Overpaid child support - receiving carers

If you receive child support but you've been overpaid because of a reassessment, here's what to do.

Why you might be overpaid

You might be paid too much child support if your entitlement changes and is backdated because of a reassessment. For example, if:

• you or the other parent are squared up after an income estimation, and you have been overpaid for the whole year
• a child support review changes the current or previous year’s entitlement 
• a child left your care some time ago, and we backdate the change
• your shared care levels changed some time ago, and we backdate the change.

Repaying the child support

Usually, you’ll need to repay any overpaid child support to us.

We understand that this could cause difficulties, and we’ll work with you to make sure you can afford any repayments. 

If you're still entitled to receive ongoing payments, we'll usually arrange with you to reduce those payments by an agreed amount until we collect the overpayment.

In some circumstances, we may be able to write off the overpayment. Contact us to talk about your situation.

Tell us when your situation changes

It’s important to tell us about changes to your situation as soon as possible, especially if they might affect your child support.

This helps you avoid being paid too much and having to pay it back.

Update your details