Child support
Child support payments, also called child maintenance, is paid to the parent who primarily cares for the children, by the parent who the children spend less time with. The role of the Child Maintenance Service and what happens when they get involved.
There may be different options available to arrange financial support for the children following the breakdown of a relationship. Parents can make a family-based arrangement or they can ask for maintenance to be arranged through a statutory scheme. This section describes the options.
Child maintenance is regular financial support towards the cost of raising your child. It is paid by your child’s other parent if you are no longer together and either your child doesn’t live with them or spends more time living with you. Information about child maintenance, why it is important and how to arrange it.
Links to information about how to sort out child maintenance yourselves, about using the government's Child Maintenance Service, how the courts can help and where to get information about your options.
Explains how you can agree child maintenance yourself. Includes information about how to work out how much the payments should be, where you can get help to agree payments and how you can formalise your agreement.
The Child Maintenance Service is there for you to use if you and your child's other parent can’t agree arrangements for child maintenance between you. Information about paying child maintenance, what happens if there is a disagreement about parentage, changes you need to report, complaints and appeals.
Links to a calculator you can use to work out how much child maintenance you should pay or get if you are arranging it yourselves.
What can happen if you get into arrears of child maintenance. (Content applies to England and Wales only.)
Explains your options if you disagree with your child maintenance calculation. The information you need depends on whether you receive child maintenance through the Child Support Agency (‘CSA’) or the Child Maintenance Service (‘CMS’). Check your records to see which scheme you are using and then select the information that applies to you.
