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Was wondering if anyone can directly help or point me in the right direction. My youngest son recently finished secondary school and is now embarking on an apprenticeship scheme (government approved) with a local company for 4 days a week and will have 1 day a week at college. My consent order said that I would be able to stop CSA payments when he wasn't in full time education. I have a 'family arrangement' with ex outside of CSA. I believe this is classed as work and not full time education am I entitled to stop the payments. He will be receiving a wage for the 3 years that the apprenticeship runs for. Any help would be gratefully received.
Hello pavthfc
Under child support legislation, regular child maintenance payments must be made until a child is 16 years old, or 20 if they are in full-time, non-advanced education, or for as long as Child Benefit is being paid. Full-time, non-advanced education is 12 hours or more per week of classroom study, at anything up to and including A-level standard.
When a child leaves full-time education in the summer, Child Benefit generally continues until the first week of September, which is usually when the maintenance also stops.
If your current arrangement is a family-based arrangement, it would be down to you and your son’s other parent to agree on when your payments end, as this type of arrangement is not legally binding and there are no strict rules to follow.
If you have a Consent Order in place for child maintenance, you may wish to seek legal advice around the content of what was agreed, in order to assist you with when your payments end.
For a more personalised response, you may wish to contact Child Maintenance Options directly at http://www.cmoptions.org.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have a website, '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 https://www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk/.
Regards
William
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