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My son has court ordered equal shared care but is being pursued for monthly payments. Despite the Gov website here making clear and explicit that equal shared care carries no financial responsibility (in this case to the father), CMS seem to be making up their own rules. My son has been asked to prove he takes the child to the doctors, dentist etc. Yet there is no mention of these extra conditions mentioned in the above gov document. CMS have also added other conditions based on what his ex has told them which they have taken at face value. My son has registered a complaint as well as an appeal but he has little faith in CMS who seem to be adding rules which are not explicit on their own website. Any advice welcome.
@systemic-kid yes CMS have odd rules, it's how they decide if there is equal day to care:
When deciding whether a person provides day to day care, you should consider the following questions:
who does the child spend most of their time with when they are not at school / nursery / childcare?
who pays for most of the child’s clothes and meals?
who arranges and pays for any childcare costs?
who is the usual contact for the child’s school / childminder etc.?
whose GP / dentist is the child registered with and who arranges appointments / accompanies the child?
who has the greatest involvement with the child’s recreational activities and is responsible for paying for them?
https://www.voiceofthechild.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Shared-Care.pdf
I recommend he joins this support group for paying parents
@bill337 Thanks for that. Fortunately, my son has a court order that says 'the child shall live equally' which is about a unequivocal as it gets.
CMS have, to date, been treating my son's case as a variant of shared care for which the additional rules you mention apply.
However, in the CMS guidance section where equal care is described:
Q: What happens if the day-to-day care of a child is equal between a paying parent and a receiving parent?
A: In this situation, the paying parent does not have to pay any child maintenance for that child.
The problem is getting CMS to follow its own rules.
I would raise a complaint against them, and ask for the reasons why they are not following their own rules.
@actd thanks for that. My son has requested a mandatory review and has also made clear that he will take this to a tribunal hearing. Will post here to update on outcome.
My son has had his mandatory reconsideration refused on the grounds that 'evidence available did not support a change to receiving parents role as primary carer as child benefit was active'. Has anyone else experienced this? As noted above, my son has a court order which states that he has equal care. CMS are ignoring this.
@systemic-kid hi. So he should have an option to take it to a tribunal. I recommend he join this support group for paying parents. Lot of members have been able to dismiss CMS cases based on equal care:
https://www.facebook.com/share/5JXEDLo2HN4kMXKC/
@systemic-kid I’m in this boat I’m about to apply for a tribunal.
i have 50/50 shared care, registered at my dentist, her doctors, handover is 1pm wed and every other Sat or Sun so 7nights over 14 each, the docs/dentist/school all have these times on record so in effect we both are responsible dependant on where they are, we have 2 kids so 1 child benefit each and we both pay our own nursery fees.
here’s the kicker it’s all equal except I actually pay for my oldest swimming lessons only £33 a month so I’m not too bothered but it just goes to show I actually technically pay more for them.
guess who gets child maintenance, yep her. I earn 90k a year she earns 20k and the CMS have decided one kid live with me and 1 lives with her so I have to pay £450 a month and she has to pay me £60 so I have to pay her £390 a month just because they have assumed parent with care via child benefit rather than just seeing it as completely split and no maintenance due on either side
totally bonkers
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