Child maintenance and salary sacrifice (childcare vouchers) - help!

[matana]

DH has 2 DDs, neither of whom live with us, though we see them every weekend, and he pays his ex through an agreement without using the CSA.

We have a 1 yo DS together and did not drop payments to DH's DDs when DS arrived (which the CSA would have allowed for). At the time we figured if we could afford it, we'd pay it. But as with lots of other people now we find ourselves quite stretched and are having to look closely at our finances.

My DH sacrifices the maximum amount he can to pay for childcare. Our DS goes to a CM 37 hours per week as we both work FT.

My question is, are child maintenance payments calculated on the net amount of monthly pay pre or post salary sacrifice? We cannot find a definitive answer anywhere and the next stop will be either CAB or CSA.

TIA

I don't know in this exact situation tbh (so why am I posting?), but often when salary sacrifice is involved a 'notional' salary exists so that some calculations that are based on earnings can link back to this amount.

I don't understand all the acronyms in this post... What's happening?

DH, DS, DD?

Child maintenance can change depending on the amount the paying parent sees the child.

CSA maintenance is calculated on his net income - income after tax

Your partner's child maintenance payments are between him and his ex. And calculated on his income. They are nothing to do with you. If you want to encourage him to find legal loopholes to reduce payments, just remember that regardless of how much you might resent it there are two incomes coming into your household. Your partners ex will likely have to work harder to support their children,

I think it depends on the salary sacrifice scheme.

For dh, the vouchers were deducted from his gross pay. So his gross pay stayed the same, as would cm.

For mine, my contract was re-negotiated. Vouchers were deducted, my gross pay was the remaining amount. This affected pension, mat and sick leave etc, as my new gross salary was lower. So cm payments, calculated from official gross, would be lower.

The CMS amount is calculated on GROSS salary minus pension contributions. There is a calculator, child maintenence options. Your voucher amount won't make a difference. But overnight stays and one resident child in your house will.

Perhaps your husband should have thought about whether he could afford a third child before looking for ways to cut his support of the older two
What an arsehole.

Oh - Zombie thread
He's still an arsehole though.

This is a zombie thread from years ago!