Child maintenance overtime

[Mummabear173]

Hi all
i am looking for a bit of support. I am a single mother who is now looking to claim Child maintenance for my baby. The father does overtime and additional hours/bank holidays, unsocial hours as he is in the police.
He is saying that his overtime/additional hours is not guaranteed so it won’t be taken into account but for as long as I have known him he has always done extra hours and overtime so would this not be classed as guaranteed as it’s been over 3 months? I’ve had a look online and it says overtime is included but doesn’t mention anything about if it’s not guaranteed. I was told by someone that they look at his earnings for the previous/current tax year so that would reflect more than his basic pay.
any help would be massively appreciated. Thank you!

If you go through the CMS it stops all of this as they do the calculation and tell him what he should pay. They use the figures from his previous years P60.
My ex was like this and using the CMS took all the power away from him.

CMS. Do it straight away. As pp says it cuts out all the bollocks.

Go through CMS.

My ex did this for a while. He lied said he earnt less than he takes home. CMS check what he earned last year and upped the amount he should pay.

Be prepared for the CMS to be completely useless

Personally I have had no problem with the CMS, compared to the completely useless CSA. I went for the middle option, one off £20 admin fee and they do an annual review of what he earned in the previous year and set the monthly payments by that, ex sets up a DD/standing order to pay the correct amount. Job done and having the 'middle man' is useful for putting some distance between you and money conversations.

The CMS have been next to useless in my case. Despite being presented with irrefutable evidence they still fall for the BS of an abusive liar who seems to think that because he is not allowed to see his children means he shouldn’t have to pay for them.
the CMS’s capabilities are limited to fairly decent complaint men in traceable jobs who also are happy to accept responsibility for their children and generally are also involved in direct parenting in some way shape or form.

I suspect that those posters who are saying CMS are "useless" perhaps have ex's who are self employed. This can be a real problem for CMS to deal with.

However, in your situation, since the child's father is an employee and paid entirely through PAYE then it is a simple process for them to get the information for how much he earnt in the last year. They will then use this figure.

If he does not pay voluntarily then they will get an order for his employer to deduct the money from his pay before he receives it.

My ex is a civil servant so no not self employed. Everyone in the CMS I speak to though is thick as shit so maybe that’s a more convincing explanation 😉

Do be fully prepared for him to stop all the overtime to reduce the payments.

They use the last tax years income, so it will include OT. But if he earns I think 25% less than the amount they've used to calculate it he can request a reconsideration.

I'm the same with my ex, who is also a cop doing tons of overtime, making money he likes to keep all to himself while I am left with the baby, having to take a demotion, go part time and lose half my pension for the privilege. HENCE THE DIVORCE. We would expect coppers be a bit more ethical, but there you go. I've just put an application in so will know the answer soon. How did you get on?

Most of that is irrelevant to the point the children need to be properly supported.
Why has a CMS claim shocked you so much, if she is the resident parent, you need to pay the correct amount. CMS is also woefully inadequate and not enough to fairly cover housing/bills etc associated with running a home with 2 kids.

My post is i currently pay child maintenance for two children and I need to know if I get the opportunity to work over time I understand the amount earned is what is used to deduct child maintenance but if I don't do overtime does the amount deducted reduce or not as otherwise its not worth me doing any overtime, also if I were to claim state pension and private pension given the private pension was before I had children and not connected to kids because the final salary pension what before my last relationship would that be use for child maintenance?

@Glenroy do the overtime, stop giving your children the bare minimum and actually provide for them

as otherwise its not worth me doing any overtime

Providing your children with a better quality of life isn't worth it?

I don't give my kids the bare minimum and who are you to say that when you don't even know, clearly I little out of order when I have asked a question

I work for a small homeless charity and been working with the homeless for over 10 years and in this role I am able to on occasion work and extra shift on a Saturday as normally only work Monday to Friday, I am not happy with a comment of bare minimum as I have paid child maintenance since our split in 2018 and I know how it works but not when it comes to overtime and that is what I read on Google

So you voluntary pay more than the legal requirement (the bare minimum) on your salary but you won't do any overtime if it increases your payments? Yeah, very believable.

@Glenroy it doesn't matter how long you've paid child maintenance for, the amount calculated by child maintenance is the bare minimum.

This isn't your thread. Start your own.

Also, do the overtime and provide for your kids.

If you get a annual pay rise in line with the cost of living your child maintenance will increase every year you have a pay rise, and someone said bare minimum, well the cost of living in a flat or house has increased so if one has no where to live and can't afford rent and lose your job then that will be bare minimum for the children and ex if no longer working.

How do you not get it? The price of your children has also increased. The cost of the electricity and gas to keep them warm. Cost of clothes to cover them. Cost of food. Hopefully your ex is more ambitious than you and providing properly for the children you jointly brought into the world.

Do the overtime some will be deducted, most will be in your pocket.

I think you have a cheak to say i am paying the bare minimum, you don't know or how much i pay, and what's funny is i wind up people like you with great ease because anyone can hide on here and spout nonsense but don't know a person's circumstances so pipe down silly person

Single and proud, I get it and I can now understand why some of you have problems as clearly your attitude is very poor when people ask questions, also my ex isn't and wasn't doing better now than before even with her two incomes and my payments, it's not about money but clearly some bitter people on here