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I am currently a stay at home dad to my children from my current relationship and so do not have any income. My partner was claiming child benefit for the children but it's been suggested that I should claim it in order to get my class 3 ni contributions whilst I'm not working but will the child benefit be classed as income for the purposes of child maintenance which would be a shame to claim £20 a week in child benefit but to lose nearly half of it to maintenance when it's not classed as income when it's not at the moment. There was nothing on the website about child benefit just about other benefits.
Any advice would be appreciated
Thanks
Hello OllieC
If you have an agreement between the two of you about your maintenance payments, a family-based arrangement, there are no set rules to follow. This type of arrangement can include anything you both agree to.
If you have or were to have a statutory maintenance arrangement, you can find information on how the Child Maintenance Service work our payments and what they take into account here, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/325219/how-we-work-out-child-maintenance.pdf
If you do decide to apply for Child Benefit, you can find details on how to do that here, https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit/how-to-claim
If you require information about the different ways that maintenance payments can be set up, you can contact Child Maintenance Options directly, http://www.cmoption.org
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have a web application, ‘Sorting out separation’. It aims to make it much easier for separating and separated parents (and childless couples) to find the support they need, when and where they need it, and encourages them to collaborate on a range of issues. The link is http://www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation
Regards
William
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