Changes to the Child Maintenance Service
Earlier this year, changes to the way child maintenance is calculated were introduced and a paying parent’s obligation to pay maintenance is now based on gross, rather than net, income. For more on those changes please see our previous article on this for more details.
There are now further changes taking place within the child maintenance regime:
New fees for using the Child Maintenance Service are being introduced
From 30 June 2014, a new one-off fee of £20 will be charged for every new application to the CMS for a child maintenance calculation.
Under the new arrangements, where the Collect & Pay service is used (where the parents cannot agree to make/receive payments directly) from 11 August 2014, a charge will be imposed on the paying parent of 20% on top of the weekly amount of child maintenance, and the receiving parent will pay 4% of the weekly amount they receive in fees to the Child Maintenance Service.
Existing parents already within the Collect & Pay system have ‘a cooling off period’ to allow them to avoid paying collection charges. They can decide whether to continue using the Collect and Pay system and be charged, or to avoid the collection fee by either working out arrangements between themselves or using the free Direct Pay system.
The end of arrangements under the CSA
The Child Maintenance Service was launched in 2012 and will ultimately replace the CSA. Between 2014 and 2017, the aim is to end all child maintenance arrangements under the CSA and put alternative arrangements in place.
Parents will be offered information and support about their options from Child Maintenance Options, a free information and guidance service. Child Maintenance Options will explain the types of arrangements that clients can make. Parents can:
make an arrangement between each other, known as a “a family based arrangement”; or they can
make an application to the Child Maintenance Service (to which a £20 fee will apply)Information, fact sheets and leaflets are available by clicking the following links:
General information is being published aimed at assisting separated families
http://www.cmoptions.org/stakeholdertoolkit/sorting-separation.asp
http://www.cmoptions.org/stakeholdertoolkit/docs/choosing-a-new-arrangement.pdf
http://www.cmoptions.org/en/pdfs/refresh/parenting-togther-after-separation.pdf
For more, visit http://www.cmoptions.org/stakeholdertoolkit/help-with-cm.asp
If you have any queries about this article please contact jonesnickolds on 0203 405 2300 or contact@jonesnickolds.co.uk