How the Child Maintenance Service works out child maintenance

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Asking for other income and expenses to be included

You can ask the Child Maintenance Service to take other income and expenses into account when working out child maintenance payments. This is called ‘applying for a variation’.

You can ask for a variation when you apply for child maintenance or after your child maintenance has been worked out.

After you apply for a variation, it can take up to 3 months for your Child Maintenance payment amount to change.

Income and assets

Both the paying and receiving parent can ask for the following types of income and assets to be taken into account:

  • rental income over £2,500 a year
  • interest and dividends from savings and investments over £2,500 a year
  • gross earnings or pension of at least £100 a week - if the paying parent gets benefits and qualifies to pay the ‘flat rate’ of child maintenance
  • any income the paying parent may be diverting so that it is not included in the calculation (for example, giving it to someone else or choosing to have a company car instead of a higher salary)
  • assets like shares, stocks, gold or money worth more than £31,250

Expenses

If you’re the paying parent, you can ask for the following types of expenses to be taken into account:

  • costs of keeping in regular contact with a child you pay maintenance for (for example, fuel to travel between your home and the child’s)
  • costs of supporting a child with a disability or long term illness who lives with you
  • repaying debts from a previous relationship
  • boarding part of boarding school fees for a child you pay maintenance for
  • mortgage, loan or insurance payments for the home you used to share with the receiving parent - if the receiving parent and your child still live there

Each type of expense must be more than £10 a week. The costs of supporting a child with a disability or long-term illness can be less.

You cannot ask for expenses to be taken into account if your gross income is less than £7 a week.

Contact the Child Maintenance Service to apply for a variation.

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