Child Support Maintenance in United Kingdom

Definition of Child Support Maintenance

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Child Support Maintenance : The amount that a nonresident parent (i.e. one who does not live with the child concerned) must pay as a contribution to the upkeep of his or her *qualifying child to a parent with care (i.e. one with whom the child lives) or a person in whose favour a residence order is made (See section 8 orders). Since the Child Support Act 1991, responsibility for the assessment, review, collection, and enforcement of maintenance for children is supervised by the Child Support Agency (CSA), an agency of the Department for Work and Pensions (formerly Social Security) established under the Act, rather than by the court. It is no longer possible for people who do not already have a court order for child maintenance to go to court to obtain an order for periodical payments other than on behalf of stepchildren. However, it is still possible to apply to the court to obtain property settlements or lump sums or when an absent parent does not live habitually in the UK. A child over the age of 12 who lives in Scotland and whose absent parent lives in the UK may apply directly to the Child Support Agency on his or her own behalf. The Agency has wide powers of enforcement: for example it can make an order for payment to be deducted directly from wages or salary (See also clean break). No distinction is made between married and unmarried parents, but when parentage is disputed the Agency has power to apply to the court for a declaration of parentage; if successful this will have effect only for the purposes of the Child Support Act.

Certain changes, contained in the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000, have been (or will soon be) implemented; the most important of these is a change in the way in which the amount of maintenance payable by the nonresident parent is calculated. The original formula was extremely complex and took into account the income of the parent with care. The new formula is simply based on the following percentages of the net weekly income of the nonresident parent: 15% if there is one qualifying child; 20% if there are two qualifying children; and 25% if there are three or more. These amounts are reduced if the nonresident parent has one or more other children (for example, the children of a new partner) in his household and if he has staying contact with his child. Under the old system a married father was able to deny parentage, but there will now be a presumption of paternity in favour of both a married father and a person named as father on the child’s birth certificate.