CMS payments and new baby

[Giraffe27]

I receive £503 a month maintenance from ex for our 3 dc, this is the calculation made by the cms. He has just had a new baby with his partner and has asked if we can come to an agreement to lower the payment, he wants to lower it by £150 so he can provide for his new child, we get on reasonably well so I think he thought I would agree to this, I haven't and it's not to be spiteful I understand his new child needs to be provided for but I can't afford to accept less, well he's turned nasty and when he dropped dcs off from the last contact he said if I didn't agree then his partner was going to put in a claim to the cms for their child and I will stand to lose about £150 anyway... Will I really lose that amount if they do that? Should I just agree to keep the peace if it's inevitable?

[Bellemere]

His partner can't put in a claim to the CMS if he lives with her. The amount will reduce to account for the new baby though. £150 seems like a lot. Perhaps ring CMOptions and ask?

[antimatter]

Would he move out and stop living with his current partner?

[AnImpalaCalledBABY]

Have you calculated the amount it should be reduced by? £150 sounds like it might be too muh but the amount you recieve will be reduced because of the new baby

[Giraffe27]

I understand it will reduce somewhat because of the baby but he thinks there's a difference in the amount if his partner puts in a claim compared to if he just informs the cms he has a new child, he doesn't live with her currently he moved back to his parents when we split and as far as I'm aware he is still there

[Bellemere]

Yes there is a difference in the amount if they live together or not. They will calculate how much he needs to pay for 3 children and pay 2/3rds to you and 1/3rd to her.

[Giraffe27]

Thanks bellemere. There's 4 children now though so how would that be split do you know?

[antimatter]

If the figure of 503 was to be divided for 4 children then he ought to pay less to you by 25%. Wit hoy getting 377.25 and her 125.77 but you should run it through calculator to confirm.

[Giraffe27]

And thank you for all the other answers

[antimatter]

If you know his salary I thin you can get the answer www.nidirect.gov.uk/calculate-child-maintena

[Giraffe27]

No I'm not sure of his salary the cms did all the calculations but thank you anyway

[Bellemere]

Sorry I missed that. Yes you would keep 75% and the new baby would have 25%.

[antimatter]

I can tell yo uthat my ex earns under 40K and payment for 2 kids is 500. You can try to play with numbers to get his salary that way.

Your ex will be getting under 40K after they deduct his pension.

[Elfdoor]

The info you have been told as above is correct if he is not living with his new childs mother she can make a claim to CMS, and the total amount he has to pay will be split equally between each child so from £500 you would get £375. If he goes and lives with new childs mother then they will allow a % off his income to cover for this child before they calculate how much he pays to you (% have changed since it changed from csa to CMS so don't know what they are now as net n gross pay calculations have changed)

If your going via CMS best for her to do same, let them two have the hassle of dealing with a really crap government department who cock things up all the time.

[Letitgoletitgo]

But surely it isn't just that the £500 he previously paid for 3 children now has to be divided by 4? He will have to pay more maintenance overall as he will be reassessed for 4 children and then divided up 3/4 and 1/4?

[Elfdoor]

They are not made to pay more after 3 kids so on the old system it was 15% for first child and 5% for each child after to a max of 25% so fourth child doesn't get paid for effectively. If children are with different mothers it's just 25% split equally. It is a bit different now with CMS as I think my ex pays 19% for all our 4 kids but the money is worked out from his income before deductions were it was after deductions when it was 25%, think it was because some fellas paid more into pensions to avoid paying to kids.

[antimatter]

Elfdoor the calculator I linked above still says:
"This is income before tax and National Insurance but after pension contributions."

[Bellemere]

Pension contributions are still deducted. It's gross pay so before tax but after pension.

[Elfdoor]

I don't know I didn't bother to look into it, I just guessing it was changed to stop the fiddling with pensions, all I know is what I get for 4 kids works out at 19% I haven't looked into much on the new system. Not that any of this matters to this thread, if CMS worked out he should be paying just over £500 for three kids then he will pay around £125 less to this lady to pay for the other new child.
My ex has kids to his first wife so we had all the messing with splitting the money and deducting for kids we had, he doesn't pay for older kids now so that's why I'm not sure how it is since the system changed.
Best thing to do is ring CMS and ask them, they don't want people to use them they would rather it be sorted between each other hence why they now charge to have money paid threw them rather than direct. They will tell you what is should be so you can sort it together without them.