Does he still have to pay?

highlandgurl

My OH's son (who he pays CSA for) turned 16 last month. He officially left school at Christmas and is not in any form of education. He has been signed off work for suffering from depression and has been allocated benefits in his own right due to this. We suspect that because of this his mother should no longer be eligible for child benefit for him and therefore my OH should no longer have to pay CSA however we do not trust his ex and believe she may still be claiming CB. She will not tell my OH what benefit his son is being paid (he seems to be eligible for two different benefits) and his son does not know. When my OH asked the CSA about this they just told him they would look into the situation. My problem with this is as follows:

1) The CSA are so slow at doing things this could take ages - if my OH ends up overpaying due to this will he get the money back?
2) I've read in other posts that if the RP is falsely claiming CB then the CSA are not responsible for any over payment made by the NRP due to this as it is not up to them to investigate it - it's up to the CB office who apparently dont make much effort to track this down.
3) The CSA don't seem to care about anything so even though they say they will look into the situation how do we get them to actually do something about it?

Thanks

jacklink

if he is recieving his own benefits then the parent who is still claiming child benefit for him is committing benefit fraud. report her anonoumously online

https://secure.dwp.gov.uk/benefitfraud/

if one is not in reciept of child benefit then one cant be in reciept of csa payments

Zara33

highlandgurl wrote: »

My OH's son (who he pays CSA for) turned 16 last month. He officially left school at Christmas and is not in any form of education. He has been signed off work for suffering from depression and has been allocated benefits in his own right due to this. We suspect that because of this his mother should no longer be eligible for child benefit for him and therefore my OH should no longer have to pay CSA however we do not trust his ex and believe she may still be claiming CB. She will not tell my OH what benefit his son is being paid (he seems to be eligible for two different benefits) and his son does not know. When my OH asked the CSA about this they just told him they would look into the situation. My problem with this is as follows:

1) The CSA are so slow at doing things this could take ages - if my OH ends up overpaying due to this will he get the money back?
2) I've read in other posts that if the RP is falsely claiming CB then the CSA are not responsible for any over payment made by the NRP due to this as it is not up to them to investigate it - it's up to the CB office who apparently dont make much effort to track this down.
3) The CSA don't seem to care about anything so even though they say they will look into the situation how do we get them to actually do something about it?

Thanks

What benefit is a 16 year old claiming

ETA: Would it be JSA? but then if he has been signed off work would it not be SSP? or it could be ESA.

jacklink

At 16 a young person has the right to claim for many benefits, including - Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Employment Support Allowance (ESA), Incapacity Benefit in Youth (IBY) and Income Support (IS), as well as other sources of financial help.

Zara33

jacklink wrote: »

At 16 a young person has the right to claim for many benefits, including - Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Employment Support Allowance (ESA), Incapacity Benefit in Youth (IBY) and Income Support (IS), as well as other sources of financial help.

I amended after i posted but thanks for the info.

highlandgurl

Thanks for the replies - and the link - very tempting if we find out she is still claiming CB.

Zara33 wrote: »

ETA: Would it be JSA? but then if he has been signed off work would it not be SSP? or it could be ESA.

i suspect he could be eligible for either Income Support or Incapacity Benefit both of which were replaced last year by Employment and Support Allowance so he probably gets this but we don't know how to find out if this is correct (we have only been told by his son when my OH asked if he would be looking for a job that he didnt need to because doc had signed him off and he would be getting benefits since he couldn't work. Also even if we knew what he was getting, i don't know there is much we could do without proof. Also if his ex has stopped claiming CB then how do we know if she has told CSA this and they are just being slow at stopping maintenance or if she hasn't told them. If she doesnt tell them do the CSA and CB people communicate with each other to spot things like this?

Zara33

highlandgurl wrote: »

Thanks for the replies - and the link - very tempting if we find out she is still claiming CB.



i suspect he could be eligible for either Income Support or Incapacity Benefit both of which were replaced last year by Employment and Support Allowance so he probably gets this but we don't know how to find out if this is correct (we have only been told by his son when my OH asked if he would be looking for a job that he didnt need to because doc had signed him off and he would be getting benefits since he couldn't work. Also even if we knew what he was getting, i don't know there is much we could do without proof. Also if his ex has stopped claiming CB then how do we know if she has told CSA this and they are just being slow at stopping maintenance or if she hasn't told them. If she doesnt tell them do the CSA and CB people communicate with each other to spot things like this?

Perhaps send a letter recorded delivery saying that you believe that CB has stopped for the child in question and he gets a state benefit. At least the CSA will have to note this down in your case notes.

Lil2002

Have you specifically told the CSA that you believe the son is claiming a benefit? The CSA can check what benefits someone is receiving.

It may be that he is getting a benefit, & his mum still collecting CB - not sure if those systems "talk" to each other?