Hi all just need advice my son who just turned 18 and i need to know if i still need to carry on paying CS. I've been paying since he was born and never missed a payment but after talking to family and friends they said i should of stopped payments a few months ago because he earns over 1k a month and can support himself financially. Also from what my ex tells me is that he goes to collage 3 times a week but i have no proof of that as they'll live over 1hr and 30mins away. So would i still need to pay.
Thanks.
Hi @Mimo, if your son has turned 18, it's reasonable to assume that he will finish college ('approved education') at the end of the current academic year (as reference by Gov.UK): 1 September to 31 August.
For Child Maintenance purposes, 'approved education' constitutes more than 12 hours of supervised study or course-related work experience per week, albeit this excludes courses that are paid by an employer.
If you are to go on the Child Maintenance Service's published text, which says: "You must have a child maintenance arrangement if your child is under 16 (or under 20 if they are still in full-time education)”. If you apply this to the letter, it should finish the final day of the young person's approved education academic; whether June or July (generally speaking).
If you believe your son is no longer be in approved education or in non-commercially funded training less than 12 hours per week, log into the Child Maintenance website (parent portal) and select: Report a Change and fill in the details. You will probably need to upload a letter, with words to the effect that 'you have reason to believe your son no longer meets the the Child Maintenance Service's criteria (as highlighted above) to be liable for ongoing child maintenance payments.
I strongly recommend reporting the change a.s.a.p, as that's the filing date that the CMS will use to potentially stop your liability forthwith.
I hope this is of help.
- @infodesk, thanks for the reply. I have spoken to my son, who said he won't be carrying on with any further education thankfully we had a private agreement that didn't use CSA and as he will be leaving collage in June and he already earns over £1500 a month i feel that he earns enough to pay his own way now.
Hi @Mimo, if there is no CMS arrangement / order in place, and you know he is no longer in approved full-time education, then you should not be paying child maintenance once he leaves full-time education. Whatever private arrangement you might have between you and your son is between the two of you.