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Moving between 'old' and 'current' schemes
If a parent had a child maintenance assessment made before March 2003, all our leaflets with information about how their child maintenance was worked out can be found in our publications section. We call the scheme set up before March 2003 the 'old scheme'.
From 3 March 2003 the way we work out child maintenance for new applications changed to make it simpler to manage, easier to understand and better suited to parents' needs. We call this the 'current scheme'.
The current scheme does not change:
- who can qualify for child maintenance
- how child maintenance should be paid, or
- what powers we have to enforce payments.
If a case that was set up on the old scheme becomes linked to a new child maintenance application made on or after 3 March 2003, we have to move that case to the current scheme. This is the only circumstance under which a case can be transferred from the old scheme to the current scheme.
How can a case become 'linked'?
Cases can only become linked when a new application to arrange child maintenance through us affects either the parent with care or the non-resident parent involved in an old-scheme case. We must use the same rules for working out child maintenance for the children in linked cases, so we have to move old-scheme cases to the current scheme.
For example, we will move your case to the current scheme if:
- you are a parent with care who already receives child maintenance for one child, and
- you have made a new application for another child on or after 3 March 2003, and
- that child has a different non-resident parent to the child you already receive child maintenance for.
How a case is transferred
We will contact both parents to tell them that we are moving their case to the current scheme and we will start to work out the revised amount of child maintenance.
As far as possible, we will use the information we already have to work out the new amount of child maintenance. However, there may have been a change in either parent's circumstances since we last worked out child maintenance for their case, such as the non-resident parent's income changing. So, if either parent's circumstances have changed we will need some more information from them. The changes they should tell us about include:
- the non-resident parent's weekly income
- the number of children living with the parent with care that the non-resident parent must pay child maintenance for
- the number of children living with the non-resident parent that they or their partner get Child Benefit for (a regular payment made to anyone bringing up children), or
- the number of nights a child stays regularly with the non-resident parent.
- the non-resident parent
- starts or stops working for an employer
- changes jobs
- becomes self-employed
- becomes unemployed or
- starts work after being unemployed.
Once we have all the information, we can work out the amount of child maintenance that the non-resident parent should pay within a few days. We will then write to both parents, telling them what the new amount of child maintenance is and what information we have used to work this out.
What are the main differences between the old and current child maintenance schemes?
The most important difference between the old and current schemes is how we work out child maintenance. For the current scheme, we use a system of rates based on the net weekly income of the non-resident parent.
The four rates are:
- basic rate (if they have an income of £200 a week or more)
- reduced rate (if they have an income of more than £100 but less than £200 a week)
- flat rate (if they have an income of between £5 and £100 a week), and
- nil rate (if they have an income of less than £5 a week).
Other differences between the old and current schemes are listed below.
- The way we work out the net income of a non-resident parent is simpler
- If the non-resident parent shares the care of a qualifying child for at least 52 nights a year, we will reduce the amount of child maintenance they have to pay
- If the non-resident parent pays a flat rate because they are getting benefits, they will not have to pay any child maintenance if they share the care of their children for at least 52 nights a year
- We no longer take into account or need to know the incomes of the parent with care or a non-resident parent's partner
- We no longer take account of the costs of either parent's housing or travel to work
- Instead of using 'departures' from the basic assessment, we can now adjust the amount of child maintenance that should be paid if there are certain other factors either parent feels we should take account of. This is known as a 'variation'
- If a parent does not give us the information we need to work out child maintenance, we use a default maintenance decision to set how much child maintenance must be paid. This replaces the interim maintenance assessment.
For more information on how we work out child maintenance and for details of our four rates, read How is child maintenance worked out?
Will the amount of child maintenance change?
In most cases, the amount of child maintenance will change when you move to the current scheme. Payments may be higher or lower. We will gradually introduce any changes to the payments in fixed, yearly steps for up to five years, so that both parents have time to adapt to the change in their budget.
You can read more about this in our leaflet
"My case is moving to the child maintenance scheme introduced in 2003 - what
will change?" [PDF 252KB]
