Advice needed on when to stop CSA payments

lesmel

My husbands son is about to turn 19 in July, do we stop paying then or will we have to carry on paying until the beginning of September when his child benefit will stop. Don't want to end up in arrears but definately don't want to overpay either!

Please help.

withabix

You have to pay until the child finishes full time education AND is still under 19 years old (not 'OR').

Therefore you have to pay until the last day of the child's last school year - ie normally mid-July in the year they leave school, unless they have already turned 19, in which case payment stops on their 19th birthday.

Also, if the son has already left school, you shouldn't be paying now.

Whitetornado

Hi, lesmel.
You stop paying on their 19th birthday, a few weeks before my husbands daughter reached her birthday we received a letter from csa showing new amount payable for just his other daughter.

lesmel

Thanks, but as my husband has no contact with his son we have to rely on the CSA telling us he is in some sort of education ie college course which I believe only has to be 12hrs per week to qualify for "full time" so in this instance we would stop on his 19th birthday.

Whitetornado

Hi, lesmel,
Yes, my husband has no contact with his daughter , but as I say , We received letter from csa, so I assume it must flag up on their computer when a childs 19th birthday is. As far as we know she is still in education but it stops then.

Donedoingdebt

Other posters are correct when they say your Husband's liability ends on his Son's 19th. Liability does not continue until the following September.
However, CSA payments are made one month in arrears so your Husband will have to make one further payment.
I wouldn't advise just stopping the CSA payments off your own back as this may put your Husband's account into arrears & then it can't be officially closed until these arrears are paid off.
Personally, when my Son reached 19, I informed the CSA by phone & followed this up with written confirmation (keep copies), although I have to say, they were already aware of his age & told me my liability to the CSA for him would have stopped automatically.
There's a chance you may overpay, but if there are no arrears on his account, this should be refunded. Unfortunately, this may take a couple of months.

dusty64

I contacted the CSA over the same problem. My daughter is 19 this year. The CSA will want payments as long as child benefit is being paid ( thats because they use the child benefit system to check the child is still entitled to payments ). However, as donedoingdebt said, ring them up and send a letter ( recorded so you have some record of it being received by them ) a month or so before the 19th birthday just to remind them.

Feline_friendly

I thought child benifit stopped the end of the school year after their 18th birthday? My son is 16 in December and leaves school next July...he plans to go to college for 2 years and then hopefully carry on his studies with another course until he is qualified in the career he wants......so....would my child benifit and CSA payments stop for him on his 19th birthday or the end of the school /college year after his 18th Birthday??? It's all changed since i was a kid.

Donedoingdebt

Feline_friendly wrote: »

I thought child benifit stopped the end of the school year after their 18th birthday? My son is 16 in December and leaves school next July...he plans to go to college for 2 years and then hopefully carry on his studies with another course until he is qualified in the career he wants......so....would my child benifit and CSA payments stop for him on his 19th birthday or the end of the school /college year after his 18th Birthday??? It's all changed since i was a kid.

In your case, if, as it sounds, he is going onto further education (Not Uni, which is usually advanced education) you will be entitled to payments via the CSA until the September after his 18th birthday if he finishes further education after his 2 year college course.
However, if he goes on to study further education after that 2 year college course, then you will be entitled to payments via the CSA until his 19th birthday (December 2012).
If he finishes further education after his initial 2 year course, then CSA will stop in September 2012.
Of course, this information is based on current CSA legislation & may change when CMEC is up & running properly, whenever that may be!

charlie..._7

i thought it was choice to pay if the 'child' was in uni, also i think the authoritys in uni would be concerned if they had a 'child' to educate'

Donedoingdebt

charlie... wrote: »

i thought it was choice to pay if the 'child' was in uni, also i think the authoritys in uni would be concerned if they had a 'child' to educate'

A uni candidate can be as young as 18 years & 1day old.
However, the CSA case will close if the child is in advanced education which most, although not all uni courses are. Then child maintenance would be a voluntary, private arrangement.
If the course is deemed to be further education, (such as some art foundation courses etc) payments should continue via the CSA for another year until the child is 19.