business expenses but before personal tax allowances. They use the most recent tax year HMRC holds.
If you are a company director taking a mix of salary and dividends, CMS will include both in the assessment. Dividends are treated as unearned income and included in the calculation.
Yes — a Deduction from Earnings Order (DEO) is a legal power under s.32 Child Support Act 1991. CMS can issue it directly to your employer without needing a court order. Your employer must comply or they commit a criminal offence.
However, 60% of your net earnings are protected by law and cannot be deducted under any circumstances. CMS can only take from the top 40% of net pay. Net pay means after tax, NI, pension, and student loan repayments.
CMS has extensive enforcement powers. Where a paying parent refuses to pay, CMS can:
Without a court order: Issue a Deduction from Earnings Order (wages), Regular Deduction Order (bank account), Lump Sum Deduction Order (seize bank balance for arrears).
With a Liability Order: Send bailiffs, remove the driving licence, apply to commit to prison (up to 6 weeks).
No. Your new partner's income has no bearing on the CMS calculation whatsoever. Child maintenance is calculated solely on the paying parent's gross income. Whether you are single, cohabiting, remarried, or in a civil partnership makes no difference.
Similarly, if you remarry or have more children with a new partner, this does not reduce the amount the paying parent owes. The obligation runs from the paying parent to the qualifying child — not to you personally.
CMS maintenance is not backdated to the date of separation. It begins from the date the CMS application is made — specifically, the effective date which is generally the date CMS contacts the paying parent with the calculation.
This is why it is important to apply to CMS as early as possible. Any period before the effective date cannot be recovered through CMS (though it may be possible through the courts in some circumstances — seek legal advice).
You can apply for a Variation on the grounds of lifestyle inconsistency — where the paying parent's lifestyle (car, property, holidays, spending) is clearly inconsistent with the income they have declared to CMS.
CMS also has a Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) with powers to compel disclosure of financial records, check bank accounts, and investigate offshore arrangements. Request in writing that the FIU be involved if you believe income is being hidden.
Assets such as property, shares, or trust income worth over £31,250 can also be the basis of a Variation application — the notional income from those assets is added to the calculation.
CMS has a power under the Child Support Act to write off arrears in certain circumstances — including where they judge the arrears are unlikely to be collected, or where collection would be harmful to the child. However, they must consult you before writing off arrears and give you the opportunity to object.
If CMS proposes to write off arrears you believe are collectable, object in writing immediately and request a full explanation of why they consider the debt unenforceable. This decision can be challenged through Mandatory Reconsideration and appeal.