[Sticky] When does child maintenance (CMS) stop after a child leaves education?

Thank Bill 

I’ve an 18 year old that left full time education 28th June 2022. He’s been working since and continues to do so. 

I’ve spoken to the CMS who date that unless the child benefit ceases to be paid then the CMS will continue.

I have spoken to the child benefit office twice now and in-line with your advice they said that if he left June from education then it could take three months before the benefit ceases. 

however my ex wife has contacted the child benefit on my advice, as I explained she was claiming fraudulently. 

the latest I have is that they have agreed he is in a transitional work phase and would get a reduced child benefit amount which ultimately means I still have to pay CMS for my son (£585 per month ) 

very confusing as he earns anywhere between £500-£1000 a month 

have you come across this previously as I am hitting brick walls with both the CMS and Child Benefit.

Thanks 

Pete 

@ptmf hi take a look at this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXyPXUojjF0

@bill337 thanks again , spoken to the child benefit office just now. I have had to raise a fraud case. 
crazy that I have confirmation of my some leaving college in email from the college but it’s only the claimant ( ex wife that can inform them ) I asked to provide my sons payslips and evidence that he has left college and requested to be sent the process that states this is correct , he put the phone down , can you believe.
anyway thanks for your above and link.

My partner has twins with an ex. They were 17 in December. In the last couple of weeks, we have been appalled to learn that both have dropped out of college! One of them after just a couple of months. My partner has applied pressure to his ex to get them back into education, as it’s a legal requirement, and we’re genuinely concerned for both of their futures without their education! However, the ex couldn’t care less. My partner is now considering withdrawing child maintenance. (It’s a private arrangement and not through CMS). I just wanted to check whether, legally, we can do this. We’re not going to enable them to sit on their backsides doing nothing. It’s just unacceptable. We both have good jobs and work damned hard, and feel we set a good example. I just wish the same could be said for their mother. Thank you in advance for the advice!

Hi,

Yes he could cancel the private child maintenance agreement. But his ex will likely try open a case with child maintenance. If ex is still getting child benefit, he would be expected to continue paying maintenance.

Have a look at this short clip: https://youtu.be/XXyPXUojjF0

On a related topic, I'm responding to the courts on yet another fishing expedition from my ex and wanted to check my understanding of how the end date of liability maintenance affects the calculation.

I was hit with a diversion of income calculation as I previously received my income from my Limited Company for the full financial year 2018/19. For the following year, 2019/20, the CMS just used the assumed income figures for me from the previous year as decided by the court.

However, this was my son's final year in school, thus my end date for maintenance liability was 31st August 2019.

The CMS have assumed that my salary figure from the previous year stands, which I'm fine with as they use this as a weekly income figure.

It's the dividends where I have an issue - in taking the dividend figure for the entire year, when my liability ended 5 months into the year, I think the CMS are in error. As the Dividends were built up in my Limited Company across the entire year, and taken by me across the year, then they should be using 5/12 of this total figure, not the full annual amount.

Can someone please confirm if my assumption is correct?

@ptmf Child benefit can be claimed by the main carer of the child (unless waived for the other parent to claim). However, if the claimant or his/her partner have an individual household income of over £50k (gross), then the amount the claimant receives drops by 1% for every £100 earned. So, it becomes benefit-neutral (for want of a better term) at £60k, based on the tax charge for the amount over £60k. 

When it comes to the date when Child Maintenance stops, this is a grey error based on the lack of clarity provided by the CMS. Based on legal definition (text available on Gov.UK), child maintenance payments should stop the date when a child / young person finishes full-time, approved education (i.e., secondary school, upper sixth, and college). However, the CMS continues to state that Child Maintenance is linked to when Child Benefit ceases, albeit there is no firm text to show this. While this remains a contentious issue (due to the lack of clarify), your maintenance payments should stop on 31 August, subject to any court order in place.

While the onus should remain on the claimant to notify all parties when a child / young person has finished full-time, approved education, my advice is to seize the initiative. Logon to the child maintenance parent portal (using your 12-digit customer reference number, NI and passcode) as soon as your son and/or daughter have left school / college.

Login to your CMS portal; once in, copy the below link. Sign in https://childmaintenanceservice.direct.gov.uk/iam-las/public/provider/interaction/GjvgxpYqiQ2eBRSdnVRYW&source=gmail&ust=1680933409390000&usg=AOvVaw2Tq-3RWXyV02DC-MZpmTC 8">here.

@stepparent8183 https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/626101

@bill337 hi my son has now left full time education in April 2023 he will be 18 in June when will I stop making payments to cams I know there is a cut off date in may 31 and August 31 of child benefit also he has no plans to go back to school he wants to do a payed apprenticeship in England can anyone help me to bring some light to thuu oh s situation please

New to the forum but hopefully someone can give me a steer. I've never seen the child I've been paying CSA/CMS for since his birth in Aug 2004. The CMS has upped my payment from £500 to £850 a month - and TBH, after 19 years I've got the [censored] with it.

I've appealed their calculations but to no avail. I have never had any contact with the child or his mother since birth so am clueless whether I should even still be paying anything. 

How do I confirm if I should still be paying the "child" when CSA won't engage and I have no knowledge of whether he is working, in education or eligible in any way whatsoever.

All I have is a direct pay that I will not increase and willing to give up my job and change my income to £0 on principal alone.

As a "summer born child" my thoughts are that this will be his last school year and with a term ending July - which I intend to be my last payment. 

So my problem is that I'm [censored] sure that as I have a Direct Pay, the CMS will do nothing to check or validate the requirement for me to pay and will attempt to enforce the ridiculous £850/month. The question to the forum is whether anyone has experienced of a similar situation and how can I challenge, verify or check whether I have a legal obligation to pay?

Thanks for any help

Hi,

You could ring CMS and ask to check if child benefit case still open. If open they will expect you to carry on paying.