Child Maintenance Service

Printable version

1. What child maintenance is

Child maintenance covers how your child’s living costs will be paid when one of the parents does not live with the child. It’s made when you’ve separated from the other parent or if you’ve never been in a relationship.

This is a financial arrangement between you and the other parent of your child. Making arrangements to see your child happens separately.

This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg).

You must have a child maintenance arrangement if your child is under 16 (or under 20 if they are still in full-time education).

Both parents are responsible for the costs of raising their children, even if they do not see them.

Sign in to your Child Maintenance Service account if you already have one.

Options for arranging child maintenance

Child maintenance can be arranged:

The Child Maintenance Service can:

If you do not want your child’s other parent to contact you or your child

You can use the Child Maintenance Service to arrange child maintenance if you do not want your child’s other parent to know your location or personal information.

Find out how to get help if you’re experiencing domestic abuse.

How it affects benefits

Child maintenance payments will not affect any benefits that you and your children get, including Universal Credit. You will not have to pay tax on them.

2. Eligibility

Your child needs to be under 16 - or under 20 if they are in full-time education, up to and including A level or equivalent.

You need to live in the UK as your main home and have the right to live here.

You can apply if you’re:

  • either parent (you do not need to live with the child)
  • a grandparent with main day-to-day care of the child
  • the child’s guardian
  • a child over 12 living in Scotland

If you do not have an income and you’re either a full-time student or in prison, you do not have to pay child maintenance. There’s no need to apply.

You cannot use the Child Maintenance Service if you have an existing consent order approved by a court that is either:

  • less than a year old
  • made before 3 March 2003

If one of the parents lives outside the UK

You cannot apply if the child and the parent with main day-to-day care live outside the UK.

The Child Maintenance Service can only help if the parent without main day-to-day care works outside the UK for a British organisation.

3. How to apply

You can either arrange child maintenance:

  • privately between parents, if both parents agree
  • through the Child Maintenance Service

Get help arranging child maintenance

Use the ‘Get help arranging child maintenance’ tool to:

  • find out about your options for paying or getting support for your child
  • find out how to make a private arrangement, if you choose to do this
  • apply to the Child Maintenance Service, if you choose to use it

There is a different service if you live in Northern Ireland.

Start now

If you cannot use the ‘Get help arranging child maintenance’ tool, call the Child Maintenance Service.

If you decide to use the Child Maintenance Service

When you contact the Child Maintenance Service, you’ll need:

  • the reference number you got from the ‘Get help arranging child maintenance’ tool
  • your bank details
  • your National Insurance number

If you do not have day-to-day care of the child, you’ll also be asked about:

  • your employment details
  • your income and any benefits you get
  • private pension contributions

Tell the Child Maintenance Service if it’s not safe for the other parent to know your name (if you’ve changed it) or your location.

Find out how to get help if you’re experiencing domestic abuse.

Tell the Child Maintenance Service if the paying parent has other income or expenses that you want them to consider when working out payments. This is called ‘applying for a variation’. Either parent can apply.

How your information is used

The Child Maintenance Service will use your information to:

  • share your name and your child’s name with the other parent (your address is not shared)
  • share your contact details with other government organisations, debt collection agencies or the courts, if needed (details about your case are not shared)
  • look for the paying parent if you do not know their address

If the Child Maintenance Service cannot get the information from you or the other parent, they’ll contact:

  • the paying parent’s employer
  • government organisations like Jobcentre Plus
  • prison services or local councils
  • the paying parent’s bank or building society

4. Making and receiving payments

If you use the Child Maintenance Service, they will work out your child maintenance amount based on the paying parent’s circumstances.

You can then either:

  • arrange payments with the other parent yourself (Direct Pay)
  • use the Child Maintenance Service to collect and pass on payments (Collect and Pay) - there are fees for this service

Both parents are given a choice. If either parent chooses Direct Pay, the payment method will be Direct Pay. If the paying parent misses or is late with payments, the Child Maintenance Service can change the payment method to Collect and Pay.

If you make or receive extra payments, you must tell the Child Maintenance Service. You can also contact them if you’re having problems paying.

If you need help with money as a paying parent or as a parent getting payments, find out what support you can get with the cost of living.

Arranging payments yourself (Direct Pay)

Both parents should agree how and when the amount worked out by the Child Maintenance Service will be paid. You do not pay any collection fees when you arrange payment yourself.

You can still ask the Child Maintenance Service for help with missed payments. Keep a record of payments in case there are any problems.

Getting payments without sharing your location

If you do not want the other parent to know where you live, ask your bank to set up an account with a ‘non-geographic’ sort code. The Child Maintenance Service can give you a letter for your bank explaining why you need to set up this type of account. They can give your bank details to the other parent if you do not want to contact them.

Find out how to get help if you’re experiencing domestic abuse.

Using the Child Maintenance Service to manage payments (Collect and Pay)

The Child Maintenance Service can collect payments from the paying parent and pass them on to the receiving parent. They can take the payment directly from the paying parent’s:

  • earnings (arranged with their employer)
  • bank account (by Direct Debit)
  • benefits or pension

You do not need to have any contact with the other parent.

Collection fees

You have to pay a fee each time you make or receive a regular child maintenance payment through the Child Maintenance Service. The fee is:

  • 20% (which is added to the payment) for paying parents
  • 4% (which is taken off the payment) for receiving parents

If you use Collect and Pay, you cannot avoid collection fees by paying the other parent directly.

When you’ll pay or receive the money

You’ll get a letter telling you:

  • how much you need to pay and when, if you are the paying parent
  • how much you’ll receive and when, if you are the receiving parent

The first payment is usually made within 12 weeks of applying.

If you think your child maintenance amount is wrong

Contact the Child Maintenance Service if:

  • you want them to look at the decision again - this is called a ‘mandatory reconsideration’ and you must ask for it within one month of the decision
  • the paying parent has other income or expenses that you want them to take into account - this is called asking for a variation

You can also ask for a variation through your online account.

If a parent does not pay

If you get payments using Direct Pay, tell the Child Maintenance Service about a missed payment.

If the Child Maintenance Service arranges payment for you through Collect and Pay, you do not need to do anything. They’ll take action when a payment is missed.

If you need help with money as you wait for missing payments, find out what support you can get with the cost of living.

What the Child Maintenance Service can do

The Child Maintenance Service can apply for a court order (called a liability order) and take legal action to recover any unpaid child maintenance. They may charge the paying parent for the cost of any action they take. This is on top of the child maintenance they owe.

5. Sign in to your account

Sign in to your Child Maintenance Service account to:

  • report a change in your circumstances
  • report a missed payment, if you arrange payments with the other parent yourself (Direct Pay)
  • report an extra payment on top of your existing payments
  • report any expenses or income that you want the Child Maintenance Service to consider, if you are the paying parent
  • view your payment schedule

You’ll need your:

  • 12-digit reference number - you’ll find this on letters from the Child Maintenance Service
  • National Insurance number - you’ll find this on benefit letters or payslips
  • 7-digit PIN number that you chose when setting up your case

You cannot use this service to set up a new arrangement. Find out how to apply instead.

Sign in

What you need to know

Contact the Child Maintenance Service if you need help using your online account.

6. Disagreements about parentage

If you or the other parent in your child maintenance case denies that they’re the child’s parent, the Child Maintenance Service can:

  • ask for evidence that proves one of you is not the parent
  • tell the other parent what’s happened and ask for evidence to prove parentage

If there’s no evidence to prove you’re not the parent, the Child Maintenance Service can:

  • ask you and the other parent to take a DNA test
  • ask the courts to make a decision

When the Child Maintenance Service assumes who the parent is

You’ll be assumed to be the child’s parent if any of the following apply:

  • you were married to, or the civil partner of, the child’s mother at any time between the conception and birth of the child (unless the child is adopted)
  • you’re named on the child’s birth certificate (unless the child is adopted)
  • a DNA test shows you’re the parent
  • you legally adopted the child
  • you’re named in a court order as the parent when the child was born to a surrogate mother

Paying child maintenance during a disagreement

If you’re assumed to be the parent

The Child Maintenance Service will work out a child maintenance amount. You’ll have to pay this if you do not have main day-to-day care of the child. If you prove you’re not the parent you’ll no longer have to pay.

If you’re not assumed to be the parent

You do not need to pay child maintenance until the disagreement has been sorted out. If you’re found to be the parent, the amount of child maintenance you have to pay will be back-dated to when the case was opened.

If you prove you’re not the parent

When this happens, the Child Maintenance Service may:

  • refund the payments you’ve made since the date you denied you were the parent
  • offset the amount you’ve paid in child maintenance against maintenance for another child you pay for
  • refund the cost of any DNA tests arranged through the service
  • ask the other parent to pay back any child maintenance to you

7. Changes you need to report

There are some changes you must tell the Child Maintenance Service about by law. You should report the change as soon as it happens.

Either parent can report a change by contacting the Child Maintenance Service.

Changes to your circumstances may mean a change to the amount of child maintenance you pay or receive. Find out how child maintenance payments are worked out.

What you need to report

Tell the Child Maintenance Service if:

  • you change who the child’s main carer is
  • you change the agreement on how often the child stays overnight, either with the paying parent or a local authority, and this change to ‘shared care’ affects your child maintenance payments
  • you want to change how you make and get payments using Direct Pay or Collect and Pay
  • you move house (give your new address within 7 days of moving)
  • you change your bank details
  • you change your phone number
  • you want someone else to deal with your case for you
  • you add a child to your case
  • the child leaves full-time education (up to and including A Level or equivalent)
  • the child is being adopted by someone else
  • you want to close your case
  • the child no longer lives in the UK
  • someone on the case dies

There are extra things that need to be reported about the paying parent. Either parent can tell the Child Maintenance Service if the paying parent:

  • misses a payment when using Direct Pay
  • makes any voluntary payments on top of existing payments
  • has an income change of 25% or more, or no longer has an income
  • is spending more or less money in order to see the child, for example on transport costs

If you do not give the right information

You could be taken to court and fined up to £1,000 if you:

  • do not give the information you are asked for
  • give information that you know is false

This applies to any person or organisation who, by law, must give the Child Maintenance Service information, for example:

  • employers
  • accountants
  • either parent

If you are the paying parent, you will not be taken to court or fined if you made a mistake when you reported your income. You must report the mistake by contacting the Child Maintenance Service as soon as possible so that you pay the right amount of child maintenance.

8. Contact the Child Maintenance Service

Sign in to your online account

If you already have a Child Maintenance Service case you can use your online account to report changes to your circumstances.

Call the Child Maintenance Service

Child Maintenance Service
Telephone: 0800 171 2345
Welsh language: 0800 232 1979
Relay UK (if you cannot hear or speak on the phone): 18001 then 0800 171 2345
British Sign Language (BSL) video relay service if you’re on a computer - find out how to use the service on mobile or tablet
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm
Find out about call charges

There’s a different phone number if you live in Northern Ireland.

Contact the Child Maintenance Service by post

You can also write to the Child Maintenance Service.

Child Maintenance Service (England, Scotland, Wales cases)
Child Maintenance Service 21
Mail Handling Site A
Wolverhampton
WV98 2BU

Child Maintenance Service (Northern Ireland cases)
Child Maintenance Service 24
Mail Handling Site A
Wolverhampton
WV98 2BU

9. Complaints and appeals

Make a complaint

Follow the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) complaints procedure if you’re unhappy with the service you’ve received.

If you disagree with a decision

You can challenge a decision about your payment amount. This is called asking for ‘mandatory reconsideration’. 

You must ask for this within 30 days of the date on your decision letter.

Appeal to the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal

If you’re unhappy with the outcome of the mandatory reconsideration, you can appeal to the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal within one month of getting the decision. If you submit your appeal after a month you’ll have to explain why you did not do it earlier.

Download and fill in form SSCS2. Send it to the address on the form.

You’ll need to choose whether you want to go to the tribunal hearing to explain your case. If you do not attend, your appeal will be decided on your appeal form and any supporting evidence.

After you submit your appeal, you can provide evidence. Your appeal and the evidence will be discussed at a hearing by a judge and one or two experts. The judge will then make a decision.

It usually takes around 6 months for your appeal to be heard by the tribunal.

10. Make a private arrangement

You can make a private arrangement with your child’s other parent about how to cover your child’s living costs if both parents agree. No one else has to be involved. It’s flexible and can be changed if your circumstances change. For example, you could both agree that one parent:

  • pays some of their income to the parent with day to day care
  • pays for things like housing, school uniform, trips or clubs

If you cannot agree, or you feel at risk talking to the other parent, you might be able to use the Child Maintenance Service.

Working out payments

It’s up to you to decide how much payments should be. You can use the child maintenance calculator to help.

Get help to make an arrangement

You can read guidance on:

You can also search for a local mediator to help you agree on an arrangement.

If you need help with money as a paying parent or as a parent getting payments, find out what support you can get with the cost of living.