Child support - can it be reinforced

[coactive]

Hi - hoping for some collective wisdom from those who’ve been through this (or understand it better via work you do). Name changed just in case.

Separated a year ago and he’s been paying £500 monthly which, according to CM calculator is about £200 less than he should have (based on last known salary, since then he’s had a promotion but I have no idea of the raise).

One child, full time with me but picked up twice a week from school and kept for 3 hours and fed dinner by dad. Sometimes, completely random and ad-hoc, there’s stays over half term and such which can be 3-5 days. Obvs he pays for everything during this time. Other than that I pay for everything, clothes, activities, birthday presents, food, holidays and trips (my ex never takes the child anywhere).

I’ve tried asking twice now for the ££ to be matched to CM calculator - apparently he can’t afford it as paying for his other child’s Uni now (also separated, just turned 18) and the calculator is nonsense anyways.

I’m worried that pushing further this will result in stopping payments all together but I’m around £3k out of pocket annually and not happy - struggling to pay for everything and just don’t feel it’s right.

If I go legal route, can the appropriate payment of even be reinforced? Or am I better off taking whatever I get, and sucking it up. Separation my idea in case that makes any difference.

Ultimately you can put in a claim via cms
they will validate the ££
if he dies t pay thdn you can go to direct pay ( which will cost more)

if he’s PAYE it should be straightforward
if he’s self employed it can be challdnging

why is he not having his child more often and overnights?

Thank you. Wasn’t aware that there’s also a 20% additional cost for him and 4% me if I go down this route.

My question is still about the enforcement - am I safe knowing he will have to pay if I go down this route (I’ll speak to him first as I feel he should be aware of the 20%) or can he simply not pay. He’s PAYE so would this mean just coming out of his salary directly?

What I don’t want is to piss him off and risk losing the money I’m getting. I was also hoping he’d see sense but I guess I was wrong 🤷‍♀️

If it’s paye and direct pay he can’t refuse, it will simply be taken direct at source

Direct pay is not collected by CMS, that's collect & pay. It's not a quick process, I applied in November and it still isn't settled. My ex is PAYE and hasn't paid a penny in 6 months

@coactive Are you absolutely certain of the calculation based on the salary you knew and factoring in that there are two children with separate parents?

Also, bear in mind pension contributions (reasonable ones, so perhaps up to around 20% of gross maximum) will reduce the amount payable.

I’ve put in his last known salary and the fact he doesn’t have any overnights - wasn’t sure how to account for randomised stays as and when as completely as-hoc / unpredictable.

Good point about pension, I hadn’t thought of that and the calculator makes no mention of it - maybe other benefits come into play here too.

When I use the calculator it only asks about my child, his other child just turned 18 so unsure applicable anyway?

Seems silly he’d pay 20% more and I don’t wish in the slightest to make things harder for him but as things stand I’m struggling to make ends meet and resent the fact I’m just at someone’s mercy.

Ad-hoc, urgh