Child maintenance calculations

[JohnnyMarr]

Hi, I (along with many thousands of other people I'd imagine!) am at my wits' end with the utter incompetency of the Child Maintenance "Service" and following yet another futile and frustrating conversation with them yesterday I was wondering if anyone could shed any light on exactly how their calculations are made as this seemed wildly beyond the capabilities of the person I spoke to

Currently there is a discrepancy of just under £200 p/m between what their calculator suggests I should be receiving and the amount I actually receive and to date their only explanation is that their own calculator "isn't exact" - I could accept this if the difference were 20p, or even 20 quid but £200 seems a bit extreme!

I work in hospitality for a little above minimum wage and am furloughed at least until May, while my ex husband is on a six figure salary so the extra cash would make a huge difference, I just need to ascertain whether I should indeed be receiving it. Any help or insights would be hugely appreciated.

I completely agree. I am currently going through my MP to resolve my issues. Go to your MP as they should support you with this. Write to the head of the CMS and complain. It really isn't good enough.

The CMS calculate the maintenance your ex husband will pay based on his gross salary from the previous tax year. If there is more than one child & different mothers the figure will be divided between the number of children being claimed for. Resident children are taken into account as are the number of overnight stays per week.

You need to go through child maintenance options who do the calculation & then pass you onto the child maintenance service to process the claim. Alternatively you do the calculation on the child maintenance options website to give you a rough idea if you know what he earns.

I wish I was getting anything 😞 They are the absolute shittest of all the government departments and don’t care one tiny bit about all the ‘parents’ who don’t pay. As for the supposed enforcement powers they have, they’re rarely used so not really a deterrent. I sympathise @JohnnyMarr

Six months down the line and I'm still no further forward! I've written multiple letters of complaint to the CMS, my MP's intervened and I contacted ICE two months ago. I've just heard back from them and they're telling me if financial discrepancies are involved I need to resolve this directly with the CMS, but their lack of ownership is the reason I've taken my complaint to ICE in the first place...I guess that's what happens when you ask the DWP to investigate a complaint against the DWP. Back to the drawing board