Child maintenance

[loop2u]

Posting for advice on what others think.

My sil has just split from her partner, they have 2 dc together 4 and 5.
He's told her he will give her £300 a month for the dc. I think this is really low. He's self employed, charges around £25 and hour and does a 40-50 hour week so he earns around 4-5 grand before any deductions.

She works part time and gets about £1600 that includes her wage and uc.

What child maintenance would be acceptable on his wage?
She's worried if she goes through csa then she will get less as he's self employed she said he can "fiddle it" so it looks like he earns less. Is this right?

Child maintenance from the self-employed is a nightmare as hiding income is a thing. I suggest your SIL puts the figures into the online calculator to see what the suggested amount would be then negotiate from there. I would also advise her against being complicit in fraud as she won't have a leg to stand on if he starts playing silly buggers.

He is self employed which means he needs to cover costs himself too, he may charge £25 an hour but out of that come any costs, fuel, tools etc. Your sister should have an idea of the costs of running his business so should use those figures instead.

Her wages and income are irrelevant to this.

How often are the kids living with him- is it 50/50?

He calculator states she should receive around £300 a month per child.

Not sure if his outings each month will need to ask her about that.

The kids stay with him 1-2 nights a week

Is the partner your brother?!

No he's not my brother.

There's a template somewhere, can't remember where, that helps couples sit down and work out how much a child costs each month. I suggest they work through that and compare it to the cms calculation

You don't get an amount "per child". The amount for 2 kids is not double the amount for 1.

For example I used to get £80 a week for 2 kids. When the oldest went off the claim, it went down to £60 a week - not £40 as I was expecting.

Can he work cash in hand? Some self employment is going to be easier to hide income than others

Cms is 12% for one child 16% for two. Of his earnings before tax and NI. But after pensions cost. This then goes down by 7th for each over night he has a week.

He is self employed so she is over a barrel he can dodge cms fiddle his books etc.

I've spent years chasing money through the cms as my ex is serial job hopper and periods of working contracts they have no teeth I'm afraid so I would negotiate with him directly and see if he pays willingly