childcare fees

Hi, going trough a divorce and husband has decided he will only pay £300 towards child maintenance when nursery already cost £1300 a month

can childcare being added to child maintenance?

it feels i get punish with full nursery fees cos i work. He doesnt have baby a single night of the week

Standard child maintenance is set on a very fixed formula based on the payers income and the nights per year that they have the child, and the number of children.

It is not broken down into what items it covers or doesn't cover - it is just a total monthly payment.

So first check using the government calculator that he is paying the right amount.

If he wont agree to pay the calculated amount you can go to the Child Maintenance Service.


Getting him to contribute towards the nursery fees is part of the separate financial settlement that you have to negotiate as part of divorce. So its part of the discussion about houses, pensions, spousal maintenance etc. How are you planning to negotiate your divorce settlement? Solicitors ? mediation? DIY?

Hi, thanks for your reply.

i just find so so so unfair the main carer parent has to pay for full childcare and the other one give few hundred pounds. it makes me angry

divorce is happening with solicitors

The imbalance of only one side paying the nursery fees should form a major part of the negotiations for the main divorce settlement.

So it should be factored in and should be balanced out somehow.

For example he should pay £650 a month in Spousal Maintenance on top of the £300 Child Maintenance.

Or you get a bigger share of the house or pensions.

Or a mixture of the two.

Whether or not such Spousal Maintenance at such a level is appropriate depends on the relative incomes in your case.

If you earn 100K and he 20K then no.

If he earns 100K and you 20K then yes.