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I am in the process of getting divorced and was expecting to pay child maintenance through the child maintenance service. I am a higher earner with a gross annual income of £250,000, but I read that the CMS has a cap on maintenance paid by higher earners over £156,000 per annum. Does this mean my child maintenance payments will be capped?
Anna Stanworth, a senior associate in the family team at the law firm Broadfield, says that during a divorce, one parent will usually be liable to pay child maintenance to the other. This is separate from any spousal maintenance which may also be payable. In most cases and where parents and children live in the UK, the CMS will have jurisdiction to determine the level of child maintenance.
The CMS calculation is straightforward and depends primarily on the parent’s income, the number of children and how many nights per week the children stay with them.
If contacted to prepare a formal assessment, the CMS will liaise with HM Revenue & Customs and both parents to calculate how much maintenance is payable. This is then payable regardless of whether or not a parent also pays separately for any school fees.
The Child Support Act 1991 limits the maximum income taken into account to £156,000 per annum (gross of tax and national insurance, but net of pension contributions). This means that even if the parent’s income is over the threshold, the CMS will still prepare their calculations based on that figure.
However, this does not mean that overall child maintenance payments will be wholly capped to this level. As your income is more than £156,000, this will push you into “top-up” territory. Here, the courts have the power to make an order to top-up maintenance over and above the maximum CMS rate.
How much more has been a hotly contested topic for several years and there have been a variety of different orders made by judges. However, since a 2024 court decision, lawyers have started using a different formula, often referred to as the James vs Seymour formula, as a starting point for calculating child maintenance where annual income is between £156,000 and £650,000. The case has since been cited in high-net-worth or non-standard child maintenance cases.
Our next question
We have found a part-time nanny who will split her weekly hours between us and one other family. She says she is self-employed, but other families we know hire their nannies as employees and have told us we need to set up payroll. Are the rules different if nannies are part-time and have more than one employer?
Unlike the CMS calculation, this calculation takes school fees into account. This can often make a big difference to the figures and the results can be surprising. Take, for example, a parent with two children who has them overnight one day a week and who pays private school fees of £36,000 per year. If that parent earns £150,000 a year, they could expect to pay about £1,400 per month in child maintenance based on the CMS formula, which would be in addition to school fees.
However, if that parent instead earned £250,000 a year, such as in your case, the formula would calculate child maintenance to be about £1,580 per month in addition to school fees, which is a modest increase.
It is important to note that this is a starting point and a judge can still exercise discretion, taking into account the budgets in each case and based on their own individual facts.
The opinions in this column are intended for general information purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for professional advice. The Financial Times Ltd and the authors are not responsible for any direct or indirect result arising from any reliance placed on replies, including any loss, and exclude liability to the full extent.
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