Child maintenance eligibility
06/11/2009
Was your child over 16 and attending a government-approved training course at any time since April 2006? We may need to review your case.
How a change to child benefit rules in April 2006 affects some child maintenance cases
The Child Support Agency is correcting an inconsistency in the way child maintenance payments affecting a small group of parents have been worked out and collected.
This relates to a change made to child benefit regulations on 10 April 2006 and affects parents whose children were aged over 16 and on certain types of training courses between 10 April 2006 and 9 November 2009.
It means that non-resident parents who made child maintenance payments for these children after this date could now be entitled for that money to be paid back to them.
What change was made to child benefit regulations in April 2006?
A change to child benefit rules was made on 10 April 2006, which allowed child benefit to be paid to parents of children who were aged over 16, who had left school and were on (or registered for) certain types of Government-approved training courses.
How did this change affect some child maintenance payments?
When this change to child benefit rules was made, the relevant child maintenance legislation should also have been updated.
Because this did not happen, some non-resident parents made child maintenance payments for children who were affected by this change which the existing legislation did not allow for.
This means that this small group of non-resident parents could now be entitled to have this money paid back to them.
Which training courses are affected?
The Government-approved courses which are affected include:
- Work, education or training with the Careers Service or Connexions Service
- Work, education or training in Northern Ireland with the Department for Employment and Learning or an Education and Library Board
- Approved training NOT provided by an employer. By approved, we mean:
- (a) "Entry to Employment" or "Programme Led Pathways" schemes in England
- (b) "Skillbuild", "Skillbuild+" or "Foundation Modern Apprenticeships" schemes in Wales
- (c) "Get Ready for Work", "Skillseekers" or "Modern Apprenticeships" schemes in Scotland
- (d) "Access" or "Jobskills Traineeships" schemes in Northern Ireland
I think I'm a non-resident parent who is affected by this. How do I find out for definite?
Non-resident parents whose children were aged between 16 and 19 and registered on one of the training courses listed above between 10 April 2006 and 9 November 2009 should contact us on 0845 600 2423.
Our team will be able to review your case to confirm if you are affected. If you are entitled to have money paid back to you, they will be able to work this out. This could take a number of weeks.
What information will I be asked for when I call?
You will be asked for the following information:
- Your CSA reference number, your child's name and date of birth
- The date your child left full-time non-advanced education (up to and including A-level or equivalent standard)
- Further details of what your child has been doing since then. For example:
- Working
- On a further course of education/ training
- Claiming benefits
If you are unable to provide this information, we won't be able to correctly re-assess your case.
I'm a parent with care. Will I have to pay any money back?
We will not be asking parents with care to repay any child maintenance money they have received in the relevant period (10 April 2006 to 9 November 2009) while their child continued to qualify for child benefit. The Child Support Agency will make these repayments to non-resident parents.
Will this situation happen again?
No. New child maintenance regulations which are effective from 10 November 2009 corrected this inconsistency and means that all children who qualify for child benefit also qualify for child maintenance, up to the date of their 19th birthday.
