Posted on behalf of Pringle
I have a 17 year old daughter who started an apprenticeship in September and goes to college one day a week and works in a salon for 4 days for around 8 hours per shift and earns in the region of £700 a month. I expected child maintenance payments to stop but her mother still claim child benefit and so I have to keep paying. I have contacted the cms and the child benefit office on numerous occasions and explained the situation and each time have been told with the information I give I shouldn’t be paying but nothing changes. I have sent wage slips and emails from college but nothing seems to help. I just wondered if I’m wrong in thinking child benefit and child maintenance should stop from what I have said? I’ve looked at current legislation and all points to what I believe as full time education is over 12 hours with my daughter doing a maximum of 8 and working over 24 hours of paid work weekly should also stop it. Do you have any advice please I’m really struggling with this.
Hi Pringle,
Yes, I believe you are correct - that's confirmed here:
You need to convince the benefits agency to stop paying child benefit, as the child maintenance flows from that. Interestingly, in that link, it stresses "properly and lawfully payable" - if CMS agree that it shouldn't be paid, then it follows that they shouldn't be asking for maintenance.
Thank you so much for your reply and link, much appreciated.
It’s so difficult trying to prove when I have sent wage slips and screenshots of emails received from the college saying she does a day week and the rest at a salon. Am at a bit of a loss as to what more I can say or provide as evidence
You could go through the official complaints procedure - that distinction between "payable" and "properly and lawfully payable" is interesting - if the child benefit isn't being paid lawfully (and you can prove it isn't), then they shouldn't be asking you for child maintenance. This is something I haven't come across previously, as there are a lot of dads who are having this issue where the mother is fraudulently continuing to claim child benefit.