Reduction of children Allowance (agreed as per court order)

I divorced in the Uk with a clean break in 2016 along with a children allowance of 1,500 GBP calculated based on my salary at the time and number of days I would see the kids.
I then left the UK and carry on working abroad paying the full amount. I recent lost my job but continue for 3 extra month to pay full amount then seeing my savings reducing, I sent my ex wife a note about reducing the amount to 800 GBP. I did that for another 3 month and still have not found a job because of Covid. i am considering lowering again the amount to half until I find a job.
My question is shall I inform the court about these reductions ? I would think not as if I have no revenue and it shall be at my discretion. Thanks for your advise and shared experience on this.

Strictly speaking you need a court order to reduce periodical payments ordered by a court. It is not simply a matter for your discretion. If you do decide to do without a court application to reduce the payments you should at least protect yourself by getting written confirmation from your ex that she accepts the reductions.

Thanks, make sense. I will look into doing this.

The problem about making a court application for this sort of thing is (a) the time it takes, (b) the cost and (c) the uncertainty about the outcome. (c) is not as odd as you might think. I once made an application to reduce maintenance to a nominal amount because the husband had been made redundant. By the time it came to court a long time later the husband was back in employment which did not stop the judge making an order which varied the original by (a) ordering a clean break but (b) reducing the percentage of the charge the husband had over the former matrimonial home from 50% to 30%.

Written evidence from your ex that she accepts the reduction is cheaper and quicker if it can be done.

Thanks for sharing this. As you read above I paid 1500£ a month which is a fair amount of money. If you lose your job, how can you continue paying ? You may have savings or not. Getting acceptance from the ex is rather mission impossible unless there is good relation which in my case is not the case. I have evidence when fired I warn her I will reduce the amount with notice, Then I carry on paying full amount then reduce and warn again with notice. I have a clean BREAK on my court order and this amount I am paying is for the children allowance. She got 100% of the house we previously owned in exchange of a clean break with no wife allowance. Another example, my New wife (i like risk) is pregnant and we expect a baby. if I was working, the children allowance calculation shall be revised too, do we need to go to court for something that is readily available online and not something you are meant to discuss, agree or disagree ? it is her to go to Court to ague not me. I suppose?
Since I stop working, I end up paying an average of 950 instead of 1500 across the last 9 months without any income. I would hope if I show this to court they will appreciate I did not leave the wife and kids with any resources. But I got your point ! Thanks

If there is a clean break between you and your wife and what you are paying is child maintenance that is very different. Assuming you are in the UK and the amount of child maintenance was originally specified in a court order once the order is one year old you can apply to the CSA to assess the amount payable and that assessment is based on your current income. Varying child maintenance is a lot easier than varying spousal maintenance.

Thanks David, it was important to specify it was for the kids and not the Wife which we would all agree should be avoided by a clean break.
On my case, I did the math quickly and rather lost the entire equity of my house to prevent this particular situation and taking into account life is long and with open door to change of circumstance, having a wife maintenance is a painful life contract !!!

I found this link who seems to direct to the court
[assets.publishing.service.gov.uk]

I will contact the CAS too