Hello,
I'm another lucky dad going through the completely broken and biased child maintenance system, since January 2022 I've been looking after my daughter 50/50 I've been trying really hard to not let this system affect me but the fact of the matter is that it is. I've been on the call to these people for hours on end with nothing being resolved getting passed from the case worker to the case worker, I've asked to speak to a manager and action a complaint 4 times, no callback!. I'm only trying to do the best for my daughter by giving her a stable home.
50/50 Night Care
I've been battling with the child maintenance service, challenging why should i be paying the mother after looking after my daughter 50/50 and also having daycare responsibilities (clothing, dentist, leisure, clubs...) when the common answer I hear from case workers is that her mum is on benefits so that surpasses anything which I have to say or give evidence on, which is completely contradictive to what to the 'how child maintenance is calculated booklet' it clearly states on there QA' if both parents have equal care the opposite parent, either does not need to pay maintenance to the opposite parent.
Additional Pay
I have an ltd company which I was trading and paying myself income, as of October 2021 I no longer have any profit coming in and therefore have not traded over the past year my company is now in a dormant state due to inactivity. I have let CMS know and they have refused to take this into consideration as my company still shows active in companies house. dormant is not a state which they cater to either, so they have requested I just supply a company closure confirmation, I'm a contractor and can't be in a position I have a closed company or I can't go and find work this feels insane and just not logical, I've shown proof of no income has been taken from my company for the past year.
To be honest I'm in disappear and don't know what to do at this phase. I'm looking after my daughter and getting penalized for doing so!
it's unreal how in 2022 there is so much talk about equality however there is such a clear divide on how a father gets treated in these types of services its completely appalling and clearly ignored.
I was paying CM for my son, and he stayed at mine overnight half the time, so because of this I got a ‘Shared Care Band Equal’ discount on my CM payments - 50%. For fewer nights the discount is lower (there is a table). But I was still paying the other half to my ex.
This discount applies because the NRP has ‘overnight care’ for half the time. I understand that this means housing and feeding the child, not paying for stuff they need generally. The receiving parent is still responsible for the ‘day to day’ maintenance of the child, which is why the paying parent still pays maintenance.
Technically, if the NRP makes the prescribed payment amount to the receiving parent on time, they are not legally obliged to make any other payments at all. Even on ‘Shared Care’ as that relates to overnight care you provide, not to the fact you have to share the other costs of maintenance.
You of course may wish to pay for (clothing, dentist, clubs, pocket money) but as far as I know you are not legally obliged to. The CMS was born to go after parents who didn’t want to be financially responsible, and their enforcement of a CM case ascribes financial responsibility to the receiving parent and directs that the other parent pays the receiving parent the stipulated amount. As long as you do that, and provide overnight care as per the Shared Care band you are in, you are not breaking the requirements of the CM.
As for your company, I would have thought that the relevant fact to the CMS is how much you are paid or take in dividends, and that if you can show accounts - either your company accounts or your tax return - which show that you are not receiving any benefit then I’m surprised that isn’t enough for them. Unless the value of cash in the company is healthy when they might suspect that you as director are keeping it there out of their grasp.
‘True’ shared care - where both parents provide equal overnight care, and are equally financially responsible for other child costs - means that the CMS decide that no CM case is required.
@Will99 very confusing policies. if a paying parent has 50/50 overnights court order, CMS reduce maintenance payments by 50%. if paying parent has equal day to day care of children, then they would not have to pay maintenance. I have seen documents where CMS are asking dads to prove that they have equal day to day care, such as are they taking children to school, are they taking them to medical appointments, buy school uniform.
@Will99 very confusing policies. if a paying parent has 50/50 overnights court order, CMS reduce maintenance payments by 50%. if paying parent has equal day to day care of children, then they would not have to pay maintenance. I have seen documents where CMS are asking dads to prove that they have equal day to day care, such as are they taking children to school, are they taking them to medical appointments, buy school uniform.
I agreee it is VERY confusing, and it was some time before I came to the (hopefully correct) understanding that I currently have. The confusion springs I think from different interpretations of the term 'Shared Care', and also the difference between 'overnight care' and 'day to day care'.
The term 'Shared Care' can mean two things :-
- Where both parents share ALL expenses for the child, and have equal (or near-equal) number of nights with the child. In this case I understand that the CMS would view this as both parents being equally financially responsible and thus there is no requirement for a CM case to be enforced.
- Where a CM case is in force and the PP pays money to the RP, this is because the RP is responsible for costs that the PP isn't, whilst the PP is responsible for paying the required CM amount to the RP. Where the child stays no nights at the PP's home there is no discount on the CM amount, but where the child stays at the PP's home sometimes, then the PP gets a discount on their CM amount - this discount depends on how many nights the child stays with the PP. This is to recognise the fact that the PP has to provide 'overnight care' for those nights when the child stays with them. This discount varies according to how many nights / year the child stays with the PP. Eg. 52 to 103 nights the discount is 1/7th, etc and more than 175 nights the discount is 50%. This last band is called Shared Care Band Equal. Note in this case it only refers to equal overnight care, not equal day to day care. The PP still has to pay CM to the RP even when overnight care is equal, because the RP is still responsible for all the day to day care. So as I understand it, 'overnight care' means providing a home for the child for those nights, and paying for associated expenses such as gas / electricity, food expenses for feeding the child etc. 'Day to Day care' which is still the legal responsibility of the RP, includes 'everything else' such as clothing, mobile phone, school fees/uniform/trips, social clubs, even pocket money etc etc etc. The PP can choose to pay for stuff like that - for example they may still want to give their child some pocket money - but they are not legally obliged to. The objective of a CM case is to end up with a simple regime where one parent pays for stuff and the other parent gives them money to help them do that.
@bill337 this is what I'm allready doing all you have stated above, yeat as her mum is primary carrer by default the they asked her if she wants to close the case she said no, so her word is the last say. They never once looked at my evidence whch i provided which clearly shows im doing the day care also.