How much do you actually receive? CMS

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Just a quick question for those who receive maintenance via the CMS. Husband pays £455 p/m via collect and pay (ex decided she wanted more than what was previously agreed, claiming DD doesn't stay with us more than one a week), but insists she only receives £300 off them and they keep the rest. Which leads her to ask for more money. DSD stays with us 3 times a week, 3 weeks of the month. So, is this accurate? Based on what I can see it's not but I can absolutely be wrong.

Thank you

These are the fees I could find. If she's using collect and pay then it's not reducing the child maintenance by 20% he is having to pay a 20% fee on top of the maintenance. A way to avoid this would be to agree to use their figures but go through "direct pay" she would get 4% more and he would pay 20% less.

Paying parents
A 20% fee is added to the amount of child maintenance they pay. This fee applies even if they miss a payment.
Receiving parents
A 4% fee is deducted from the amount of child maintenance they receive. This fee only applies when the CMS passes a payment on to them

It doesn't really matter what others get as it's so personal and specific to circumstance.

Why have you gone Collect and Pay though? That's for those that refuse to pay voluntarily. The middle option is better if you willingly pay, a small admin fee is paid and then they review the NRP income annually and send out a payment schedule which the NRP follows.

If CMS have calculated the amount using your husband's income details and the number of hours the children stay at yours then that is the minimum he has to contribute. If they have calculated it along the lines of the girls rarely staying then he will be paying above and beyond what the minimum is.

@purplebeansprouts I read that information before posting, thank you.

@Singleandproud as stated in post, ex wanted more money than agreed between them. That's why she has gone through collect and pay. She quit her job to be a stay at home mum and put in for collect and pay, as she'd calculated the amount she could receive online. He'd previously payed by direct debit a month agreed between them every month for over two years. Again the reason she claims DD hardly stays, in order to receive more money.

I do understand the whole CMS thing, I don't understand where the extra £155 a month is going to however, as she claims she receives £300 a month but he has £455 deducted. This is what I'm querying, do they really take a £155 collections fee from the money they take away from paying parents?

Yes, I understood that but why has he not fought against it, and rung them and explained that the situation is not as she says? And if he did do that what was the outcome, they can't possibly just take her word for it, although maybe they do and you'll need to get a solicitor involved.

They absolutely do just take her word for it and take the money directly from his pay. No wonder if they are genuinely getting £155 off her claims. The only week we don't have her 3 nights (we have her 2 instead) is when he goes to his mums once a month to help care for her. We can't have her more because of the hours we work.

So he needs to call them and ask what evidence they would accept to show that she is staying with you 132 nights a year. Do they need a letter from a solicitor, a court order, something else?

There is no court order in place. I'm unsure what evidence we would provide.

If anyone could shed some light on where the other £155 per month is going, that would be helpful.

Thank you.

Ex DP pays about £600 a month and I get £460 after collection fees so sounds about right, more likely she gets just over 300, but not by much.

They don't just switch to collect and pay. It's difficult to get. It usually goes to collect and pay after non payments....

Suppose to get £7 a week for 4 kids but get nothing as he owes debts.

@mydaughterisademon he wasn't paying through CMS previously. I have stated in the post he was paying monthly by direct debit for over 2 years previously to this.

@mena78 thank you so much for this answer to my question. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

Wow. Surely CMS are making a big profit from people?

I'm always very wary of a girlfriend or 'new' wife fighting a husbands battles. His children, his issue, his responsibility

455/1.2 gives a CM amount of £379
Take away her 4% charge and she will be receiving £364, or £85/week.

Please not though that the CMS amount is the absolute legal minimum, and no were near a fair proportion of what it cost to raise a child.

My ex pays via Direct Pay. He pays exactly what the CMS tell him to and not a penny more. He pays £430 and I receive £430. It's unusual for CMS to simply move to Collect and Pay without having tried direct pay first. If your DH were to say he will pay directly then he could offer to pay her £400 per month so she would be up and so would he. If they were to both confirm with CMS they were happy with this approach it's unlikely they could insist he remains on Collect and Pay.

@ballybooboo We've actually been together much longer than they were, and I'm far from 'new', but thank you for your comment.

I really appreciate the insights from those in this post. Thank you very much for sharing your experiences.

He did inform CMS he could prove maintenance payments, but their response was the person who opened the claim has opted for collect and pay and because they are able to do so, they will.

I think this is because she knew he would dispute giving her more money directly, as DD already has her own room with everything here, clothes, own stuff we obviously have purchased in our home because she lives here too 3 nights a week. As well as calls in with her friends when she's up this way on the days she's not staying over so will have tea, snacks, whatever kids want.

It was sparked over us going on a family holiday somewhere rather expensive and she said he should be paying her more money if he can afford luxuries like nice holidays. It wasn't taken into account that we both work full time to be able to afford these things.

If she didn't stay with us so much it would only be right that he pays more money towards her upkeep, but given that she's claimed DD doesn't stay with us, and at first tried to claim he had never paid wanting CMS to backdate the claim, I feel that says a lot about the situation. We will of course continue as we have but maybe I will mention the suggestions of more money via direct debit instead. Can't believe they'd take so much money out of the mouths of children, all for pushing some buttons.

Thank you for your comments.

"I think this is because she knew he would dispute giving her more money directly, as DD already has her own room with everything here"

If your partner would refuse to pay the CMS amount, then she was right to go for collect and pay, that's what it's for.

How much was he paying previously? And what does the CMS calculator say he should pay based on the number of nights?

3 nights, 3x a month = 108/year, so your actual only slightly over the 1/7 band of under 103 nights. If you missed some contact time on the recent luxury holiday, this may actually be the correct band. Thats compared to 257 with her mother, so regardless of what you provide at your house, the money is to balance the 149 nights more her mother needs to provide for her.

@Sprogonthetyne they have her 3 nights x 3 weeks and 2 nights 1 week so 11 a month = 132 a year so a fair wack of time.

Wow, we get nothing. On waiting list at REMO

@Sprogonthetyne I think you need to ready all of my comments first before posting with judgement. Clearly for you this post has touched a nerve.

Unless we leave her fend for herself in our house alone we can't have her anymore than we do. We actually have her three weeks of the holidays and also every other half term, as well as 2 nights on the week not stated in the initial post. Not to count the holidays she comes on with us also. My husband worked shifts around their daughter when she lived with us, with me working part time.

You don't know the exact details of anyone's life, so being aggressive because I am a step parent is clearly a you issue. Previous to this we had her every other week but her mum said she needed a break, hence the arrangement changing. As the family that makes more money, they agreed on 3 nights a week with us and maintenance every month to her mum, as well as agreement on a clothing allowance for DD every other month. Her dad has also just paid for her trip to France, her birthday party for the whole of her year and bought her a new phone. Her mum contributed nothing.

We have cost of living too, it is not our responsibility to fund a grown adult who refuses to go out to work. Regardless of your opinion, I am safe in the knowledge that this girl is well cared for by us but it is unfair to expect us to constantly overcompensate because her mum has issues with us having nice things, holidays, car etc. All the things we work for.

The fact that such a large sum goes into the system every month and not his daughter is infuriating, especially when we are constantly having messages for more and more money on top. I respect her choice not to work, but it makes life incredibly difficult when we are also part funding an adult. As a couple we share the load, but it is frustrating to see him have to constantly give more and more because her mum can't afford to pay for anything at all, apart from her lifestyle in her free time.

Why don't you speak to her about going to Direct Pay as I suggested upthread? If you offer to pay her £400 she will be better off and so will your DH. It's a win-win.

He absolutely can dispute the number of nights the ex is claiming he has them. I just changed this on my own account and CMS contacted the father to confirm it was correct. It's down to your partner to ensure this is correct.

Collect and pay takes a huge chunk out of the payment, but it is also difficult to get. Again, I changed to this and I had to give evidence of all the payments the father had missed. Direct pay would make more sense for all involved since CMS take less of a cut.

Apologies, I was basing my calculations on the number of overnights in your original post, and didn't think to check through for a dripfeed. But the point still remains, CMS don't care about what else you pay for or what other outgoings you have, they base their calculation solely on the number of nights, NRP's income & any other children they're responsible for (with very few other allowable expenses). As you know all these factors you can easily plug them into the calculator and see for yourself if he's paying the right amount, and if he's not, you can query the amounts with CMS.

What they calculate is what he is required to pay, regardless of what you think of her. If he was previously paying this or more, then she's shot herself in the foot by asking for collect and pay, as what she receives will have also gone down. If he was previously paying less then that amount and would have refused to pay more, then collect and pay was the correct choice.

Based on those numbers ex will receive around £260 the rest taken by CMS. Does ex not realise she will get more money if they do direct pay instead of collect and pay? Have there been issues where your ex hasn’t paid is that why she’s using it? He also should ring cms and let them know he has her 3 nights a week

It's pretty difficult to get collect pay.

You can't just phone and request it and they take it at face value. There has to be a history of late/non payment first, not even just one or 2 instances. Unless he agreed to it.

He can request direct pay as well. Might be worth calling and requesting that so the 20% fee is taken off,especially if he can prove that he has paid in full, on time well before collect pay started.