How does shared care affect child maintenance?

In England and Wales, both parents are legally responsible for contributing towards a child’s living costs, and this is often an area of contention for separated parents.

Usually, child maintenance is dealt with by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), and not the court, and where care is shared equally, there is no child maintenance payable. However, this is not always the case, as we will examine in this article.

How does the CMS calculate maintenance?

In most cases, if parents cannot agree on the appropriate level of maintenance between themselves, the CMS will have jurisdiction to order a parent to pay child maintenance. The amount payable is assessed on a percentage of the non-resident parent’s gross income (less any pension contributions made by the non-resident parent).

The amount payable is then reduced by one seventh for every night per week, averaged over a year that the child (or children) spends with the other parent. If the child spends 51/365 nights (less than one night per week) with the other parent, there is no reduction. If the child spends between 52 and 103 nights with the other parent, there is a one seventh reduction, and for 104 to 155 nights, there is a two sevenths reduction. The amount payable will also reduce if the non-resident parent has other children in their household, or if they are paying child maintenance to another parent.

Parents can calculate the amount payable using the CMS formula on their website and organise payments between themselves. Alternatively, you can apply to the CMS and they can write to both parents confirming the amount payable and also collect the payments from the paying parent where necessary, for a fee.

What about when care is shared equally?

The initial position is that where the number of nights a child spends with each parent is equal, the CMS will order that no maintenance is payable. However, in some circumstances, the day-to-day care of a child might not be equal, even if nights are exactly shared. This will be fact-specific, and factors to be taken into consideration include who picks up and drops off from school or nursery, who spends more time with the child after school, who pays for more expenses for the child (such as nursery fees) and who takes on the mental load for things like medical appointments, parents evenings and being on call with the school, for example when the child is unwell. In such circumstances where the day-to-day care is not equal, the CMS can make an assessment.

Where care of the child is exactly equal (both the number of nights and the day-to-day care), the CMS cannot make an assessment for the payment of child maintenance, however in some circumstances, the court can still make an order.

How does the court deal with applications for child maintenance?

In any case for child maintenance, the CMS will make a maximum assessment if the non-resident parent’s gross income is £3,000 or more per week (£156,000 per year). The court can make a top-up order for additional maintenance in such cases under the provisions of Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989 where an application is made. For incomes between £156,000 and £650,000, the court will follow a similar formula to that used by the CMS (as set out in the High Court case of James v Seymour [2023]), and beyond £650,000, the court has more discretion for the child maintenance that can be ordered.

The recent case of OS v DT [2025] confirmed that the court is able to make an order for child maintenance in cases where there is equal day-to-day care (which before this case, was previously unclear). This might apply when, for example, one parent has a much greater income than the other, but care of the children is shared equally. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for a parent who has a greater level of income to insist on 50/50 care of the children in order to try and avoid paying child maintenance to the other parent, and so the case of OS v DT might now mean that it is more difficult to do so.

More information

At Pinney Talfourd, our specialist family lawyers are members of Resolution, dealing with many matters using a collaborative approach. If you are going through a separation and need assistance dealing with your finances, including child maintenance, please contact a member of our family team to book a free initial consultation.