Special guardianship order and child maintenance

[Kanga0113]

My eldest son is under an SGO with his grandmother and I have been paying her child maintenance for the last 8 years. However my new social worker who i have due to having another child has advised me I do not have to pay child maintenance as they would receive money from the local authority for my son. My social worker has advised not to pay as the grandmother is not entitled to this money.

My sons grandmother is now demanding I pay the child maintenance and has advised she has asked child maintenance service if I have to pay or not.

What do I do? I’m so confused as surely my social worker would know if I should pay or not.

[Uska]

Hello,

Your social worker has given you incorrect advice.

The FRG's factsheet Special Guardianship: what does it mean for birth parents? https://www.frg.org.uk/images/Advice_Sh ... rents.pdf states the following

"As a parent, you remain financially responsible for supporting your child throughout the SGO. Correspondingly, the special guardian does not become financially responsible for your child in legal terms although they may do so in practice."

If you look at the Government's website, you will find that they do not take the receiving person's (in your case your son's grandmother's) income into consideration when calculating the amount you have to pay.