[Solved] Full time education query and maintenance

...I think the requirement is 12hrs and the educational level is up to non advanced A level. It might be different in Scotland though.

It's the same in scotland and advanced highers are non advanced equivalent to A levels. So I think with it being under 12 hours I can stop paying.

Thanks

I think it might be advisable to put the amount you would normally pay to one side for the time being, just until you can get official notification that this is the case. I would hate you to get into arrears...if the mother is still in receipt of child benefit she might have the right to have maintenance continue.

Hello bubbab

Thank you for your post. I am William, the Child Maintenance Options consultant and I can give you some information about child maintenance that might help you.

I understand you would like to know how many hours of education are classed as full-time. Under the guidelines of the Child Support Agency (CSA), the definition of full-time education is more than 12 hours a week of study, on a course up to and including A level standard. Some examples of non-advanced education are:

GCSEs
A levels
iGCSEs
Pre-U
International Baccalaureate
NVQ/SVQ level 1, 2 or 3
BTEC National Diploma, National Certificate and First Diploma
SCE higher grade or similar

If the child were in advanced or higher education, they would no longer qualify for child maintenance. Some examples of advanced and higher education are:

a degree
Diploma of Higher Education
NVQ level 4 or above
BTEC Higher National Certificate (HNC)

However, as you have a court order in place for child maintenance it would depend on what the court defines as full-time hours. Therefore, you may wish to seek legal advice to clarify when your payments should stop. The Family Law Association may be able to provide you with further online information on this. You can find details about their service at www.familylawassociation.org. Alternatively, Law Society Scotland can put you in touch with a solicitor if you would like to discuss your court order, you can find their contact details at www.lawscot.org.uk/.

We have a sorting out separation web-app that you may find useful, it offers help and support to separated families. You can find this at http://www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation.

If you would like to talk to our team in complete confidence about child maintenance you could give us a ring on 0800 988 0988. We also have some other useful tools on our website to help support separated parents.

may be worth having a word with the Scottish Child Law centre before finding a solicitor - they are free - www.sclc.org.uk

The court order was done in England. Ex moved to scotland so think it will be based on English law?

When you say supervised study is 9 hours, is that what the prospectus says the length of the study week is, or is she expected to do a set amount of home study/research as well? If so, that might take it about 12 hours. However, as CMO say, the court definition may be different to the CSA (though it if it went back to court, using the CSA definition would certainly be persuasive). You could try renegotiating with your ex on the basis of the fact that you consider she is no longer in full time education - if she refuses, then you could try mediation. The question is whether you want to go back to court if you can't agree - if you stop paying, or reduce your payments without her agreement, then she could take you back to court and you might find yourself liable for some costs, or you might get away with it because the CSA might decide that it's less than 12 hours and it's not in their jurisdiction.

Might it be possible to get clarification about the number of hours from the school or college as a first step?