Costs of maintaining children
Section 66D(2) of the Family Law Act expressly provides that in taking into account the proper needs of a child the Court may have regard to "any relevant findings of published research in relation to the maintenance of children".
In 1984, Kerry Lovering of the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) in a working paper entitled "Cost of Children in Australia" published tables relating to the costs of raising children based on a "basket of goods" approach (see "Child Maintenance" tab in CCH Australian Family Law & Practice).
In 1989, Donald Lee of Deakin University, working under contract to the AIFS, published tables relating to the costs of raising children based on an "expenditure survey" approach (see the "Child Maintenance" tab in CCH Australian Family Law & Practice).
CCH has continued to update the Lee and Lovering tables. The Full Court has stated that the Lee scale represents a more accurate guide to the costs of children (Streets and Streets (1994) FLC 92-509).
The following is reproduced with permission of CCH Australia Limited from the Australian Family Law Handbook. For more information visit www.cch.com.au.
In 2005, the Ministerial Taskforce on Child Support (2004/05) published its report In the Best Interests of Children: Reforming the Child Support Scheme which reviewed the child support formula used by the Child Support Agency. The Child Support Legislation Amendment (Reform of the Child Support Scheme - New Formula and Other Measures) Act 2006 puts into effect recommendations of the report and contains a series of new formulas. The new formulas are due to take effect from 1 July 2008 (see CCH's Australian Family Child Support Handbook for further information and the full legislation in relation to Child Support Agency calculations).
Lee Table
Costs of children based on Lee, 1989
"Expenditure survey" approach
Updated to AWE figure August 2006 quarter
Age of
child
(years) | Food | Transport | Recreation | Household
goods | Housing
and
utilities | Clothing | Other* | Total
expenditure- weekly |
0-1 | 46.57 | 68.56 | 48.59 | 45.91 | 37.48 | 25.62 | 25.56 | 298.29 |
2-4 | 40.57 | 51.10 | 37.33 | 43.32 | 24.03 | 22.17 | 21.62 | 240.16 |
5-7 | 42.28 | 54.52 | 51.44 | 39.01 | 30.30 | 25.68 | 17.06 | 260.89 |
8-10 | 59.04 | 75.32 | 56.53 | 40.59 | 20.50 | 23.54 | 37.54 | 312.97 |
11-13 | 63.97 | 64.38 | 52.85 | 45.84 | 43.61 | 34.30 | 43.76 | 348.71 |
*Includes medical and dental costs, education costs and other miscellaneous costs. Costs of children vary according to the number of children in the family, the parents' incomes andwhether one or both parents are working
The figures in the table relate to a one-child one-income family with an income of $1002.70 gross per week. The figures have been rounded to two decimal places.
Source: Lee, D. (1989). A program for calculating the direct costs of children based on the 1984 ABS Household Expenditure Survey. Floppy disk, AIFS, Melbourne.
Lovering Table
Costs of children based on Lovering, 1983
"Basket of goods" approach
Updated to CPI figure September 2006 quarter
Age of
child (years) | 2 | 5 | 8 | 11 | Teenage |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Low Income Families (below average weekly wage) |
|
|
|
|
|
| Per week | 41.30 | 52.98 | 64.95 | 69.93 | 102.63 |
| Per year | 2147.60 | 2754.96 | 3377.40 | 3584.36 | 5336.76 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Age of
child (years) | 2 | 5 | 8 | 11 | Teenage |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Middle Income Families (average weekly wage and above) |
| Per week | 62.13 | 69.73 | 89.97 | 113.57 | 170.75 |
| Per year | 3230.76 | 3625.96 | 4678.44 | 5905.64 | 8879.00 |
Source: Lovering, K. Cost of Children in Australia. Working Paper 8, 1984, AIFS, Melbourne
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