The Child Support Agency Calculator - as at 5.8.5

This section will show you how the Child Support Agency calculator calculates your child maintenance payments in the UK. This section also provides a calculator to help you work out or make an assessment how much child maintenance payment is likely to be due. Please note that this web site can only give you a guide to how much your payment will be or can expect to receive and should be used as a rough guide only

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The Child support agency calculator can be found by following this link

More information

You may find the leaflet CSL102 "A guide to how child maintenance is worked out" useful as it covers the maintenance calculation in more detail.
You can download the CSL102 leaflet (PDF: 206KB) here.

Child maintenance is calculated using the weekly net income of the non-resident parent. For information on what is included as net income follow this link.

Information supplied by the non-resident parent is used and may also use information from others including the parent with care or the non-resident parent's employer. You can use our  child support agency calculator to work out your weekly net income.

The amount of child maintenance depends on:

• the number of qualifying children the child maintenance is for
• the non-resident parent's net income and circumstances
• the number of children living with the non-resident parent (we call these children 'relevant other children').

Child maintenance is calculated using the income (earnings) of the non-resident parent. In most cases the basic rate is used. But, for non-resident parents who do not earn very much, or who are in receipt of certain benefits,  a reduced rate or a flat rate.

Basic rate

Non-resident parents with a net weekly income of more than £200 a week will pay a basic rate.
This is a percentage of the non-resident parent's net weekly income, which is weekly income (usually earnings) after tax, National Insurance and contributions to a pension have been taken off. Tax credits and occupational pensions can also count towards weekly income. The percentage of the net weekly income is set out in legislation. It is:

• 15 per cent if there is one qualifying child;
• 20 per cent for two qualifying children; and
• 25 per cent for three or more qualifying children.

Relevant other children

If a non-resident parent has children living with them in their current family, a lower amount of net weekly income in working out child maintenance. This is the non-resident parent's net income reduced by:

• 15 per cent if there is one relevant child
• 20 per cent for 2 relevant children
• 25 per cent for three or more relevant children

Reduced rate

Non-resident parents with a net weekly income of more than £100 but less than £200 a week will pay a reduced rate.
This rate is £5 a week on the first £100 of net income plus a percentage of the net weekly income over £100. The percentages used are different from the basic rate. They are less for non-resident parents who have relevant other children living with them. Child maintenance is worked out to the nearest pound unless an adjustment for shared care is made.

For example:

John and Sandra are divorced with 2 children who both live with Sandra. John lives with his new partner, Deborah and their baby son.
John's net income is £180 a week so maintenance is calculated using reduced rate rules.
John pays £5 on the first £100 of his net income.
He also pays a percentage of his net income in excess of £100, which is £80.
Using the table below, the percentage rate to be applied to this income is 29% because John has 2 qualifying children and 1 relevant other child.

29% of £80 = £23.20

John's maintenance is £23.20 plus £5, which is £28.20. This is rounded to the nearest pound so John pays £28 a week.

Flat rate

The flat rate is £5 a week for any number of children. It is for children whose non-resident parent has a net income of £100 a week or less, or who get any of a wide range of benefits including:

• Income Support
• contribution-based Jobseeker's Allowance
• income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
• War Pension
• Retirement Pension
• Incapacity Benefit
• Widowed Parent's Allowance
• Bereavement Allowance

Non-resident parents who are living with someone who gets Income Support or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance for them also pay a flat rate. If the non-resident parent is getting one of these benefits, we can take the child maintenance from it. A parent with care can apply to increase the amount of child maintenance payable if a non-resident parent is getting certain benefits and has another source of income of more than £100 a week. See Variations for more information.

Nil rate

A small number of non-resident parents do not have to pay maintenance. These include:

• students in full-time education (full-time means a course at a recognised school or college where there is at least 12 hours a week tuition)
• young people (aged 16 to 19) in full-time non advanced education (that is, up to A level, NVQ level 3 or equivalent)
• prisoners
• people living in a residential care or nursing home and getting help with the fees.

The child support agency calculator will take into account all of the above.

A parent with care can apply to increase the amount of child maintenance payable if a non-resident parent paying nothing has another source of income which amounts to more than £100 a week. See Variations below for more information.

Variations

Sometimes the child maintenance due can take into account exceptional circumstances that are outside the basic rules. This is called a variation. Variations can lead to an increase or a decrease in the amount of child maintenance. You may be entitled to a variation if one or more of the following circumstances applies to you (these are called grounds).

Special expenses

If you are a non-resident parent and:

• you have high costs related to seeing the child or children for whom maintenance is due (for example, travel costs)
• you have extra costs because a child who is living with you has a long-term illness or a disability
• you are still repaying a debt which you took on before you were separated from the parent with care, and that debt was for the benefit of the family or a member of the family
• you pay boarding school fees for the child or children for whom maintenance is due
• you make payments for a mortgage, loan or insurance policy on the home which you and your former partner used to share and you no longer own any part of it and your former partner and children still live there.

Property or capital transfer

• you transferred property or capital to the parent with care before 5 April 1993 as part of a court order settlement or a written agreement (sometimes called a 'clean break' settlement).

Additional cases

If you are a parent with care and:

• the non-resident parent has assets worth more than £65,000 (excluding their home and any assets which are used in the course of their business)
• the non-resident parent is (or will be) paying child support of £5 a week (because they receive certain benefits) or they do not have to pay anything and they have another source of income of £100 or more a week
• the non-resident parent diverts income to another person or business in order to reduce their maintenance
• the non-resident parent enjoys a lifestyle which, in most cases, could only be done by someone whose income is much higher than the income on which the child maintenance calculation is based.

You can apply for a variation at any time, either with the application for child support or before or after your child maintenance has been calculated.

See leaflet CSL108 Child support variations: Help for exceptional circumstances for a fuller explanation of the scheme. You can get this from your local Jobcentre Plus (benefits) office or by ringing our National Helpline on 08457 133 133 or download the CSL108 leaflet here(PDF: 107KB)

Shared care

Basic and reduced rate cases

If a child stays overnight with the non-resident parent on a regular basis, child maintenance for that child will be reduced. This is done on the basis of 1/ 7 for each night of weekly shared care as follows:

Child maintenance will not be reduced if the child stays with the non-resident parent for less than 52 nights a year.

The leaflet CSL102 has more detailed information on how we work out child maintenance with examples of many different cases. It will also tell you about the child maintenance premium, paying your maintenance and multiple cases (where the non-resident parent has to pay maintenance to more than one parent with care or where a parent with care receives maintenance from more than one non-resident parent). The CSL102 leaflet also contains the tables to help you work out how much child maintenance is due. You can download the CSL102 leaflet (PDF: 206KB) here.

To find how we can help your assessment and reduce your child support agency maintenance payments, click on this link

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