New to child maintenance

[BeBusyHelper]

Hi all just a quick question

just applied for CMS and I’ve just got a message saying that I will receive £212 per month for one child. The father of my child we have split apart his head of year in London non-teaching role and I believe that he gets paid more than what he does. He only has a child for one night he doesn’t pay for any expenses like school clothing or anything or things she really needs. I pay for all her activities. I believe he has no bills to pay because he lives with his mother, i.e. mortgage he does not drive. she spent one night with him on the weekend and he phones her when he feels like it. It could be weeks most of the time I see on their stories that is our party and everything so how can I go by that they are paying the right amount if he’s expenses ain’t calculate him right?

question is do you think I am getting enough money for my daughter per month?

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

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 .

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

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

Female teachers somehow seem to manage.

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.

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!

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

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.

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.