Child maintenance

Child maintenance is regular, reliable financial support that helps towards a child's everyday living costs when parents have separated. A successful arrangement is one where your child does not suffer financially and the cost of bringing your child up is shared fairly between both parents.

In the vast majority of cases, the parent without the main day-to-day care of a child pays child maintenance to the parent who does. However, where care is shared more equally or the parent with the main day-to-day care earns significantly more than the other parent, some parents choose either not to transfer money or will make payments the other way.

Since October 2008, all parents have had the choice to agree their own private child maintenance arrangements together. A private arrangement can be made legally binding if parents wish to do so. Parents who don't want to, or are unable to, make a private arrangement, can choose to make one through the Child Support Agency, which operates the statutory system. 

Child Maintenance Options provides impartial information and support to help both parents make informed choices about child maintenance.

To help parents make decisions about child maintenance, the government has set up the new Options service. It provides impartial information and support to both parents so that they are able to make informed choices about the arrangements most suited to their circumstances.

This includes information on other issues that parents might face in making arrangements, such as housing or money worries, and the service will be able put people in touch with organisations that can provide expert help.

There is a national helpline on 0800 988 0988 and a website at www.cmoptions.org. Options also produces a range of very useful brochures covering a number of issues. You can find a number of leaflets and guides produced by Options here

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