Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of calculating child maintenance payments using income net of tax.

To calculate child maintenance, the Child Maintenance Service uses the paying parent’s gross income before tax and national insurance but after pension contributions.

While the method of assessment is kept under review to assure fairness for both parents, at this stage, using gross income allows calculations to be made quickly and accurately as income information can be obtained easily from HM Revenue and Customs. This avoids uncertainty for both parents and potential administrative problems.