On 27 January 2003, the Secretary for Work and Pensions made a statement to the House of Commons confirming that the long-awaited child support reforms would come into force on 3 March 2003. The original plans for reform were published in a Government White Paper in July 1999 and it has taken nearly four years for the plans to come to fruition.

The aim of the reform is to make the workings of the child support agency easier for people to understand. It will also make it easier for the agency itself to calculate just how much maintenance is payable, and paying parents will be able to anticipate what they are likely to be required to pay.

The main reform is in relation to how maintenance is calculated. Non-resident parents will be expected to pay, depending on their income, as follows: 1. Net income of between £200 and £2,000 per week (after tax, national insurance and pension contributions are deducted): 15% of weekly wage paid if have one child, 20% if have two and 25% if have three or more. 2. Net income of less than £100 per week, those in receipt of income support or jobseeker's allowance: flat rate payment of £5 per week. 3. Net income between £100 and £200: payment will be assessed on a sliding scale. Any weekly income over and above the £2,000 will not be taken into consideration for assessment purposes.

Parents with care should be aware that the above payments are not always guaranteed. There are, for example, special rules governing parents with shared care and also situations where the non-resident parent has a new family. These rules will significantly reduce the amount of maintenance due to be paid.

Where the parents share the care of children, the non-resident parent will not be expected to pay the full maintenance. Instead, the amount due will be reduced by one-seventh for every 52 nights that the children stay with the non-resident parent. This is best explained by means of a calculation: For example: 2 children = 20% of weekly wage If weekly wage = £2,000; amount due is 20% x £2,000 = £400 per week maintenance. If children stay with the non-resident parent for 52 nights per year (ie: one night per week), the maintenance is reduced by one-seventh: 1/7 x £400 = £57.14. The maintenance due is therefore £400 - £57.14 = £342.86.

Where the non-resident parent has an extra family, allowance is made for this. If the non-resident parent is living in a household with a child, regardless of whether that child is their own or is receiving maintenance from it's own parent, then the non-resident parent's net income is reduced by the amount of children in the new household. The net income is therefore reduced by 15% for one child, 20% for two and 25% for three or more. Once the new income figure is calculated, only then is maintenance calculated for the parent with care.

If the non-resident parent has more than one family that they do not live with, the amount of maintenance is shared between the families in proportion to the number of children in each household. For example, if a non-resident parent has three children with two different partners neither of which he lives with, 25% of his net income will be shared between the two partners according to the number of children they each have.

A further reform relates to parents with care who are in receipt of income support or jobseeker's allowance. If they are on the new child support scheme, they will be allowed to keep up to £10 per week of the maintenance paid for the children.
The new rules are being introduced gradually and will initially only apply to new applications and some existing clients who are involved in new applications. This means that anybody who has a liability under the old scheme but is also the subject of a different application under the new scheme, may have all their maintenance assessed under the new scheme in the interests of fairness.

If a non-resident parent currently pays maintenance under the terms of a court order or a written agreement between themselves and the parent with care, the new reforms will not apply to them.
Anybody who is interested in finding out more information about the reforms may find the Child Support Agency website at www.csa.gov.uk.