Child maintenance Payment and home education

[Ria331]

Hi,

Ive been swaying whether to talk about my circumstances, but I’ve now hit rock bottom. Any thoughts or guidance would be very much appreciated.

I’m separated and have 3 children. I home educate them, and when they are with me I have all 3 children during the day and overnight. I don’t have any family that live close by that I could rely on, apart from my ex’s parents - who I don’t want to be a burden on.

My exact fortnightly arrangement is:
Week 1: I have all 3 children for 2 full days and 2 nights.
Week 2: I have all 3 children for 3 full days and 3 nights.

So over the 2-week period, I have them for 5 full days and 5 nights in total.
I also work 3 × 12-hour shifts per week, so I’m trying to balance long working hours with home educating and caring for all 3 children.
I’m currently paying £297 a month under a private child-maintenance agreement, leaving me with very little for the children’s food, activities and other costs while they are with me.

Another concern I have is overtime. Any additional overtime I work can increase the income used to calculate child maintenance. I’m taking on extra hours to increase my income so I can support myself and my children, cover our living costs and have some financial security. I find it difficult that working extra hours can potentially increase my maintenance payments.
There is also a significant difference between our incomes. My ex earns around 2–3 times what I earn, while I am trying to manage my own household costs as well as the costs of having the children with me.

I’m interested in hearing from other separated parents who home educate their children and have a similar arrangement — providing both full daytime care/home education and overnight care, while also working 3 × 12-hour shifts.

I’m particularly interested in how CMS treats overtime, daytime care, home education and the difference in parents’ incomes.

Not sure what home educating has to do with anything financial. CMS would require you to pay based on your salary, the number of children and the number of overnights you have them. Calculator here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-we-work-out-child-maintenance/how-we-work-out-child-maintenance

I’m aware that CMS only takes into consideration the nights. Under usual circumstances children go to school then they spend the night with the parent. Therefore no expenses are spent through the day. My situation is that I have the kids through the day therefore I’m paying for food/heating/excursions etc.

Where are the kids educated the other 2/3 days of the week?

What is your ex's take on all this?

You can't afford to home ed. You need to put the kids in school and up your hours at work. Or become the resident parent so you can home ed every day and claim CMS from the other parent.

So the other parent home educate them too?

It’s not clear what the situation is.

if you have five days out of fourteen then your ex has them the majority of the time. Do they go to school when they are with your ex? Or do you both home educate them? (In which case a bit like teachers in a job share you’ll need to be talking almost constantly).

How can you offer a proper home education experience when you are not the primary parent.

What is happening with their schooling the other 9 days a fortnight when your ex has them?

If you dont like paying for your kids when they should be in school then send them to school

You think your CM should be reduced because you look after the children during week days? Presumably you’d also think non-resident parent’s CM should be reduced for babies and toddlers then as they too need looking after during the day?

Does your ex home educate them on the other two days?

Yes but using that logic your contribution should actually go up. Because yes your 33% of the week costs more, but so does your ex’s 66% - So she’s carrying 33% more of the ‘extras’ than you.

I don't think that makes a difference because the calculations are the same whether a child is below school age or whether it's summer holidays or whatever, and CM payments are calculated the same for a non-resident parent who has their child one or two nights a week irresepective of whether those nights fall midweek or at weekends. I don't expect your children are going to school on the 9 days per fortnight when they aren't with you are they? So the CM payment is to take into account the unevenness that comes with them being with you less than 50% of the time and your Ex will have the same additional costs as you do due to the fact that they are home-educated so it's irrelevant.

If you had the children 50:50, no child maintenance would be due in either direction. The uneven split of 5 days vs 9 days per fortnight means that your £3564 per year is covering the costs for the 2 days per fortnight (52 days per year) that are the difference between your setup and a 50:50 split, which works out as £22.84 per day per child.

Whether that's a reasonable amount depends on your income. You have said that your Ex is richer than you, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't contribute - children are entitled to support from both parents and the children of wealthy parents are entitled to the consequential increased quality of life and increased expenses that come with supporting that life

An official CMS calculation of £297 per month for 3 children who spend 130 nights per year with the paying parent would be correct if the paying parent (you) has an income of about £2,188 per month. What is your actual income?

Sounds like an odd set up but child maintenance only considers overnights. You only have your children just over 1/3 of the time so of course you have to pay.

The only way to pay less child maintenance is to have them more, which as you know has its own costs anyway.

Why don’t you have them 50/50?

Does the other parent also HE?