Disagreements about parentage – what the CSA does :Cross Stitch – Parents

When a parent applies to the Child Support Agency (CSA), they must name the other parent of their child or children. Sometimes the person they name may deny that they are the parent. Find out what the CSA does when this happens.

The rules about paying child maintenance during a disagreement depend on whether a child maintenance amount:

• has already been worked out
• has not been worked out

There are circumstances when the person named as the parent denies they are the parent after the CSA has already worked out child maintenance. If this happens, the person named as the parent of a child has to pay until they provide evidence they are not the parent.

If child maintenance has not been worked out yet

If someone denies they are the parent before child maintenance has been worked out, the CSA will not:

• work out child maintenance until the disagreement has been sorted out
• ask them to pay until the disagreement has been sorted out

The CSA will aim to sort out disagreements as quickly as possible. If the person named as the parent is found to be the parent, the amount of child maintenance they have to pay will be back-dated. It will be back-dated to the date of application.

If you’re the person named as the parent

You may want to put some money aside in case you’re found to be the parent and need to pay child maintenance.

If the person named as the parent of a child proves that they are not the parent, the CSA may:

• refund any child maintenance payments made after the date that the person first denied they are the parent
• refund the cost of the DNA test if one was arranged through the CSA

The CSA may also ask the parent with care to pay back any child maintenance, if that money:

• was received after the date that parentage was denied
• has been refunded to the person named as the parent

Refunds are made at the discretion of the CSA and depend on the circumstances of each case.