The Child Maintenance Service takes the paying parent's gross weekly income, applies a rate set by law (nil, flat £7, reduced, or 12%, 16% or 19% for 1, 2, or 3 or more children up to £800 a week), reduces the income first if they have other children, then splits the amount between receiving parents and reduces it for shared care; the result is a weekly amount.
This guide follows those steps for England, Wales and Scotland, where the formula of the Child Support Act 1991, Schedule 1 applies. Northern Ireland has its own scheme, under separate legislation and a separate service, and is not covered here (s.58(11)). The amounts below have not changed since November 2013. To run your own figures, use the calculator, and compare with the government's.
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Step 1: the income that counts
The starting point is the paying parent's gross weekly income: taxable income from employment, self-employment and pensions, after pension contributions, before Income Tax and National Insurance. The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) takes the figure from HMRC for the latest tax year HMRC has, not your income this year, then divides it by 365 and multiplies by 7 (Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012, reg 34-36). An income of £31,200 a year is therefore £598.36 a week.
Current income is used instead only if it differs from the HMRC figure by at least 25% (reg 34(2)): with an HMRC figure of £250 a week, current income counts only from £312.50, or at £187.50 or less. Income above £3,000 a week is ignored (Sch. 1 para. 10(3)); above that, the receiving parent can ask a court for more.
Step 2: the rate
| Gross weekly income | Rate | Weekly amount |
|---|---|---|
| Below £7 | Nil | £0 |
| £7 to £100, or certain benefits | Flat | £7, however many children |
| More than £100 and less than £200 | Reduced | £7 + a percentage of income above £100 |
| £200 to £800 | Basic | 12%, 16% or 19% for 1, 2, or 3 or more children |
| Above £800 (up to £3,000) | Basic, then 9%, 12% or 15% | Basic rate on the first £800, lower percentage on the rest |
The flat rate also applies, whatever the income, when the paying parent gets one of the benefits listed in regulation 44, such as the State Pension or contribution-based Jobseeker's Allowance, or when they or their partner get an income-related benefit such as income support, or universal credit worked out on the basis that the paying parent has no earned income (reg 44).
The reduced rate is F + A × T: the flat rate (£7), plus income above £100 (A) times a percentage (T) from a table, which depends on the number of children and of other children (reg 43). With no other children, T is 17%, 25% or 31% for 1, 2, or 3 or more children, so the reduced rate meets the basic rate at £200: for one child, £7 + 17% × £100 = £24, which is 12% of £200.
- 2 children, £600 a week: 16% × £600 = £96.00 a week.
- 2 children, £1,000 a week: 16% × £800 = £128, plus 12% × £200 = £24: £152.00 a week.
Step 3: other children in the paying parent's household
If the paying parent, or their partner, gets Child Benefit for other children, income is reduced before the basic rate is applied: by 11% for one such child, 14% for two, 16% for three or more (Sch. 1 para. 2(3), 10C; reg 77). What counts is Child Benefit, not where the child lives. On the reduced rate, those children change the percentage T instead.
- Reduced rate, 2 children, 1 other child, £173 a week: T is 21.2%, so £7 + 21.2% × £73 = £7 + £15.476: £22.48 a week, rounded to the penny only at the end.
Step 4: more than one receiving parent
If the children live with different receiving parents, the weekly amount is divided by the number of children and shared according to how many children each receiving parent looks after (Sch. 1 para. 6). For example, 3 children and £375 a week: 19% × £375 = £71.25, so £23.75 per child; a receiving parent with 2 of the children gets £47.50, the other £23.75.