From 30 June 2014 transition period will begin for the existing cases determined under the original and net income schemes to be transferred to the new gross income scheme.
This will end December 2017. Each party will have to decide whether to remain in the statutory child maintenance system but under the new gross income scheme or enter into a family based arrangement.
From 30 June 2014 the Secretary of State (SS) will charge £20 when an application for statutory maintenance is made and charge fixed fees on making enforcement orders. From 11 August 2014, collection fees of 20% of the daily amount of maintenance payable and 4% of the child maintenance collected by the SS will be payable by a non-resident parent (NRP) and person with care (PWC) respectively. Collection fees can be recovered from payments of child maintenance handled by the SS, reducing the amount of child maintenance received by the PWC.
It is no longer necessary to have maintenance assessed by the Statutory organisation and instead parties are encouraged to agree the amount between themselves. Another reason to agree would be to avoid paying regular collection fees. If agreement can not be reached between yourselves you should consider enlisting the help of a qualified mediator.
For more information or advice on this or any other Family Law issue, please get in touch with our team of specialist Family Lawyers on 0115 9 100 200 or send us a message.
Posted on June 27, 2014