Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that child maintenance calculations adequately reflect disparities in parents' earning, regardless of custody arrangements.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates on the principle that both parents have financial responsibility for their child, including their food and clothing, as well as contributing towards the associated costs of running the home that the child lives in. The maintenance calculation is intended to represent what a parent would pay for their child if they lived with them. We assume that in the event of a disparity in parental income, parents will each still spend the same proportion of their income on their child(ren) - but one parent will bear a greater amount of the overall spending on the children where their income is higher. The income of the receiving parent is therefore not included as they are already providing as the child’s primary care giver and therefore spending the amount they would if the parents lived together.

If a parent feels that a decision taken by the Child Maintenance Service is incorrect, they can ask it to look at the decision again. This is known as a mandatory reconsideration.

The CMS is aware that paying parents can face difficulties when attempting to spend meaningful time with their child following separation. Issues relating to access and contact are managed by family courts, however, reductions can be made for the extra cost of care where it is shared by the paying parent. The paying parent must have overnight care of any qualifying children for at least 52 nights a year, equivalent of 1 night per week. The amount payable is reduced by a maximum of fifty percent within bands based on the number of nights overnight care is provided over a 12-month period. The bands are used to give greater stability to maintenance payments and as a result there is greater reliability of payments, which contributes towards the welfare of the children in the case.

If evidence shows that both parties are providing equal day-to-day care of a qualifying child, in addition to sharing overnight care, there is no requirement for either parent to pay child maintenance.

The Government is conducting a review of the child maintenance calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose. This includes updating the underlying research and considering how to ensure the calculation reflects current and future societal trends.

Options for proposed reforms are currently being considered. Any changes made to the child maintenance calculation will be subject to extensive public consultation, and if made, will require amendments to legislation so would be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny.