Child maintenance in the UK in 2026: how much you pay and how the CMS works it out

Child maintenance in the UK is worked out not by a court but by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). DWP figures published on 29 September 2026 show that at the end of June 2026 the service was managing 820,000 arrangements covering 1.1 million children. The formula is simple and public: between 12% and 19% of the paying parent's gross weekly income. Here is how the amount is calculated, what the service costs and what happens when the other parent does not pay.

What is child maintenance and who has to pay it?

It is regular financial support towards a child's everyday living costs, paid by the parent who does not have main day-to-day care to the parent who does.

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You must have a child maintenance arrangement if the child is under 16, or under 20 and in approved education or training. Both parents are responsible for the costs of raising their children even if one of them does not see the child. In CMS language the one who pays is the paying parent and the one who receives is the receiving parent. Either parent can apply, as can a grandparent with main day-to-day care, a guardian and, in Scotland, a child aged 12 or over. You need to live in the UK as your main home and have the right to live here.

One point that matters for the household budget: child maintenance is not taxed and does not affect benefits, including Universal Credit.

How much do you pay: CMS rates in 2026

On gross weekly income between £200 and £800 the basic rate is 12% for one child, 16% for two and 19% for three or more.

The full scale is:

Basic (£200 to £800 a week): 12% / 16% / 19% of gross weekly income for one, two, three or more children.
Basic Plus (over £800 up to £3,000): the first £800 is charged at the basic rate, and on the rest you add 9% for one child, 12% for two and 15% for three or more.
Reduced (£100.01 to £199.99): £7 a week for the first £100 of income plus a percentage of the rest — 17% for one child, 25% for two, 31% for three or more.
Flat (£7 to £100 a week, or the paying parent is on benefits): £7 a week whatever the number of children.
Nil (below £7 a week): nothing. Full-time students without income and people in prison do not pay.
Default (income unknown): £39 a week for one child, £51 for two, £64 for three or more — a total, not a figure per child.

Worked examples from the DWP leaflet: a paying parent with two children and gross weekly income of £600 falls under the basic rate, pays 16% and so £96 a week. With £1,000 a week and two children: 16% of £800 is £128, plus 12% of the remaining £200 is £24, so £152 a week.

Income above £3,000 a week is not taken into account by CMS — for anything above that the receiving parent applies to the court separately.

How does CMS find out the paying parent's income?

From HMRC data for the latest complete tax year — the paying parent does not have to prove anything.

The figure used is gross annual income before Income Tax and National Insurance but after pension scheme contributions, converted into a weekly amount. If the paying parent disagrees, their own evidence is only used when it differs by at least 25% either way and the change is long term.

Either parent can ask for things HMRC data does not show to be taken into account — this is called a variation. Rental income over £2,500 a year, interest and dividends over £2,500, assets worth more than £31,250 and income the paying parent is diverting all count. The paying parent, in turn, can claim expenses: travel to keep in contact with the child, supporting a child with a disability, debts from the previous relationship, mortgage payments on the former family home where the child and the other parent still live. Each type of expense must be more than £10 a week. A variation can take up to three months to change the payment.

A parent who refuses to give information, or knowingly gives false information, can be taken to court and fined up to £1,000.

Do overnight stays reduce the amount?

Yes, once at least 52 nights a year are agreed: 52 to 103 nights cut the amount per child by 14.29%, 104 to 155 nights by 28.57%, 156 to 174 nights by 42.86%, and 175 nights or more by half plus a further £7 a week.

This is shared care. Payments at the basic, Basic Plus and reduced rates never fall below £7 a week. If both parents agree there are more than 52 nights but cannot agree the exact number, CMS assumes exactly 52. On the flat rate (the paying parent is on benefits), 52 nights or more mean nothing is paid for that child.

Private deal or CMS: which costs less?

A private arrangement is free, Direct Pay through CMS also carries no fee, but Collect and Pay costs the paying parent 20% on top and takes 4% out of the receiving parent's payment.

There are three routes. A family-based arrangement: the parents agree between themselves, with no state involvement, and can change the amount at any time; the official GOV.UK calculator shows what CMS would have worked out. Direct Pay: CMS calculates the amount, but the parents move the money between themselves, with no fees. Collect and Pay: CMS collects from the paying parent and passes the money on, charging both sides.

DWP data for June 2026 shows 55% of all arrangements are Direct Pay and 43% Collect and Pay. If the paying parent stops paying in full and on time, CMS can move the case to Collect and Pay without agreement. The first payment usually happens within 12 weeks of applying, and the amount is reviewed once a year at the annual review.

What if the other parent does not pay?

On Direct Pay you have to report the missed payment yourself through your online account and ask to move to Collect and Pay; on Collect and Pay the service acts on its own.

The enforcement tools are hard: deductions straight from pay, pension or benefits, money taken directly from a bank account, and through the court a liability order, after which property can be seized. The paying parent is charged an extra fee for enforcement action. Since April 2026 child maintenance deductions sit at the top of the Universal Credit deduction priority order and can exceed the usual 15% limit — the temporary 2025 measure has been made permanent.

The scale of non-payment is in the same DWP release. In the quarter ending June 2026, of 250,000 paying parents on Collect and Pay, 57,000 (23%) paid nothing at all, and £28.7 million due that quarter went unpaid. Since the service started in 2012, £812.9 million of unpaid maintenance has built up — 7% of everything due.

If money is being recovered from you, the law requires that you are left with enough to live on, and priority debts — mortgage, rent, utilities, taxes and court fines — come first. We looked at ordering debts in a separate guide.

When do payments stop?

When the child leaves approved education or training, or turns 20, whichever comes first.

Payments stop automatically after the 20th birthday, and on finishing a course they stop on the next last day of February, May, August or November. Education must be full time: on average more than 12 hours a week. A university course, or one paid for by an employer, ends maintenance. If arrears remain, the paying parent still owes them after regular payments stop.

How do you challenge the amount?

First a mandatory reconsideration by CMS within 30 days of the date on the decision letter, then an appeal to the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal within one month.

For the tribunal you fill in form SSCS2 and send it to the address on the form. You can attend the hearing and explain your case or let it be decided on the papers. A judge, sometimes with a financial expert, decides; a hearing usually takes around six months to come up. A complaint about the service itself is different: it goes through the DWP complaints procedure and does not replace challenging the calculation.

If you believe the other parent is hiding income — not declaring it to HMRC, concealing foreign income or property, moving money to relatives — you can report it to CMS. You cannot report anonymously, but you can ask them not to share your location. If the report is upheld the amount is recalculated, and can be backdated.

What if contact with your ex-partner is not safe?

CMS exists partly for this: your address is not passed to the other parent.

The other parent is told your name and the child's name, but not your address. If you have changed your name, or it is unsafe for your location to be known, tell the service straight away. You can enter your bank details in your online account and never contact the paying parent at all, and to stop the details revealing your area a bank can open an account with a non-geographic sort code. CMS also settles disputes about parentage, including DNA tests, and can trace the other parent when the address is unknown.

Where to go

The Child Maintenance Service phone line is 0800 171 2345, Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm; in Welsh, 0800 232 1979.

Applications start with the "Get help arranging child maintenance" tool on GOV.UK, after which you need the reference number it gives you, your National Insurance number and your bank details. Letters go to Child Maintenance Service 21, Mail Handling Site A, Wolverhampton WV98 2BU. Northern Ireland has its own service and number.

You must report a change of address within seven days, and an income change of 25% or more straight away rather than waiting for the annual review.

Related reading: what a divorce in England costs and the family-law myths that get in the way, Child Benefit, free childcare hours and the domestic abuse marker in sentencing.