CSA will be taking more than my weekly wage. PLEASE help!!!

LizzieS_2

The only time a woman is legally unable to work is for 2 weeks after giving birth - your youngest is 6 months so I'm afraid you have no excuse for what are actually personal choices.

frugallass

LizzieS wrote: »

Have you considered working more hours yourself to help support your children as he cannot avoid the payments due.

why do you always tell people to work more hours or get a part time job?

It's not as easy as you seem to think it is, you have to take child-care into consideration amongst a whole load of other things

I kinda get what you're saying but it's not the answer to everyone's problems !

Cornball

frugallass wrote: »

why do you always tell people to work more hours or get a part time job?

It's not as easy as you seem to think it is, you have to take child-care into consideration amongst a whole load of other things

I kinda get what you're saying but it's not the answer to everyone's problems !

It isn't the answer to everyones problems but the hard truth is that if you need more income you need to work for it. Being a full time SAHM is a luxury when you may lose the roof over your head for goodness sake! A part-time income could easily be worked around the other partners shift, just until the finances are under control.

SuziQ

I do agree with a lot of what has been said on here re making an informed decision as to whether you can afford a child in a second relationship.Child tax credits would also help with any childacre costs,should the op get a job. There is no excuse for arrears either-any nrp should be either paying as soon as they leave or saving if waiting for a decision off CSA.

Incidentally we went through the 'not allowed contact thing too' it cost us a fortune in legal costs and got us nowhere. It never stopped my second husband paying his maintenance though-even when he was given nil assessment due to our circumstances he paid (albeit a lesser amount)and I supported him fully in that,despite recieving nothing in return from my first husband.

You obviously couldn't afford to have your children but went ahead anyway-many of us do this,hoping we will cope somehow-and cope is what we have to do,however tight things get.Your children are very young this year and need not cost you a lot for Christmas,especially with all the great reductns around at the moment,plus once other family members give them gifts they tend to be inundated anyway!

Take a deep breath,things will get better. Kelloggs advice is,as usual excellent.

LizzieS_2

frugallass wrote: »

why do you always tell people to work more hours or get a part time job?

It's not as easy as you seem to think it is, you have to take child-care into consideration amongst a whole load of other things

I kinda get what you're saying but it's not the answer to everyone's problems !

Not always - 2 posts in total of all my posts so far.

I give people the only available solution that suits their circumstances best, ie there is little point complaining income is too low and blaming the csa when only one of their own household is working.

Not all employment options include using childcare, though sometimes it still pays better to follow that path.

At the end of the day, each makes their own choices, but where that choice reduces/limits their income then they cannot blame anyone other than themselves.

kelloggs36

"Our mortgage is £777 a month, so that counts for his wages. We scrape by on nothing, and are left with no disposable income"

As I said in my previous post, you were already living beyong your means - that is not the fault of the CSA or your other half's ex. It looks like you may have no choice if you are down by 1k per month - you will be looking at repossession if this is really the case. The CSA payments aren't 1k per momth - the CSA are taking less than £300 which means that you are in deficit by over £700 per month which by itself is unsustainable. This is not down to the CSA - sure it is made worse, but to be fair, these children were around before you had yours - so it isn't as though he didn't know about them is it? Why should they have to now suffer because you chose to live beyond your means? I think you need to seriously consider your options on how to dig yourself out of this mess. Let's be clear, the CSA debt is here to stay and you have no choice but to pay it. The rest you have a choice over - if you can't afford your mortgage, you do have options - you can't blame anybody else for your own choices.

tamsin1982

I thought you only got help with childcare payments if you are a single pwc? if I had to pay for my sons nursery fees it would be pointless me working and I only have 1 to pay for!

however there are plenty of jobs you can do with children, me an my sis did a leaflet delivery job just posting them thru peoples doors, great exercise
!

ive just had to tighten my belt some more to pay for xmas so I looked at all my spendings and worked out where i could cut back, look at every penny!!

Errata

Pehaps the bottom line is for the parents and children to live in one room in the house and let all the other rooms to lodgers.

LizzieS_2

tamsin1982 wrote: »

I thought you only got help with childcare payments if you are a single pwc?

Not true, every household can claim 80% of childcare costs (there are weekly maximums) as part of their tax credit claim. How much help actually received net depends upon how much the total household income.

A single parent is more restricted in choices, however a couple have the option of avoiding/restricting childcare costs by working alternate hours. Sometimes 1 working full-time and the other part-time at different times of the day will in the short-term give the same income as both working full-time and using childcare facilities.

MrsE_2

minimee

Why don't you go to the CAB & see if the figures add up.

Surely it can't be right to leave your family with less money than your essential bills are?