Part time job with access to pool car

plok

Hi, I have a question that someone my be able to answer for me.

I'm currently unemployed as I look after my son daily whilst his mother works, in effect making me the PWC although because he goes home at night I'm technically an NRP. I have my son 3 nights in 14 and 50% of all school holidays (we work to the school calendar now so that we don't have to go back to Court when he starts school). When he starts school the overnights change to 5 in 14 but by then I will hopefully be able to start work again. Despite the unfairness of it all I now accept that I can't have the Child Benefit and therefore access to additional benefits over and above Job Seekers Allowance is closed to me.

To try and improve my lot I have the opportunity to take a part time job paying £140 weekly for 14 hours. Although not part of the employment contract my prosepective employer has said I can use one of the pool cars to ferry my son to and from his mother's - a round trip of 140 miles a week. This will obviously save me a fortune in petrol costs.

I need to work out what the CSA assessment will be to determine if the part time job is worth taking. How much will they assess me on £140 weekly? Will they assess my access to a company pool car as income? The trouble with the pool cars is that they are all rather posh - Range Rovers etc... and my ex has a history of using the "lifestyle inconsistent with declared income" argument.

Finally, I rent a small flat for which I receive housing allowance. Being unemployed I do not have the means to rent/purchase a property however I can live in a friend's property rent free whilst he works abroad. I have decided not to as I'm concerned that the CSA could look at this under "lifestyle inconsistent with income". Does anyone have a view on this? Previous experince with the CSA is that they can make errors in a second and it takes literally months to correct them.

Thanks.

shell_542

When earning under £200 a week ... I believe the formula for child support is this :

25% of any income over £100 and under £200 for 1 child + £5 a week...

So for you it would be :

25% of £40 = £10 + £5

Factor in you probably have your son between 52 and 103 nights a year and child support would be approx £13 a week from your £140 income. That's what the CSA calculator comes up with.

They only factor in paid income. The car wouldn't be included.

HTH

plok

Thanks, that helps. Now I need to see if my housing allowance reduction makes the job worthwhile. If I moved into my friends house rent free then Housing Allowance becomes irrelevant however would the CSA treat the free accomodation as income of some sort? Would I need evidence that the housing is a gift?

shell_542

I can't see as they could obect to you living in your friend's house rent free, just like they can't kick up a fuss if an NRP is living with their parents or sleeping on someone's sofa.

Donedoingdebt

Try clicking on here www.csa.gov.uk & click on the online maintenance calculator in bottom left of page to get more information based on your details.

shell_542

That's where I got the figure from.

System

Another thought, not affecting child support though, is that the use of the pool car for private use such as ferrying your son around may attract a tax liability.

plok

Yes I have thought about that !!!!!! however I can deal with the tax man as they listen to reason and look at the facts.

My dealings with the CSA have mainly been with nasty, spiteful, poorly educated *****s (add your own word here..) who see every lone parent without the majority of care as someone looking to shirk their parental responsibility. Classic line from one of these ****s was "You don't have a right to eat under the law however it does say you have to pay child maintenance". This arose when she asked me how I was eating without an income and I told her I was using credit cards.

Just recently I have had my case transferred to an absolute angel - someone who listens, looks at the facts and arrives at sensible conclusions. It seems too good to be true and hence my concern over the use of the pool car - I don't want to upset the situation I am currently in.

Ready001

I dont quite understand why you think that you are the NRP and not the PWC.

As maintenance payments through the CSA are paid to the PWC. The CSA deem the PWC to be the parent claiming child benefit (as do tax credits). So technically, the parent claiming child benefit is entitled to claim the whole lot!

Child benefit payments are paid to the PWC, which they deem to be the parent whose name the school / childcare provider and doctor have as a contact!

Surely, if you are not currently employed, and have responsibility during the day, they will have your name as a contact, technically making you the parent with care! The child benefit people do not work on the "number of nights" rule to make an assessment of the PWC!

shell_542

Ready001 wrote: »

I dont quite understand why you think that you are the NRP and not the PWC.

As maintenance payments through the CSA are paid to the PWC. The CSA deem the PWC to be the parent claiming child benefit (as do tax credits). So technically, the parent claiming child benefit is entitled to claim the whole lot!

Child benefit payments are paid to the PWC, which they deem to be the parent whose name the school / childcare provider and doctor have as a contact!

Surely, if you are not currently employed, and have responsibility during the day, they will have your name as a contact, technically making you the parent with care! The child benefit people do not work on the "number of nights" rule to make an assessment of the PWC!

Hmm that's true.

Were the child benefit and tax credits etc worked out before you started caring for your child every day? Should they be amended now that you do? Although I can't see as it would an easy thing to do without the mother agreeing to it ...

plok

I have applied for the Child Benefit, appealed and finally lost without the right to appeal the commissioners decision. Unfortunately if the parent who originally gets the Child benefit - and that is always the mother from birth - does not want to give it up, there is little that can be done. In my case the mother has two children from different relationships - she could have retained one claim to Child Benefit and allowed me to claim for my son's child benefit - in effect giving us both access to the follow-on benefits that derive from Child Benefit such as income support, tax credits etc... Obviously she hasn't done that. She knows that my care of my son severely limits by ability to work (and she has a court order stopping me sending my son to pre-school further limiting my ability to work) and yet still demands that the CSA look at every aspect of my lifestyle as she wants money out of me. She gets £5 a week and out of £64 JSA that is quite a lot out of our budget. I know and understand her and don't get upset with her actions as I understand that she is mentally disturbed - but I never cease to be amazed at the action of the CSA staffers who also seem to hate me as much as their "client" (save for the latest officer who represents all that is good about public servants) yet they don't know me.

Hopefully this goes some way to explaining why I'm ultra cautious about taking part time work with the "benefit" of the use of a pool car.