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My son is now nearly 19, I have been paying child maIntenance without fail until he left school. He went straight into work at the age of 16, working partime 16 hours a week. I stopped paying maintenance as he was no longer in education.Anyway to cut along story short i got a phone call today from CSA, they say they are updating there records and I am in arrears with my payments. I explained to them that my son is no longer in education and is in fact now working although only part time. She said that my ex wife is still getting child benefit for him so therefore I have to pay maintanence and 2 years of arrears. Basically what I need to know is do I have to continue paying child maintaence.
Hi he went into 6th form, this lasted for about 1 month, then he decided to give it up and go and get a job.
I'll ask CMO to comment - as far as I can see, you shouldn't still be making payments.
Hi, I'm Sarah, a consultant at Child Maintenance Options.
Under child support legislation, regular child maintenance payments must be made until a child is 16 years old, or 19 if they are in full-time education (A-level or equivalent), or for as long as Child Benefit is being paid. However, if arrears have built up on a case, those arrears must still be paid, even if regular child maintenance payments have stopped.
I hope this information helps.
Sarah.
"Child maintenance payments usually stop when the child reaches 16 (or 20 if they’re in full-time education not higher than A-level equivalent), but there are some exceptions." this is a quote directly from csa website do you maintain it's 19 ?
Your right, its 20 if a child is in full time non advanced education, and was changed in December last year if I remember correctly.
The mother could still be claiming child benefit fraudulently, but the CSA aren't interested in finding this out. If they continue to demand payments then you should go and see your MP. There is also a sticky at the top of the Child maintenance section about appealing against the CSA decision.
*The initial post is almost a year old now and it's hoped that the member that asked for help has managed to sort it out.
Hi Chri660946
Thanks for your post. I am Sarah the Child Maintenance Options consultant. Nannyjane is correct changes were made on the 10 December 2012 as to what age child maintenance is payable up to.
Under child support legislation, regular child maintenance payments must be made until a child is 16 years old, or 20 if they are in full-time, non-advanced education (A-level or equivalent), or for as long as Child Benefit is being paid. Before 10 December 2012, the upper age limit was 19.
However, if the child was 19 after this date and in full-time education, maintenance would be paid until the age of 20.
Thanks
Sarah
When Sarah from CMO posted that the age was 19 she was right at that time because it was posted 11 months ago, before the change came into effect.
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