Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the equity of the proportion of a self-employed parent's income that is payable as Child Maintenance.

The Child Maintenance calculation is designed to be fair and affordable, while ensuring that the paying parent contributes a significant proportion of their income to support their children.

For self-employed paying parents the income used to calculate child maintenance payments is usually provided by HMRC and is the gross taxable profit of the parent’s business, for the latest tax-year HMRC hold a complete record. The taxable profits of a business represent the amount from which a business owner can support themselves and meet their outgoings.