Child Support and Shared Care
11th November, 2024
There has been an increasing push for shared care arrangements, reflecting evolving views on the roles of mothers and fathers in caregiving. However, equal shared care is still relatively rare, as many parents find it difficult to maintain completely equal arrangements due to work schedules or other personal circumstances.
In many cases a shared care arrangement is agreed where care is not equal but a significant amount of time is spent with the other parent and the amount of that time can have an impact on child maintenance.
Calculation of Child Maintenance:
Child maintenance (or child support) is the financial support one parent (the ‘non-residential’ parent) pays to the other (the ‘residential parent’) to contribute to the cost of raising their child. In the majority of cases, the amount of child support is determined by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) based primarily on the paying parent’s gross income (after pension contributions) and the level of shared care (the number of overnight stays the child has with the paying parent).
The CMS has different tiers for calculating support when a shared care arrangement is in place:
- No shared care: Full child support based on the paying parent’s income.
- Shared care for 1–2 nights per week: A 14% reduction in child support.
- Shared care for 3–4 nights per week: A 28% reduction.
- Shared care for 5–6 nights per week: A 42% reduction.
- Equal care (7 nights per week): No child maintenance is typically payable, if care is genuinely split equally between the parents, as both parents are assumed to contribute equally to the child’s expenses.
The CMS will require sight of a court order or written agreement between the parents confirming the shared care arrangements but if these are not available the CMS can accept a summary of the arrangements. Where there is a dispute about the amount of time spent with the child, the CMS can look at additional evidence to assess the care pattern.
Regulation 50
However, it may not be as simple as calculating the number of overnight stays to work out the amount of child support that is payable. There have been cases where the number of overnight stays with each parent are equal but the decision of the CMS has been that ‘day to day care’ is not and therefore child support is payable, as well as cases where the overnight stays are not entirely equal but the decision of the CMS has been that no child support is payable because both parents are providing equal ‘day to day care’.
Where both parents provide a home for the child and ‘day to day care’ is shared, this is treated as a special case. In such cases, evidence can be provided to the CMS that ‘day to day care’ is shared equally, or as Regulation 50 of the Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012 provides: “a person cannot be treated as a non-resident parent for child support purposes unless he provides day-to-day care to a lesser extent than the other parent.” If there is no ‘non-residential parent’ the CMS will say they do not have jurisdiction or will make a ‘nil’ assessment.
Whilst there is an assumption that the parent in receipt of the child benefit for the child is the ‘residential parent’ and the other is not and child support is therefore payable, this can be rebutted (for example, where one parent is above the income threshold for child benefit but the other is not).
What is ‘day to day care’?
There is no definitive test. Each case is fact specific and will be decided on the evidence. This may include taking responsibility for routine everyday things, such as dental and medical appointments, getting the child to school, taking them to extracurricular activities and social events, and making sure they are clothed and fed. The pattern or distribution of care is considered, looking at the evidence as a whole.
Disputes with the CMS:
Mandatory Reconsideration:
If one parent disagrees with the decision of the CMS they can ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration of the decision. This has to be requested within 1 month of the date of the decision letter. You can request this over the phone or in writing, but it is better to put this in writing, so you have a record of it. You will need to include:
- Your full name and CMS reference number
- Details of the decision you are challenging
- Why you think the decision is wrong (for example, errors in income calculations)
- Any additional evidence or documents to support your case
The CMS will review your case and send you a Mandatory Reconsideration Notice with their new decision.
Appeal:
If a parent is still unhappy with the decision, an appeal can be made within 1 month to an Independent Tribunal using form SSCS2, which is available on the government website. The case will be reviewed by an independent panel, who will make a final decision. You may be asked to attend a hearing, but sometimes cases are decided without one.
At Ward Hadaway, our solicitors have years of experience in dealing with all aspects of family law issues including disputes about child support and are here to provide you with professional support and advice. Discuss your issue with our team here.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
This page may contain links that direct you to third party websites. We have no control over and are not responsible for the content, use by you or availability of those third party websites, for any products or services you buy through those sites or for the treatment of any personal information you provide to the third party.
