Child maintenance dispute with dad

[Mumsy30]

Hi, can anyone give me some advice please. My ex gives me £200 per month child maintenance and has had no issue paying since getting the CMS involved 2 years ago. This month he didn’t pay so I asked him if he was going to and his response was yes hes going to pay but he will be deducting money out of it for some school uniform he bought for them returning to school in September. I did not ask him to buy any uniform, he offered and I accepted. At no point did he say to me he would be deducting the money for it out of the maintenance until now. Which I have disagreed with. Am I right to disagree or is he within his right to deduct money to reimburse himself for the uniforms he offered to buy? Thank you in advance :)

He is out of order. Is it a lot of money? I would tell him to return the uniform if that's the deal and you'll buy it as and when you need to.

Hi, thanks for getting back to me. I have bought the expensive bits myself the school jumpers with logos and t shirts with logos ect so he has only bought plain T-shirts and trousers from Asda but it’s not the fact of the money it’s the idea of him being able to deduct it from the CM? When I objected to it he then started having a go at me about taking our son for his hair cut sometimes saying he should deduct that out of it too. But I never ask him to he does it off his own back…..

I'm presuming he has dc to stay overnight at his, if so he's responsible for providing and paying for clothes for that time which includes uniform. What a tight arse.

He can’t deduct it from child maintenance.

If these are bits that stay in his house because the kids go to school from his sometimes then he’s supposed to buy them on top of child maintenance - the same way that he should be buying weekend clothes for when the kids go to his house. Child maintenance is his share of the cost when the kids are with you since you have them the majority of the time. It does not cover stuff for when the kids are at his.

Go through CMS and Do it so it comes straight out of his wages before he gets it

Hi, yeah he does. He has them 3 nights per week and I have them 4 so it’s pretty 50/50. I just don’t really know how to approach the situation…. He’s so awkward!! And I just get to wound up and upset cause he is so patronising so I end up just leaving it and letting him do what he wants cause I can’t be bothered with the arguments 😥

He already gets a discount as they take off money for the nights he has them.
Anything he provides above that is his choice.
The cms is the minimum amount

Report to the cms that he has underpaid you - upload a picture of your bank account with the transaction on it.
They will add what he owes you onto the arrears balance which he will have to pay off.

It's not really a discount as such, he will pay less CMS by having them 3 nights as the idea is he is supposed to provide for them during those nights. So he should definitely be contributing 3/7 towards their uniforms.

I agree report to the CMS as an underpayment.

okay thank you everyone really appreciate all the advice! I’ll give CMS a ring tomorrow :)

You can report an underpayment online, probably easier than ringing. Might have to upload evidence.

He’s late paying too, he’s meant to pay it on the 1st of every month but said he won’t be paying it until the 5th as he’s waiting for all his bills to be paid first! Honestly so awkward!

I'm pretty sure CMS give paying parent 5 days wriggle room to pay late so unfortunately I don't think you can do much about him paying on 5th 😕