New to child maintenance

I agree that the child maintenance system in this country is frightful but in this particular case it doesn't seem to be a guy on big bucks hiding income, but someone on a relatively low salary albeit with low costs due to living with his mum.

However, a quick look at online calculators suggests that unless he's on less than 25k or so, the amount the OP mentioned does seem low if he's not having the child to stay much/at all. It's mean to be 12% of salary.

I have a child from a prior relationship, two at home. I am a teacher outside of London, so will earn less then your ex. I am paying over £300 a month from next month.

That figure seems low to me.

It’s ridiculous how low child maintenance is. My son’s dad pays £160 a month and he only has our child when he’s not working. I have to fund childcare all week, all year including school holidays and I have to take time off work - not him. Rven the fact that he doesn’t have to have a two bedroom, but I do to house our child, that’s a £300-£400 difference at least in my area between a 1 to 2 bed. That’s not including how much my bills are compared to his.

yet he pays a minuscule of what it takes to raise a child, ALL my wages go towards the upbringing to our child and if I can’t afford it I have to find it. He pays a tiny percentage at a flat rate each month, it’s ridiculous

OP I would check with CMS he's not claiming more shared care than what he actually has.

Id also ask them which tax year they have assessed - mine sent in wage slips from 5 years earlier!

Of course you can comment..I'm glad that you've highlighted how pathetic the system is that it's deemed acceptable for an absent parent to pay as little as £7, but you also said it sounds like the OP is getting a good amount. Whilst I completely appreciate it's significantly more than you're getting, that doesn't mean it's a fair amount in comparison to costs, especially if the OP were to use paid childcare, not all of which will be covered by UC. We have to stop doing this to other women and work together to try and highlight how appalling the system is, not dismiss them if they get a somewhat better deal than you. It's still crap and massively unfair.

Female teachers somehow seem to manage.

Other people have also commented how much they get or are you only allowed to comment if you get more?

she asked if it’s enough, sounds good to me!

Its low because the rate is low. My ex earns about 55k and only has to pay just over 500 for two. He's PAYE and shows me his payslip so he's not hiding anything but pension is good. As I said upthread, if we reversed our roles and I ring fenced the CMS money and had the rest to myself I'd be having a lovely life .

Its increasingly common for large secondaries to have removed all the pastoral roles which used to go to experienced teachers at higher pay with responsibility points, and make them much lower support staff roles on admin pay.if he is not a teacher he will only be paid about 35k which is low pay in london.

Cms is a percentage of gross pay after pension contributions. Working in a school he might have relatively high contributions, support staff can be on local government schemes. £212 a month does sound a bit low, are you sure there isn't another child somewhere he is paying out for

Is it enough? Probably not. But the CMS rates are pathetic.
If he's employed (rather than self employed) then he can't lie about his income but could potentially put more into his pension. His outgoings aren't taken into account, and legally he doesn't have to pay anything other than what the CMS have calculated.

She's studying so she presumably will be able to earn better in a few short years. You are also paying for her child because £200 from the ex isn't going far.

@TheNumberBlocks it's not a race to the bottom. It's disgraceful that so many absent parents pay nothing or virtually nothing. That doesn't make it ok that the base rate of CMS is so laughable low.

What income she doesnt work the government aka us are paying for her and her child

Doesn’t matter whether you think it’s enough - It’s calculated on income and number of nights he has the children and that’s what required to pay.

i expect you’re also able to claim housing, uc, child benefit etc to top up your income

I think that’s fine, I get £7 a week for 4 kids

The ex is not a teacher. He's a member of school support staff. Although having said that, they can't normally holiday in teem time either.

Are you sure he is still teaching? I don’t know of a single teacher who can book a week off to go on holiday.

Child support is calculated on the NRP income and how often they have the child overnight. It is the legal minimum amount he is required to pay. His outgoings and your outgoings don’t come into it. Does he suck as a parent and a person for not financially contributing more if he can afford it? Absolutely. But as long as the information they have for him is correct he is legally doing nothing wrong and there is nothing you can do about it as far as I’m aware.

He paid £500 a month nursery fees which he didn't have to do so he will likely help with wrap around care. A lot of people will pay more when they know where the money is actually going.

She said she's a student and isn't earning at the moment.

We don't know she doesn't work. I would assume that if their child is of school age she certainly will post separation but I also imagine the ex won't for a moment give a crap that she'll be paying a childcare bill so that BOTH of them can work.

But if op doesnt work why would she pay for wrap around care just so he could pick dd up that would be stupid

It's what CMS says, they check what he's being paid through his employer and tax records. His living arrangements, his outgoings are not relevant. He can't do school runs unless your child goes to the school he works at.

This is so pathetic. I work full time as a teacher and did the school run as a single parent every day using before and after school care / childminder etc. so many dads use the excuse that they work as a reason they can't possibly do the day to day.

CM is a fixed percentage of his income. His outgoings don’t matter so let go of the
unfairness that he doesn’t have expenses. Ideally he would do what other dads do and pay something extra like half of uniform or give her monthly pocket money but legally he only has to pay CM.
CM is his contribution to the costs that you incur looking after her. You probably spend more than £424 pm (double £212) but it is what it is and yeh best that you can do is research help with wraparound etc to help your costs.
Courts can’t and don’t make dads see their kids and that’s understandable. A system where dads had to see their kids would have dads abuse their child so that they would be able to get out of that responsibility.