Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the financial needs of children who spend substantial periods of time living in both parents' households when calculating child maintenance.

Reductions to the child maintenance liability may be made where overnight care of the qualifying child is shared by the paying parent for at least 52 nights a year, one night a week on average. The liability is reduced within prescribed bands according to the number of nights of care provided. These provisions recognise the costs incurred by the paying parent to provide overnight care. The CMS cannot instruct parents as to what shared care should be taking place; the law requires it to work out what shared care is taking place and ensure that is accurately reflected in the maintenance calculation on the basis of the evidence presented.

Decisions on shared care are based on the available evidence, with particular weight given to the most reliable sources, including court orders, formal or informal agreements between parents, and evidence of an established pattern of care. Where actual care arrangements differ from formal arrangements, the CMS may take account of the care that is being provided in practice, provided there is sufficient evidence to do so.

In cases where parents disagree about shared care, CMS caseworkers are required to consider all relevant evidence provided by both parties and must not make assumptions in favour of either parent. Caseworkers receive training and guidance to support fair and consistent decision-making and are required to apply the law to the specific facts of each case.

Shared care remains an important consideration within the child maintenance system, and this is an area that the CMS will continue to keep under review.