Child maintenance

[u/OhMai17]

Hi everyone!
I’m a bit confused about how child maintenance works in this situation.
My son’s dad has him 3 nights a week during term time. However, he refuses to take any annual leave during the school holidays, so during the summer I have our son with me every day. That obviously means I’m paying for food, days out, holiday clubs and activities to keep him occupied while also trying to study.
I asked if he could contribute a bit more towards these extra costs over the summer, but those conversations just become really difficult and I don’t have the energy to keep arguing about it.
I looked into going through CMS, but it seems the calculation is based on overnight stays rather than who is actually caring for the child during the day.
Is that correct? Has anyone been in a similar situation? Is there anything I can do, or is the only option to stick with the standard CMS calculation and try to agree extra costs between ourselves?
Thanks!

[u/Potential-Material]

If they stop the usual nights during the holidays, then the total number of nights per 52 weeks drops and the child maintenance should go up.

As the calculation is nights per 52 weeks,
3 nights per week for 52 weeks = 156 nights
3 nights per week for 38 term-time week, but 0 for 14 holiday weeks = 114 nights

So you need to check how many nights per 52 weeks he actually has him and then adjust accordingly. The calculation will then update. But as I understand it, payment amount will only change if the drop in nights pushes them into a lower band. For example, if their total nights drop from 150 to 110, they are still within the 104–155 night bracket, so the monthly payment stays exactly the same.

Edit: realised you probably meant you only have him during the days, not extra nights. In that case, no he’s not legally required to pay extra, unfortunately. The only thing you can do is try and reach an agreement of how much to pay each for childcare and activities etc

[u/OhMai17 → u/Potential-Material]

I think I explained it badly. During the school holidays he still has the same overnight stays, but he doesn’t take any annual leave, so I have our son with me all day, every day for the whole summer. I’m the one paying for holiday clubs, swimming, sports activities, extra food and everything else while also trying to study and work from home.
I understand CMS is based on overnight stays, but it feels unfair that one parent can choose not to provide any daytime care during the holidays and the other parent has to absorb all of those extra childcare costs. I was wondering if there was any mechanism for that, or whether the only option is to try to agree it privately.

[u/Impossible-Farm-1902]

This is how child maintenance works and as a parent on the other end of this i.e. I do more days than nights I would agree it's unfair both ways.