The 2-2-3 schedule
2-2-3 rotates a child between parents in blocks of two nights, two nights and three nights over a fortnight, giving each parent roughly 182 overnight stays a year and never leaving the child more than three days away from either parent. It suits younger children and parents living very close together. It costs six handovers a fortnight, which is its real price.
How the fortnight works #
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | A | A | B | B | A | A | A |
| Week 2 | B | B | A | A | B | B | B |
Then it repeats. Each parent gets seven nights a fortnight, each has the same two weekdays every week, and the weekend alternates.
Two things follow that people miss until they're living it. The weekday pattern is fixed — parent A always has Monday and Tuesday — which makes clubs, childcare and work planning much easier than the rotation first suggests. And the changeover days are fixed too: Wednesday, Friday, Monday. You can put them in a calendar once and stop thinking.
Who it suits #
Younger children, primarily. Under about six or seven, a week is a long time to be away from a parent, and 2-2-3's maximum gap of three days is the reason families choose it.
Parents who live very close. Six handovers a fortnight only works within a few minutes of each other and the school. At twenty minutes apart it becomes most of a working week in the car.
Parents who can be civil at a doorstep. Six handovers is six opportunities. If those go badly, this pattern hands your child conflict three times a week — and no amount of equal time offsets that.
Families where both parents do school runs. Both of you have weekday mornings, so both of you are known at the school gate. That's a real benefit and it's underrated.
What it costs #
Handovers. Six a fortnight against one for week-on-week-off. That's the trade, and it's the whole argument against the pattern.
Things get left behind. Constantly. Duplicate the essentials — uniform, PE kit, chargers, toothbrush, the comfort toy if it can be duplicated — or accept a weekly detour.
Neither household gets a run. No parent gets more than three consecutive nights, which some parents find relentless and others prefer to the seven-day gap. Worth being honest with yourself about which you are.
It gets less suitable as they grow. The thing that makes 2-2-3 good for a four-year-old — short gaps — makes it irritating for a fourteen-year-old with their own social life and a bag to pack twice a week. Most families who start here move to something longer.
The variations worth knowing #
2-2-5-5. Two nights, two nights, then five and five. Same fixed weekdays, half the handovers, longer blocks. A very common next step as children get older and the usual answer when 2-2-3 is nearly right but too frequent.
3-4-4-3. Three nights, four nights, four, three. One handover a week, still equal time, still alternating weekends. Closer to week-on-week-off in feel.
2-2-3 with a longer weekend. Extending the three-night block to Monday morning by using school as the changeover removes two doorstep meetings a fortnight.
The maintenance effect #
Around 182 nights a year puts a paying parent in the 175 or more band — 50% off the calculated amount plus a further £7 a week — and where care is genuinely equal the CMS may decide nothing is payable. How the bands work →
How OurPath helps #
Rotating patterns are exactly where paper schedules fail, because nobody can hold a fortnight cycle in their head across a bank holiday. Set 2-2-3 in your parenting plan and your calendar generates the whole rotation eighteen months ahead, with the changeover days marked and your local authority's term dates already in. The home screen answers the only question that matters on a Wednesday morning: whose night is it, and what time.
Common questions #
Is 2-2-3 better than week on week off? Neither is better. 2-2-3 trades handover frequency for shorter separations, which favours younger children; week on week off trades the opposite way, which favours older ones. Pick by your child's age, the distance between you, and how handovers go.
How many nights a year is 2-2-3? About 182 each — half the year.
Can we do 2-2-3 if one of us works shifts? Usually not well. Fixed weekdays are the pattern's main strength and shift work removes it. A pattern with fewer, longer blocks and agreed flexibility tends to survive shift work better.
Do the weekends alternate? Yes. The three-night block moves between parents each week, so each of you has alternate full weekends.
General information about England and Wales. Not legal advice.