Good evening all.
Briefly, I have my daughter 3 nights per week and 50% of nights during school holidays.
I pay the correct amount of CM as per gov calculator.
refunds:
If CM is paid to cover day to day care ,food ,entertainment expenses etc.
what happens if the Paying parent has to incur these costs on top of the CM payment ?. is it refunded ?
example :
I take my child for a haircut.
the cost of that has been accounted for in my CM payment . But I can’t tell the hairdresser I’ve technically already paid for the cut in my CM payment .
so would I be entitled to a refund from the RP (and evidencing a receipt), or is it a case of I technically pay twice -?
If CM is paid to cover these things - haircut,cinema,swimming lessons etc, then why wouldn’t the paying parent be refunded ?,- as otherwise they paid twice
thank you
Hi
CMS is to cover when child is not with you. The funds do not cover everything you say regardless of whom the child is with for the month. So if child is with you and you take him for a haircut then you cover the cost. Where you hardly have the child then it would be reasonable to expect the paying parent to cover the cost and it would need to be a conversation with mother to avoid a situation where they leave you to pick up all of the costs.
Best way to look at it is if you have 50:50 shared care then no CMS is payable. Who would cover hair cut cost then? Let's say it then changed to 55:45 in favour of mother and you pay £100 per month in CMS based on your income. Would you say £100 pm is sufficient to cover the cost of everything you have mentioned and thus request reimbursement? Its unlikely and therefore a conversation with mother is required.
If you are not on speaking terms then you just have to make a judgement call and organise said costs.
No reimbursements unfortunately.
The CMS is a system not designed to allow the paying parent to improve their quality of life nor is it a fair system as RP often have the advantage and abuse the system.
All the best.