How do I arrange child maintenance?

There are four options for arranging child maintenance payments with your ex-partner:

1. Family-based arrangement: you and your ex-partner arrange child maintenance between you.
2. Direct Pay: the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) calculates how much child maintenance should be paid, but you and your ex-partner arrange how it will be paid between you.
3. Collect and Pay: the CMS calculates how much child maintenance should be paid, collects the money from one parent and passes it to the other.
4. Court-ordered arrangement: If you can reach an agreement for child maintenance with the other parent you can apply to the court to make it a formal legally binding agreement. This is used, for example, if the paying parent lives abroad or to help decide how much to pay for the cost of a child’s disability (as the CMS doesn't take these extra costs into account in their calculations).

If you live in Scotland, and are aged 12 to 19 and in full-time, non-advanced education or training can apply for child maintenance. You can apply to the Child Maintenance Service directly to ask for an assessment of child maintenance to be made.

Here, you and your ex-partner decide how much child maintenance will be paid and make arrangements to pay it.

You don’t have to talk to a solicitor or any other professional first. Although you can use a mediator (an independent third party) to help you reach an agreement.

It’s best if the parent paying child maintenance sets up a standing order so that money is paid to the other parent regularly.

If you need help to agree how much to pay, or how to pay it, you can find a mediator:

• in England or Wales on the Family Mediation Council website or the National Family Mediation website
• in Northern Ireland on the Family Mediation NI website
• in Scotland on the Scottish Mediation websiteOpens in a new window

You might be able to turn a family-based arrangement into a legally binding agreement. You can do this by:

• asking a solicitor, or
• going to court and getting a consent or court order (in Scotland, you have to get a ‘Minute of Agreement’).

You can use it to formalise other financial arrangements at the same time – for example, who pays the mortgage.

You and your ex-partner have to agree what’s in the consent order.

If you and your ex-partner can’t agree child maintenance payments between you, you can contact the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). If you’ve experienced domestic abuse, you can also get the CMS to collect and make payments on your behalf – without the consent of an abusive ex-partner.  

When you contact the CMS, they should ask if you have experienced or witnessed domestic abuse. If you feel like your child maintenance claim will put you in danger, the CMS should help you contact the National Domestic Violence HelplineOpens in a new window or other support. 

You can contact the Child Maintenance Service by calling 0800 171 2345 or through the Child Maintenance Service websiteOpens in a new window

They’ll work out how much child maintenance should be paid. If you want them to, they can also arrange for the money to be paid.

There’s usually a charge for using the CMS. There are two ways to pay: Direct Pay and Collect and Pay.

Direct Pay means the CMS calculates how much child maintenance should be paid. And the paying parent arranges how and when they’ll make payments.

You must speak to Child Maintenance Options if you want to use the CMS.

If your ex-partner won’t pay child maintenance, you can ask the CMS to collect money from them and pass it to you.

You can also use this if you set up a Direct Pay arrangement that your ex-partner isn’t sticking to. But be aware that there is usually a charge for both parents.

If you’ve experienced domestic abuse, your fees may be waived, and you might be offered one-to-one support from specialist staff with domestic abuse training. 

If you can reach an agreement for child maintenance with the other parent you can apply to the court to make it a formal legally binding agreement. This is called a consent order. Both parents must agree to the terms of the order.

A consent order is usually used when parents are divorcing and sorting out their finances. So it might include other agreements - for example, who is going to pay the mortgage.

Specific examples include:

• if the paying parent lives abroad – find out more on GOV.UK
• to arrange the payment of private school fees
• to work out how much child maintenance should be paid for stepchildren or disabled children
• if the paying parent earns more than £156,000* a year, the court can decide if they should pay ‘top-up’ child maintenance.

(*2023 figure)

If you or your ex-partner’s income or wealth changes substantially, you might be able to adjust the level of child maintenance payments.

If you have a family-based arrangement with your ex-partner, you can talk to them about making changes.

It’s important that you check with a solicitor about updating the court order (if you have one) that contains previous agreements on child maintenance payments.

If you move in with a new partner and you’re receiving child support, this won’t be affected by your relationship – whether or not you marry or enter a civil partnership.

But you can agree with your ex-partner to change the level of payments if, for example, income levels change.

If stepchildren are involved, it might be worth getting legal advice.