Closed petition Reform child maintenance – flat rates per child per night

Change the way child maintenance is calculated from a percentage of the non-resident parent’s gross income to a set amount for the child per night that the resident parent has them more than the non-resident.

More details

Eg. Parent 1: 4 nights per week parent 2: 3 nights per week, means pay for 1 night only.
At the moment child maintenance is calculated by way of a percentage of the non-resident parent’s gross monthly wage. This means that more child maintenance is paid by non-resident parents who have higher earnings. This is also unaffected by the number of nights a non-resident parent has their child for. This is unfair to non-resident parents, and should be reformed.

This petition is closed All petitions run for 6 months

287 signatures

Show on a map

10,000

Share your experiences of the Child Maintenance Service

On Thursday 24 June, Lord Farmer will lead a debate on Child Maintenance Service reform in the House of Lords.

To inform the debate, Lord Farmer wants to hear about your experiences of the Child Maintenance Service. He may quote your contribution directly during his debate, so please don’t share anything you wouldn’t want to be made public.

Find out more and share your experiences with Lord Farmer here: https://houseofcommons.shorthandstories.com/child-maintenance-service-/index.html

Videos of the debate, which is known as a Question for Short Debate (QSD), the transcript and other relevant material will be accessible shortly after the debate on this webpage.

The deadline for contributions is 12noon on Wednesday 23 June.

Please note: this debate is separate from any work the Petitions Committee may do on this petition. For more information on how petitions work, visit: https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/sign-a-petition/e-petitions/

What is a Question for Short Debate?

Four short debates ('Questions for Short Debate') take place on Thursday every five weeks in Grand Committee of the House of Lords, away from the main Chamber. These debates are an opportunity for members of the House of Lords to discuss important current issues and draw the Government’s attention to concerns. A Government Minister or spokesperson responds at the end to the issues raised in the debate.