Family Assistance Office

Child Support Scheme Reforms and Changes to Family Assistance

Family assistance and child support are linked. The amount of child support received or paid, shared care arrangements, and whether reasonable action is taken to obtain child support can all affect the rate of Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A. This means that when changes are made to one it can affect the other.

Background

The Child Support Scheme Reforms follow recommendations made by the Ministerial Taskforce on Child Support, chaired by Professor Patrick Parkinson, in its report of May 2005, titled In the Best Interests of Children - PDF [1.4MB].

The Taskforce found that the Child Support Scheme needed to be updated to reflect the substantial changes in our society since the Scheme was established in 1988. It highlighted the need for a much greater emphasis on shared parental responsibility and a growing recognition of the importance of both parents remaining actively involved in their children's lives after separation.

This review was in response to the House of Representatives Committee on Family and Community Affairs report on child custody arrangements in the event of family separation; Every Picture Tells a Story, December 2003.

Changes to the Child Support Scheme

From 1 July 2008, several aspects of the child support and family assistance systems will be more closely aligned. Depending on your circumstances these changes could affect your family assistance, particularly if you share the care of your children or make your own arrangements about child support.

The major features include:

the introduction of a new child support formula that changes the way child support payments are calculated, ensuring more balanced assessments, encouraging shared parenting and recognising the costs of contact;
ensuring a minimum payment is made for each child support case;
treating income from second jobs and overtime more equally to assist parents with re-establishment after separation;
ensuring fairer treatment of parents with dependent step-children when calculating their child support liability;
simplifying the 'change of assessment' rules for altering the amount of child support that is payable;
improving the arrangements for parents who wish to make agreements for ongoing child support or lump sum payments;
making the child support rules easier for parents who are trying to get back together;
more closely aligning the income definitions used to calculate child support and family assistance, to ensure more consistent treatment of certain tax-free amounts and foreign income.

Fact sheets - Child Support Scheme Reforms

Changes to Family Assistance

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URL: http://www.familyassist.gov.au/content/whats_new-css_reforms.htm
This page last modified on 14/07/2008.
This page accessed on 21/11/2008.
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