PARENTS who have separated are usually obliged to share the cost of bringing up a child, and that most often comes in the form of child maintenance payments.
But recent figures show that child maintenance mistakes now take up more than half of all rulings against the government’s welfare department because so many complaints are made about the Child Maintenance Service.
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A report released in December showed 313 of the 597 cases upheld last year by the Independent Case Examiner involved the payment system.
But what can you do if you think a mistake has been made in your case?
Jack Gillis, advice service manager at Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families, said the best way to negotiate child maintenance payments is through a private agreement between the two parents.
But the government’s Child Maintenance Service will help if that isn’t an option.
“If you’ve come to a private agreement, you are not suddenly going to find that the other parent owes you lots of money,” Jack said.
“But if you’re using the Child Maintenance Service, there are ways of challenging the amounts.”
Here are his tips.
Who has to pay child maintenance?
“You’re liable to pay child maintenance if you have a child who you do not live with more than the other parent who does live with them,” Jack explained.
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“It could be the case, for example, that you don’t see your children at all and they live with the other parent full time.
“Or it could be that you see them three nights a week, and the other parent has them four nights a week.”
You won’t be forced to pay anything through the Child Maintenance Service if you are sharing care equally with the other parent, you are a full-time student with no income, or you are in prison.
If I have my children the majority of the time, how much might I get from their other parent?
If you want to calculate the amount the government thinks you should receive, you can use the Child Maintenance Service online calculator which you can find here.
“What the state would like you to do is not to use that Child Maintenance Service, but to come to an agreement between separated parents.
“If you do that, you can choose any amount as long as it is agreed between the two parents, and it can be paid at whatever interval you both choose.
“But if that doesn’t work, you can use the Child Maintenance Service.”
The online calculator may be useful to give you a starting point to negotiate with the other parent, even if you don’t end up using the government’s service.
I’m using the government service, but I think a mistake has been made with the calculation; what should I do?
“It is possible that both parties involved in a child maintenance arrangement may have issues with the calculation,” Jack said.
But it is possible to challenge it, as long as you’re using the government’s Child Maintenance Service.
If you agree to a private arrangement, you cannot challenge the amount once you agree to it unless you entirely renegotiate the amount.
If you think the government service has made a mistake, you can ask for an appeal.
“This is when you say to them, you haven’t done your job correctly, and you have made a mistake in calculating the numbers properly,” Jack explained.
“For example, there is an error in someone’s earnings, or you have said I have three children and not two.
“You are saying the Child Maintenance Service has made a mistake.”
If you are simply unhappy with the amount, or think it doesn’t reflect the circumstances properly, then you can ask for a variation.
“In that case you can say to the Child Maintenance Service that while you understand that it has correctly calculated how much you should be receiving, you want it to vary its calculation to reflect a certain circumstance.”
This could be something like the paying parent is now living with a new partner and has two other children to care for.
Or it might be that the paying parent has income he or she hasn’t declared.
He said that this is one of Gingerbread’s most talked-about issues.
“We often speak to parents receiving child maintenance payments who think the government has got the amount wrong,” he said.
What if the other parent just stops paying?
If you are in a private agreement, you can approach the Child Maintenance Service to step in and draw up a formal payment plan, explains Jack.
If you’re already being paid through the Child Maintenance Service, you can ask them to enforce the existing plan, which is binding.
“The Child Maintenance Service can seek money from the paying parent if they aren’t paying,” Jack said.
Where can I turn for help?
Gingerbread has its own helpline which you can call on 0808 802 0925.
Jack said: “The Gingerbread Single Parent Helpline provides support and expert advice on anything from dealing with a break-up or bereavement to going back to work or sorting out child maintenance, benefit or tax credit issues.
“Our expert advisers can provide tailored advice and talk through your options.
“Your call is free and confidential.”
This service covers England and Wales.
If you live in Scotland, you can contact One Parent Families Scotland on 0808 8010323.
If you live in Northern Ireland and would like information about benefits or tax, you can call Advice NI on 0808 802 0020.
Or for general parenting enquiries in Northern Ireland, call Parenting NI on 0808 8010 722.
Jack also suggested seeking out your local Citizens Advice.
“In the first instance, you may want to try talking to a mediator who can help you come up with an agreement with the other parent involved,” he said.
