The new Stage One changes in relation to child support are currently in place.

The following changes have taken place;

• Increasing current minimum payments from $5 to $6 per week to be CPI indexed.  Previously the minimum payment of child support was $5 per week for a parent that was on unemployment benefits.  This has now increased to $6 per week and is to be Consumer Price Indexed each year;

• Reducing the capped child support income amount from $139,347 to $104,702.  Previously child support was assessed on a percentage of the parent’s income and the parent’s income was capped at $139,347 per annum.  Due to studies concerning the costs of rasing children the capped amount was reduced from $139,347 to $104,702.00;

• The introduction of new arrangements for the assessment of earning capacity.  For parents that are self-employed or have sought employment in an area paying far less income than a prior appointment the Agency has sought to find other way within which to assess the income of that parent;

• Increasing the rate of non-agency payments from 25% to 30%. The "non-agency payments" increase means that where a parent has paid fees for the child elsewhere they may be entitled to claim these against their child support payable.  If the parent makes a payment of $100 they can now attempt to claim $30 of it as child support rather than only $25, being the increase of 5%.  These are only for specific things such as school fees, however, private school fees do not fall under this heading and the consent of the payee parent may also be required.

The second stage of changes are due January 2007.

The third stage of changes are due July 2008 and will see the current formula to assess child support modified to a formula that works on a fixed percentage of the modified taxable income of the parents combined.  The costs of raising children will be based on a current study conducted for the Ministerial Taskforce on Child Support.