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The Child Support Agency (CSA) is closing down.

What does this mean for you and your family?

Check your options and the action you need to take.

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Have you claimed child maintenance through the Child Support Agency (CSA)?

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This advice is for parents with an open CSA case.

See our child maintenance webpage for advice tailored to your circumstances.

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Which describes your situation?

My child's other parent does not pay child maintenance due to their low income. (The CSA call this "nil assessed"). My child's other parent is supposed to pay child maintenance but is not paying anything. My child's other parent pays the correct amount of child maintenance regularly My child's other parent pays some of the child maintenance due, but not the full amount. There are arrears on my CSA case. Back

Your CSA case will be closed by February 2016. Have you received a letter from the CSA to tell you that your case is closing?

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You should receive a letter from the CSA telling you that your case is due to close by February 2016.

If you have not received a letter by then you should contact the CSA.

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Here are your options:

Option 1: Do nothing when your CSA case closes. Option 2: I want to find out whether my child's other parent's income has increased. Option 3: I think my child's other parent's income has increased and I want to use the child maintenance system to get payments. Back

Do nothing: your child maintenance case will close.

If you wish to claim child maintenance in the future - for example if your child's other parent's income goes up - you have the following options:

  • If you and your child's other parent are able to communicate, you can try to agree maintenance between you. This is called a family based arrangement.
  • If a family based arrangement is not possible or safe you can use the Child Maintenance Service.

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  • The CSA will not check your child's other parent's income before closing your case.
  • If your child's other parent's income has increased you could now be entitled to maintenance payments.
  • If you and your child's other parent are able to communicate, you can try to agree maintenance between you. This is called a family based arrangement. For more information about family based arrangements see our factsheet Making Arrangements for Child Maintenance.

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  • If a family based arrangement is not possible or safe you can use the Child Maintenance Service. For more information about the Child Maintenance Service see our factsheet Using the Child Maintenance Service.
  • The Child Maintenance Service usually charges for its service - see our interactive guide to Child Maintenance Service charges.

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  • You can request a new, up to date child maintenance calculation from the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). To do this, you need to contact Child Maintenance Options.
  • Child Maintenance Options will ask you to consider using a "family based arrangement". However, if you and your child's other parent are not able to agree, or if you are sure you will not get regular payments from them, you can apply to have child maintenance calculated by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS).

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  • The Child Maintenance Service usually charges for its service - see our interactive guide to Child Maintenance Service charges.
  • For more information about the Child Maintenance Service read our factsheet or use our interactive advice

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Has the CSA taken any action against your child's other parent?

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Your case will close by June 2016. Have you received a letter from the CSA to tell you that your case is closing?

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Do you want to take action to get payments from your child's other parent?

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  • The CSA are unlikely to take enforcement action because your case is closing. You will need to make a new application to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS).
  • To do this, you will need to contact Child Maintenance Options and request a referral to the Child Maintenance Service.
  • You will then need to request a child maintenance calculation from the Child Maintenance Service. Once you have the calculation you will be required to try "direct pay" first. If this doesn't work then you will be able to use "collect and pay".

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  • Under direct pay, your child's other parent pays maintenance calculated by the Child Maintenance Service directly into your bank account. There is a one off charge to get a calculation and use direct pay.
  • Under collect and pay, your child's other parent has payments calculated, collected and transferred to you by the Child Maintenance Service. There are fees for both parents under collect and pay.

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  • If you do not wish to take action to receive child maintenance payments you can choose to do nothing when you receive your letter from the CSA.
  • Your CSA case will close down and your child's other parent will not be required to pay ongoing maintenance. Any outstanding CSA arrears will still be owed to you.
  • You will still have the option to claim child maintenance in the future. For example, you might wish to claim again later if your child's other parent's income increases or if there is a change in circumstances.

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  • If you did wish to claim child maintenance in the future, if you and your child's other parent are able to communicate, you could try to agree maintenance between you. This is called a family based arrangement.
  • If a family based arrangement is not possible or safe, you can use the Child Maintenance Service (CMS).
  • For more information about family based arrangements and the Child Maintenance Service see our factsheet Making Arrangements for Child Maintenance.
  • Also see our factsheet Using the Child Maintenance Service.
  • The Child Maintenance Service usually charges for its service - see our interactive guide to Child Maintenance Service charges.

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Your case is due to close by September 2017 at the latest.

Have you already received a letter from the CSA telling you that your case is closing?

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  • Your case will not automatically transfer to the new Child Maintenance Service (CMS).
  • You will need to decide if you and your child's other parent can now make arrangements between you. This is called a family based arrangement.
  • If a family based arrangement is not possible or not safe, you can use the Child Maintenance Service.

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Has the CSA taken action against your child's other parent?

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  • Your case will not be closed until 2017/2018.
  • You do not need to take any action until you hear from the CSA in 2017/2018.
  • We are waiting to hear from the CSA for more information about what will happen to this type of case, so check our child maintenance webpages regularly.
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  • When your case closes the CSA will check the amount of arrears owed.
  • The CSA will send you a statement confirming the total amount.
  • These arrears will still be owed to you after your case has closed.
  • There are no details yet on how these arrears will be collected, so check our child maintenance webpages for updates.
  • Ensure you always tell the CSA of any missed payments.
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  • You do not need to do anything until you receive a letter from the CSA to tell you that your case is closing.
  • Once you receive your letter you have two options:

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  • If you and your child's other parent are able to communicate you can try to arrange child maintenance between you. This is called a family based arrangement.
  • If a family based arrangement is not possible or safe, you can use the Child Maintenance Service (CMS).
  • For more information about family based arrangements and the Child Maintenance Service see our factsheet Making Arrangements for Child Maintenance.
  • Also see our factsheet Using the Child Maintenance Service.
  • The Child Maintenance Service usually charges for its service - see our interactive guide to Child Maintenance Service charges.

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