[Solved] Child care costs

I am reading old posts and I am slightly hopefull. Lawfully I do not have to pay extra? Would I get in trouble with the Police if I didnt sort a child minder out to collect him; even if I rang the school and minder and explained?
I really do not expect all the answers but maybe someone has been through the same.
I have honestly felt like drinking after 10 years off lol

As far as I know child maintenance covers a contribution towards all costs and you are not liable to pay any extra and if you do it is discretionary.

You do need to get this sorted out before it happens though. Perhaps you could agree to the payments if she shares the child benefit and tax credits with you. ...she can't have it all her own way.

is she responsibly to arrange collection for my son from school?

(Am sat with my ex, so put this question to her) She says: Your payments are reduced because you are expected to cover the cost of having your child during your time. If you don't arrange to pick up child from school/nursery, then school \nursey have a duty to inform social services if they can't get anyone to pick up the child.

She thinks your ex is angling to reduce your overnights (and get more maintenance), if you can't arrange appropriate childcare. Do you have any family members that can do the school run?

i think you may be right; which aint going to happen lol. This is why I want to find out who is responsible. The child maintenance service say I only need to pay 100 a month legally

i was thinking about giving her and the school 2 weeks notice; I need to speak to CMS tomorrow and ask why they informed that I need to cover child care as well as pay my ex the amount they calculated

We'd be interested to know what they say on this.

hey guys, thought i would update this post. After several conversations with CMS i do have to pay the child care on my days of having him. Apparently I am responsible for him as soon as he finishes school. Luckly I have had my hours changed so i can collect him on one of the days. The CMS i found are very much on the mothers side and all seem to be older females who speak to you.
The mother has won this battle for now lol

...I'm still skeptical to be honest, she gets child benefits, child tax credits and your maintenance and she is the primary carer. If you had a shared residence order then I could kind of see this might be the case, but when you read any of the information it states that the calculated amount is all that a non resident parent is liable for.

Have you thought about appealing this and escalating it as a formal complaint?

Hello Cheesemanpaul

Paying parents are legally responsible only for the amount worked out by the Child Maintenance Service and are not obliged to pay for anything extra. The following link provides further information on how the Child Maintenance Service calculates child maintenance that you may find useful, https://www.gov.uk/how-child-maintenance-is-worked-out/how-the-child-maintenance-service-works-out-child-maintenance.

For more information on all the different ways to set up child maintenance and for a more personalised service, you can visit the Child Maintenance Options website at http://www.cmoptions.org.

The DWP have a sorting out separation web-app that you may find useful. It offers help and support to separating and separated families. The link is: www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation.

Regards

William

You do not have to pay your exs childcare costs.

But if the children are with you, and you need to arrange child care, then those are your childcare costs, not your exs.

Your ex (if she claims help with childcare through tax credits) cannot claim for childcare costs that she doesn't pay, so can't claim for the days that it's your responsibility.

Also, your maintenance is reduced to reflect how often you have your children to enable you to pay the cost of taking care of them.