Lowering Cms

[MuddlingThroughLifeLittleByLittle]

Dh has a dc age 10. Always paid cms above the stated figure. Lost his well paid job as the company went bust and around here jobs are fee and far between.
So hes taken a job that unfortunately is minimum pay of 18k but has potential to progress in around a year.
However the only way to survive, and to be able to travel to collect dsc 1.45hr round trip, provide when here etc is to lower cms.
Now this is the absolute last resort. We've already cancelled the likes of netflix etc. Sold 1 of our cars. We physically cannot cut back further within our home. He's re done a cms online calculation and with new wage (he's got to tell them anyway as its more than 25% lower) its significantly drops his payments.

This is obviously the last resort.

Other option was to be on a benefit meaning he only would pay £7 pw.

I get that his ex will take a drop in finances but he can't give what he hasnt got. Yet he feels awful. He thought his job was for life so to speak.
He provides everything for dsc when here which goes without saying. Dsc here 3 nights a week
He cant approach his ex about it as shes not allowed contact with us, unless to do with dsc health due to previous issues with how shes treated dh. But that's another story.

Hes on the fence as to whether to change it, but if he doesn't we'd be racking up debts to survive.
We're both working and other dcs at home. Ive juggled my hours to cut 80% of childcare costs for our youngest

I know we're prob BU to lower it but we have no choice.

Ive been the receiving end of similar and i know hard it is but we have to keep a roof over our head and all the dcs

Just looking at your figures... if I've worked this out correctly your DH has gone from a sizeable £50-60k income down to around £17500?

In which case like it or not your household simply cannot sustain significant CMS overpayment. It kust be an absolute nightmare to work with that reduction in income - both as a working budget and mentally for your husband!

It states No contact other than health /illness.
No there's not a reduction for my dc. As we didnt feel that was right going back when he moved in. However cms did say they knew there was my dc living here and calculated it BUT he paid more than they said because we didn't feel it was appropriate.

Hes been looking at doing take away delivery driving on top of his job but means when dsc is here he wont be 2 out of 3 of those nights . I dont mind and nor does dsc so may be idea for a temp gap.

He was on 42k (but always paid over cms figure) now 18k
Its bloody hard. I've changed my hours, but often means im working online at home till midnight as we stopped childcare as that was huge.
Sold 1 car.
Cut Netflix and Disney

As said this hopefully is temporary. And he still looks elsewhere. But 18k is better than no job. If he gets overtime he'll send extra money.

I would soften it by splitting the difference and paying £225 pcm for a year, to give her time to adjust, if that’s possible. Which is at least saner than his idea of just continuing as he is, and is as reasonable as anyone could expect in the circumstances.

Does the CMS have a mediation mechanism by which he could communicate the changes? Or did I see there was some online service for sorting out non-CMS CM without direct contact?

£350 pm is alot of money considering he has the child 3/7. It's very obvious that this is either the result of a massive voluntary overpayment, showing that he is not routinely mean with money for his child, or the result of a huge wage, meaning the drop to less than £18k is going to be far more painful for the child in OPs household than it will be in their mothers.
There's not a thing to think about. The maintenance will have to drop to a manageable level as the child must be provided for in both homes, not just one.

Just pay the required amount based on CMS for his new salary. There is no need for him to soften the blow by overpaying when he simply can’t afford it, the child is with him 6/14 nights and he is paying for a school uniforms and clubs as well. If he has lost his job and had to take a lower paid one it’s unfortunate but you can’t leave your household unable to meet basic expenses. Nothing to feel guilty about, as he has been massively overpaying for years he clearly wants the best for his child - but right now that will be contributing CM within his means. You’re already upping your hours and making cuts but that can’t be used to continue to overpay CM if you’re struggling - it’s based on the fathers income not the household income.

Another solution is up one night every 14 days so it’s 50/50 and then no maintenance required, if that would be doable for your household and agreeable with his ex.