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Hello good morning. I thought i'd just do a quick video because i've seen a lot of inquiries about payment of child maintenance payments, and as it's now June a lot of children have left college and have, in some cases already started employment or going off to university, so there's lots of queries about whether child maintenance should be paid.
Well, first of all, kind of yes, and no it depends on the situation. What's key though is the child benefit cut-off dates so if a child is in education and finishes their exams maybe mid-june, the child benefit agency will continue to pay child benefit until September therefore the Child Maintenance Service will therefore use that as a cut off date for the payment of child maintenance. Okay and you know this is traditionally put down to the fact that children will often go back to college and reset a levels or maybe they don't know what they want to do but the facts are the end of the day, child benefit actually has four cut off dates during the year.
Now what a lot of people don't realize is those four cut off dates are important because one of those cut off dates is in June so here's the important Child Maintenance point, if your child left education prior to 1 June, and has started employment child benefit should have stopped on the 1st of June If they left education after the 1st of June and went into employment. child benefit will stop in September, around about the 5th of September this year And so that's it.
so i'll give you an example i recently dealt with a case where the child left education in April, and the child maintenance service were informed in may that the child had left education but the child maintenance service insisted that child maintenance was to paid because child benefit was being paid. Well a quick contact with the child benefit agency, where they said well do you want to make a fraud report and various other letters soon resolve that because basically the child left education in april and therefore child benefit should have absolutely assist what's up completely on the 1st of June so that case is now resolved so just a quick one if your child leave education before the first adjoining gets a job CMS should stop from the 1st of June because child benefits should stop being paid if they leave after June then the next cut-off date is the 5th or 4th o September hope this helps have a great day, see you later cheers.
Hello good morning. I thought i'd just do a quick video because i've seen a lot of inquiries about payment of child maintenance payments, and as it's now June a lot of children have left college and have, in some cases already started employment or going off to university, so there's lots of queries about whether child maintenance should be paid.
Well, first of all, kind of yes, and no it depends on the situation. What's key though is the child benefit cut-off dates so if a child is in education and finishes their exams maybe mid-june, the child benefit agency will continue to pay child benefit until September therefore the Child Maintenance Service will therefore use that as a cut off date for the payment of child maintenance. Okay and you know this is traditionally put down to the fact that children will often go back to college and reset a levels or maybe they don't know what they want to do but the facts are the end of the day, child benefit actually has four cut off dates during the year.
Now what a lot of people don't realize is those four cut off dates are important because one of those cut off dates is in June so here's the important Child Maintenance point, if your child left education prior to 1 June, and has started employment child benefit should have stopped on the 1st of June If they left education after the 1st of June and went into employment. child benefit will stop in September, around about the 5th of September this year And so that's it.
so i'll give you an example i recently dealt with a case where the child left education in April, and the child maintenance service were informed in may that the child had left education but the child maintenance service insisted that child maintenance was to paid because child benefit was being paid. Well a quick contact with the child benefit agency, where they said well do you want to make a fraud report and various other letters soon resolve that because basically the child left education in april and therefore child benefit should have absolutely assist what's up completely on the 1st of June so that case is now resolved so just a quick one if your child leave education before the first adjoining gets a job CMS should stop from the 1st of June because child benefits should stop being paid if they leave after June then the next cut-off date is the 5th or 4th o September hope this helps have a great day, see you later cheers.
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
@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.
@bill337 my 18 yr old child did 3 A levels over the last two years which finished in June (21st). I am aware I have to pay CM till September but my child now wants to return to school and take 2 more A levels this academic year. Surely I don't need to fund another year of A levels. She is resitting the first set as she got 3 x AAAs but wants to study medicine and took the wrong choices (advised by the mother). Do I have to continue to pay for this coming year?
@yawneerg I have a very similar situation to this and It's crazy that in 2023 there is no clear guidance. After completing her A-levels, my daughter has decided to go back to college to get more A-level equivalent qualifications....not clear if I should still be paying or not.
@suda58 As she is not in advanced education (ie university or equivalent), and assuming she's under 20, then yes, you will still be liable for chaild maintenance
@yawneerg If your 18-year-old child re-sits their A levels at school or college, this would still be classed as 'approved education' (i.e., more than an average of 12 hours a week of supervised study or course-related work experience), so, yes, the CMS would expect you to continue to pay child maintenance until such time when they finish their education based on the academic year (even if they are 19). Even if your child is working during their approved education, you would still be expected to pay up until the end of that academic year.
For the avoidance of doubt, the academic year in England is 1 September - 31 August, and while the CMS should stop all payments after 31 August when a child turns 16 or 18 (i.e., leaves approved education), the CMS seems to use the first few days (e.g., 3-4 days) in September as part of the calculation period while they administer the closure of the case.
@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.
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
@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
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?
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