Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6 September 2018 to Question 169510 on Children: Maintenance; what criteria is used to decide the (a) principal provider of care and (b) proportion of the associated costs of day to day care when that care is shared.

The principle provider of care for the purpose of child maintenance is the person who has the main day to day care of the child. This person is referred to as the Receiving Parent as they are entitled to receive child maintenance. The Child Maintenance Service will primarily determine who the Receiving Parent is based on eligibility for Child Benefit.

Where day to day care is equally shared neither parent is required to pay child maintenance.

Child maintenance payments are reduced to take account of the cost of overnight care provided by the parent who pays maintenance. The proportion of the reduction is based on the average number of nights a child stays with the other parent, up to a maximum reduction of 50%.