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Child support changes - impacts from 22 August
18 August 2023.
On 1 July there were changes around child support payments. You may start to see the impacts of some of these changes from 22 August 2023.
What's changed
Sole parents on a benefit
If you're a sole parent on a benefit and get child support through Inland Revenue (IR), they will now pass on the full amount to you.
The first payment from IR will be on 22 August 2023, if the paying parent pays on time. If the paying parent pays late, IR will pass the payment on to you as soon as it's paid.
IR will share this payment information with us. This means you won't need to tell us about most types of child support payments you get through IR. There are some types of child support you'll still need to tell us about.
Our system will then automatically treat this as income when working out your benefit and most other payments you get from us.
In some cases this means your benefit or other payments may reduce because of your child support income.
Inland Revenue information share
Inland Revenue (IR) now share formula assessed and voluntary agreement child support payment information with us. This means you won't need to tell us about most types of child support payments you get through IR. There are some types of child support you'll still need to tell us about.
IR will share monthly child support information with us around the 21st of every month, if the paying parent pays on time. If the paying parent pays late, IR will share the information with us on the day they pay it.
The first information share for the month of July will be from 22 August 2023. This is because child support is paid for the month that's just been.
Our system will then automatically treat this as income when working out your benefit and most other payments you get from us.
Other changes
For information about all other child support changes, see our 'Child Support payment changes' page.
How we treat your child support as income
When we get your child support payment information from Inland Revenue (IR), we'll treat this as your income for the next month. This means the next 4 or 5 weeks from the date you receive the child support payment. It could be 4 or 5 weeks, depending on the number of weeks until your next monthly child support payment is expected (as long as the paying parent pays on time).
We'll take the total amount of child support that IR has told us about and average it out over this 4 or 5 weeks so it's a weekly amount.
Work out how your income will affect your benefit
In some cases your child support income could reduce your benefit payment over that 4-5 week period. It could also reduce other payments you get from us, like Accommodation Supplement or Temporary Additional Support.
Use our income deduction tables to work out how your income will affect your benefit.
More information
For more information about these changes, see our 'Child support payment changes' page. Details for these changes are under the headings:
- 'Sole parents on a benefit', and
- 'You get child support payments through Inland Revenue'.