Child Maintenance Service
When child maintenance stops
Child maintenance payments will end when your child leaves education or training or turns 20, whichever happens first.
You might need to report changes to your child’s education or training after they turn 16.
The paying parent might still need to make payments after regular child maintenance stops if they have missed payments in the past.
When you need to report a change in circumstances
Child maintenance is linked to Child Benefit. Tell the Child Benefit Office if your child:
- stays in education or training after turning 16
- starts a new education or training course
- leaves an education or training course before it’s complete
When your payments will stop automatically
Your payments will stop automatically if your child:
- turns 20 - payments will stop after their birthday
- completes an education or training course - payments will stop on the last day of February, May, August or November (whichever comes first)
Check if your child’s education or training qualifies
Education must be full-time (more than an average of 12 hours a week of supervised study or course-related work experience). If your child has an illness or disability, they can do fewer hours if that’s appropriate for them.
Education courses can include:
- A levels or similar, for example Pre-U, International Baccalaureate
- T Levels
- GCSEs
- Scottish Highers
- National 5s
- NVQs and most vocational qualifications up to level 3 - excluding intermediate and advanced apprenticeships
- home education - if it started either before your child turned 16 or after 16 if they have special educational needs and disabilities
- traineeships in England
Your child must be accepted onto the course before they turn 19.
Child Maintenance stops if your child starts studying an ‘advanced’ course, such as a university degree or BTEC Higher National Certificate, or if a course is paid for by an employer.
Training must be unpaid and can include:
- in Wales: Foundation Apprenticeships, traineeships or the Jobs Growth Wales+ scheme
- in Scotland: the No One Left Behind programme
- in Northern Ireland: PEACE IV Children and Young People 2.1, Training for Success or Skills for Life and Work
Courses that are part of a job contract are not approved.