Inevitably, many disputes surrounding relationship breakdowns involve children. Whilst this will always be a challenging time for those involved, we at Buckles are able to help. We can explain all about the law relating to parental responsibility, your rights and those of the children involved, sympathetically and in a language you can understand.
The Children Act 1989 (the Act) provides the legislative framework to resolve family disputes relating to children. It covers issues formerly referred to as child custody, fathers’ rights and much more.
What is parental responsibility?
Parental responsibility recognises your rights as a parent to influence key decisions made on behalf of your child, including those about the health, education, religion. Generally, a mother automatically has parental responsibility, and it is granted to a father if:
- They were married to the mother at the time of the child’s birth
- They marry their child(ren)’s mother after the child(ren) is born
- They were named on the birth certificate of a child born after 1 December 2003.
Can you remove parental responsibility?
Parental responsibility can only be removed by a court order, applications to remove parental responsibility are rarely successful unless it fits into one of these few circumstances:
- The child is put up for adoption. An adoption order will remove parental responsibility from the birth parent(s). This is sometimes called a parental order and is common in cases such as surrogacy.
- The parent’s behaviour poses a threat to the child’s welfare, or the parent has been abusive/neglectful for a long time.
A court will not remove parental responsibility if a parent isn’t in contact with their child or won’t pay child maintenance, for example. If a parent is having a negative impact on their child’s live a court can use a child arrangement order or a prohibited steps order to protect the child and limit the role that parent has in their life.
Child Custody & Living Arrangements
The Courts will only get involved in a child’s living arrangements if the parents cannot agree on residence i.e. where the child(ren) is to live. More recently, fathers’ rights and joint custody have been referred to by the terms ‘contact’ and ‘residence’ respectively.
Again, if parents cannot agree on how to arrange contact then the Courts will get involved and make the decision for them. These orders are known as Child Arrangement Orders and confirm where a child shall live and how they are to spend time with the other parent. Child Arrangement Orders also stipulate types of contact that can take place such as phone calls and when your child can spend time with the other parent.
Other Child Orders
A Specific Issue Order is used to look at specific questions on a child’s upbringing, this could be where they go to school or if they receive certain medical treatment.
A Prohibited Steps Order is an order that prevents a parent making decisions about their child, this could be relocating with the child inside and outside of the UK.
Although similar there are key differences between how these orders are used:
| Prohibited Steps Order | Specific Issue Order | |
|
Purpose |
Prevents a parent taking certain actions | Resolves a specific disagreement or question |
|
Example |
Preventing a parent relocating within an area. | Where a child goes to school |
|
When used |
When there are concerns about a child welfare | When parents can’t agree on a specific issue |
These orders tend to be enforceable until a child is over the age of 16, this can be up to 18 in some cases, but this is determined within court documents.
Child Support
Financial maintenance arrangements are usually required of the parent not living the with the child, based on their income and the number of overnight stays the child has with them.
Parents with parental responsibility are responsible for maintaining their child(ren). Maintenance or support is usually required from the parent who is not living with their child(ren). Generally, the calculations for maintenance are fairly straightforward and based upon percentage of income and the amount of overnight stays each child has with the non-resident parent. However, we strongly recommend taking legal advice if you have problems getting maintenance for your child(ren).
How Is Child Support Calculated?
There are five steps to how child support (sometimes called child maintenance) is collected.
Step 1 – The Child Maintenance Service will obtain the paying parent’s annual gross income using data provided by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). They will also verify if the paying parent receives any benefits, excluding tax credits, student grants, and loans, which are not considered income.
Step 2 – The Child Maintenance Service will review factors that may affect the gross income, such as pension contributions or other children the paying parent supports. You can request that additional income, assets, or expenses be considered. The annual gross income will then be converted into a weekly amount.
Step 3 – The Child Maintenance Service applies one of five rates based on the paying parent’s gross weekly income:
– Default Rate: £38 for 1 child, £51 for 2 children, £64 for 3 or more children (if income is unknown).
– Nil Rate: £0 (for income below £7).
– Flat Rate: £7 (for income between £7 and £100 or if receiving benefits).
– Reduced Rate: Formula-based (for income between £100.01 and £199.99).
– Basic Rate: Formula-based (for income between £200 and £3,000).
For income over £3,000 per week, the receiving parent can request additional maintenance through the courts.
Step 4 – The Child Maintenance Service will take into account the number of children the paying parent has to pay child maintenance for. This includes any other children living with them and any arrangements that have been made directly for other children.
Step 5 – Using information from the first 4 steps, the Child Maintenance Service decides what the weekly child maintenance amount will be.
What is Shared Care?
When it comes to child maintenance (or child support), ‘shared care’ refers to when a paying parent has their child stay overnight. The number of overnight stays is determined by a court order or parental agreement. This will have an impact on how the child maintenance is calculated.
For example, the Child Maintenance Service may reduce child maintenance payments if:
– The parent pays the flat, reduced, or basic rate.
– The child stays overnight for 52 or more nights per year.
– Shared care includes local authority overnight care.
Where a flat rate is concerned, if the paying parent receives benefits and the child stays overnight for 52+ nights per year, no maintenance is owed for that child or other children in the same household. However, if the paying parent does not receive benefits, overnight stays do not affect payments.
For those paying reduced and basic rates, overnight stays reduce payments, with reductions based on the number of nights. For example:
– 52-103 nights: 14.29%
– 104-155 nights: 28.57%
– 156-174 nights: 42.86%
– 175+ nights: 50%, plus an additional £7 per week reduction.
Payments cannot fall below £7 per week. If there’s no agreement on the exact number of stays beyond 52, the Child Maintenance Service assumes 52 nights.
What Age Does Child Maintenance Stop?
Child maintenance ends on 31 August following your child’s 16th birthday if they leave education or training.
However, it can continue until they turn 20 if they remain in approved education or training.
Since child maintenance is linked to Child Benefit, you must inform HMRC about any changes to your child’s education or training, not the Child Maintenance Service.
You only need to notify HMRC’s Child Benefit service if:
– Your child turns 16 and stays in approved education or training, so child maintenance and Child Benefit continue.
– Your child leaves approved education or training before turning 20.
If they leave education or training later, child maintenance will stop on the last day of February, May, August, or November, whichever comes first.
