What is the minimum child maintenance payment in the UK?

The minimum amount the Child Maintenance Service can order is the flat rate of £7 per week. It applies when the paying parent's gross weekly income is £100 or less, or when they receive certain benefits. A small group of parents pay nothing at all under the nil rate.

Two things surprise people about the minimum. First, it is the same £7 whether the case covers one child or four. The flat rate does not scale. Second, you cannot choose it. The rate you pay follows from your income and circumstances, not from what either parent thinks is fair.

Who pays the £7 flat rate?

You pay the flat rate when any of these apply:

  • Your gross weekly income is between £7 and £100
  • You receive a qualifying benefit, including Universal Credit with no earned income, Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support or State Pension

If you are on a qualifying benefit and using Collect and Pay, the CMS can take the £7 directly from your benefit payments, so it arrives without either parent doing anything.

Who pays nothing at all? The nil rate

The nil rate means no maintenance is payable. It covers paying parents whose gross weekly income is under £7, full-time students, prisoners, and some 16 and 17 year olds on benefits. It is a short, specific list. Simply being on a low income does not qualify you; below £7 a week effectively means no income at all.

What happens just above £100 a week?

Between £100.01 and £200 a week the reduced rate phases in. You pay the £7, plus a percentage of everything above £100: 17% for one child, 25% for two, 31% for three or more. From £200.01 the standard percentages take over. The full bands are set out in our guide to how child maintenance is calculated, and you can get your own figure from the calculator.

I lost my job. Do I drop to the minimum automatically?

No, and this catches a lot of people out. Your calculation is based on the income the CMS holds for you, and it keeps running at that amount until the CMS changes it. If you lose your job:

  • Tell the CMS immediately. A drop of 25% or more against the figure they hold entitles you to a recalculation now, not at the annual review.
  • Claim your benefits promptly. Moving onto a qualifying benefit is what triggers the flat rate.
  • Do not just stop paying. The old amount keeps accruing as arrears until the calculation changes, and arrears do not get rewritten retrospectively just because your income fell. Our guide to reducing child maintenance payments covers the process, and what happens if you stop paying covers why silence is the expensive option.

Shared care can reduce the minimum further

If you pay the flat rate because you are on benefits and your child stays with you at least 52 nights a year, the amount reduces to nil. And at very high levels of shared care on the standard rates, 156 nights or more, there is a £7 per week floor rather than zero. The overnights rules are covered in our shared care guide.

Does the minimum ever change?

The £7 flat rate has been in place since the 2012 scheme began. The government's June 2025 reform announcement proposed changes to how the CMS collects money, but not to the rate bands, so £7 remains the figure unless Parliament legislates otherwise. When people talk about a different minimum, they are usually remembering the old CSA scheme, which worked differently.

The minimum is not a target

A last point worth making straight. The flat rate exists so that maintenance continues through unemployment and genuine hardship without pushing the paying parent under. It is not a figure you can engineer your way down to, and the CMS can look behind arrangements that artificially suppress income. If your income is genuinely low, the system already prices that in. If it is not, a variation on unearned income can bring the real figure back into the calculation.