Advice on CSA1 and arrears please

Cheeky_Cherub

Hi all
After trawling through this forum for the last few hours I would be grateful if someone could confirm answers to a few questions I have.

My OH has an attachment of earnings order and is paying £186 pw, some of this includes arrears for a 20 yr old child as his ex would not confirm he had made payments in cash (silly of him I know) and the other part is payments for his other child (£117 pw)

Am I correct in assuming the following:

1. The csa cannot deduct more than 40% of his weekly wage?

2. The csa should not be taking into account any payments he has in his wages for travelling expenses? (basically he pays petrol out of his pocket for the week and then the cost is reimbursed to him)

Looking at some of his paperwork I think he has grounds for appeal but I just need to have the above confirmed to ensure I am looking at it correctly.

Thanks in advance for any help

enemes

Cheeky_Cherub wrote: »

Am I correct in assuming the following:

1. The csa cannot deduct more than 40% of his weekly wage?

Hi CC ... My understanding is that 40% of his wage would be protected ... so presumably, 60% can be deducted.

Donedoingdebt

Cheeky_Cherub wrote: »

2. The csa should not be taking into account any payments he has in his wages for travelling expenses? (basically he pays petrol out of his pocket for the week and then the cost is reimbursed to him)

Correct. The CSA should only be basing their assessment on his taxable income. If these are purely travel expenses, then they should not be taxed & therefore, unavailable for assessment. It will help if they are clearly marked as expenses on his wage slip.

kenzo54

Hi
under the new system
The csa can do anything they wish to do cause they can they take usually no more than 40% of wages depending on your case (keeping up with payments etc
But they don't take into count travel expenses
nore do they take into account mortages and other bills
all the csa see is money coming in they will even take your taxcredit money that you would get for your other children that live with you (if you have any)
hope this helps
we are in same situation

Cheeky_Cherub

Thanks for your replies.

He is under the old scheme so not applicable under any new rules at the moment.

Does anyone know where the 40% law is detailed? I did see another thread where people were saying it was against the law to take more than 40%

Unfortunately the travelling expenses are not clearly marked.

shell_542

I'm not 100% sure but I don't think the 40% part is the same for CSA1 as it is for CSA2.

From what I have read, and please someone correct me if I am wrong, the CSA send a report to the employer regarding attaching the DEO. In the report it stupulates how much of the wages is "protected income" and also how much arrears are to be taken per week/month. If there hasn't been a review for some time and the income has changed, then the "protected income" might be too high for the wages being received, so too much may be being taken and a review needs to be done.

This is where I read it, I don't know if it's up to date ...

http://www.csa.gov.uk/en/employers/deo_example1_old.asp

Donedoingdebt

Cheeky_Cherub wrote: »

Unfortunately the travelling expenses are not clearly marked.

Try & get your OH's company to send written confirmation to the CSA detailing the expenses part of his take home pay.
He should not be assessed on that part of his wage.

bdt1

I agree with Dondoindebt. We had something similar happen to us, but I had letter from employer and statement of payments also from employer outlining the credits into my account.

You will need to appeal against the assessment, please do this asap, you have 28 days from the decision, then you can apply out of time (within 13 months), but an appeal will not necessarily be granted unless there are special circumstances.

Please write - do not phone the CSA, regarding your wish for an appeal against the decision, outline your reasons, and include any evidence, please, again, make a pape file and copy everything so you have copies, also only ever send anything to CSA via recorded delivery and print off online delivery signature as proof it was received by them.

Hope this helps.