The UK's Most Complete Child Maintenance Resource
Clear, honest answers about how the Child Maintenance Service works - for both paying and receiving parents. No jargon, just facts.
What brings you here?
Find the information most relevant to your situation.
I'm a Paying Parent
Understand how payments are calculated, what income is counted, your rights around shared care, and what happens if circumstances change.
- How is my payment calculated?
- What if I have shared care?
- Can I reduce my payments?
- What happens if I can't pay?
I'm a Receiving Parent
Learn how to apply, how much you should receive, what to do if payments stop, and how child maintenance interacts with your benefits.
- How do I apply to the CMS?
- How much should I receive?
- What if they don't pay?
- Does maintenance affect my benefits?
The Net Pay Child Maintenance Calculator
The official CMS calculator uses gross income - but most people think in take-home pay. Our calculator lets you enter your net (after-tax) payand shows you exactly what you'd pay.
Popular Articles
The most important things to know about UK child maintenance
What Is the Child Maintenance Service (CMS)?
A plain-English guide to what the CMS is, how it works, and when you need to use it.
How Is Child Maintenance Calculated by the CMS?
A full breakdown of how the CMS works out how much child maintenance should be paid, including all income bands and rates.
How to Reduce Child Maintenance Payments UK
Explore the legitimate ways paying parents can reduce their child maintenance payments - from income changes to shared care and variations.
Child Maintenance Advice for Fathers
Practical, honest advice for fathers navigating child maintenance - from how the calculation works to shared care, rights, and reducing payments fairly.
What Happens If You Don't Pay Child Maintenance?
The CMS has serious legal powers to recover unpaid child maintenance. Here's exactly what can happen if payments are missed.
How Does Shared Care Affect Child Maintenance?
If you share overnight care of your children, the CMS will reduce your maintenance payments. Here's exactly how it works.
Can Child Maintenance Payments Be Changed?
Your payments aren't fixed forever. Find out when and how child maintenance can be reviewed, increased, or reduced.
CMS Liability Orders: What They Actually Are (And What the Law Really Says)
Years of research and active High Court proceedings have exposed serious questions about whether CMS liability orders are legally valid court orders at all. Here is what you need to know.
Child Maintenance If You're Self-Employed: How the CMS Calculates Your Payments
Self-employed? The CMS calculates child maintenance differently for you. Here's exactly what income they use, how HMRC data is shared, and what to do if your income varies.
Child Maintenance for Limited Company Directors: Salary, Dividends and What the CMS Counts
Limited company director? The CMS counts more than just your salary. Here's exactly how dividends, retained profits and director's loans are treated - and what the receiving parent can challenge.
What DWP Told the House of Lords About the CMS - and What They Did Not Say
In March 2025, senior DWP officials gave evidence to the House of Lords Public Services Committee about the Child Maintenance Service. Here is what they said, what the numbers actually show, and where the official story does not match the experience of real parents.
Regulation 50 Explained: Who Pays When Care is Shared?
A plain-English guide to Regulation 50 of SI 2012/2677 - the rule that decides who is treated as the non-resident parent when both parents share significant care of a child, and the full overnight stay checklist from Regulation 46.
Child Maintenance When a Parent Lives or Works Abroad
What happens to child maintenance when one parent moves overseas - CMS jurisdiction rules, REMO explained, the full list of countries where UK maintenance orders can and cannot be enforced, and what to do when the country is not covered.
CMS Statistics December 2025: 1.1 Million Children, £773M Unpaid: What the Data Really Shows
A detailed breakdown of every figure in the Child Maintenance Service's latest official statistics release, covering compliance rates, the debt mountain, enforcement queues, and what it all means for parents.
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Quick Answers
The most common questions, answered in plain English