Dont see why i should pay maintenance through csa !

13Kent

I think the CSA have a calculator on their website for the newer system where you can calculate how much you would need to pay.

We are on CSA 1 , and were told by a CSA person that if we were on CSA 2 we would be paying £288 pcm based on our circumstances - that is for 2 teenagers, and is the CSA's own calculation. (We are actually paying more than double that amount as we are on the old system :mad:).

Based on the CSA's own calculation above I think £50 a week is a fair amount depending on your circumstances of course.

I think a much fairer system would be to have a set amount for each child dependent on age for the NRP to pay, and that to be written down in black and white, (maybe changing with inflation as necessary,) and therefore neither parent's circumstances would have a bearing on the amount.

It would avoid a lot of nastiness and deception on both sides as everyone would know where they stood, and how much they were entitled to, or needed to pay - If the NRP chose to pay more than that, or put money aside for their children rather than pay it to the PWC I think that should be their choice, and for others who didn't want to do that, or couldn't afford to at least their children would be getting at a basic set amount.

Unfortunately in my experience the CSA system (or should I say systems!!) is/are far more complicated than that, and in some cases it is open to fraud both from PWC and the NRP leading to both trying to get one over on the other, using the children as pawns and holding each other to ransom, and being dishonest over their circumstances making their relationship - which let's face it wouldn't have ended had it been good - worse and causing more sadness for the children involved, who of course were not at fault in the first place.

(Sorry rant over!!;))

PlayingHardball

13Kent wrote: »

I think the CSA have a calculator on their website for the newer system where you can calculate how much you would need to pay.

We are on CSA 1 , and were told by a CSA person that if we were on CSA 2 we would be paying £288 pcm based on our circumstances - that is for 2 teenagers, and is the CSA's own calculation. (We are actually paying more than double that amount as we are on the old system :mad:).

I think that is terrible! Really unfair to this poster and others on CSA1 - my sympathies.

Based on the CSA's own calculation above I think £50 a week is a fair amount depending on your circumstances of course.

I think a much fairer system would be to have a set amount for each child dependent on age for the NRP to pay, and that to be written down in black and white, (maybe changing with inflation as necessary,) and therefore neither parent's circumstances would have a bearing on the amount.

Totally disagree. Why should a NRP who takes home 4k per month only have to pay the same as some poor NRP who takes home £1k per month, or less? I totally endorse the CSA maintenance calculator and feel it is only right for the children/PWC in each situation to have payments based on the NRP income.

I think all high earners would love this 'one size fits all', though! But that just wouldn't be fair on low earners.

It would avoid a lot of nastiness and deception on both sides as everyone would know where they stood, and how much they were entitled to, or needed to pay - If the NRP chose to pay more than that, or put money aside for their children rather than pay it to the PWC I think that should be their choice, and for others who didn't want to do that, or couldn't afford to at least their children would be getting at a basic set amount.

If only that would work, I think many NRP would not do this though. At the end of the day the CSA are trying to make a difference to each child. But, I know they don't always get it right.

Unfortunately in my experience the CSA system (or should I say systems!!) is/are far more complicated than that, and in some cases it is open to fraud both from PWC and the NRP leading to both trying to get one over on the other, using the children as pawns and holding each other to ransom, and being dishonest over their circumstances making their relationship - which let's face it wouldn't have ended had it been good - worse and causing more sadness for the children involved, who of course were not at fault in the first place.

Sadly, totally agree with the above paragraph. And worst of all, it only takes one of them to behave that way to have an effect on the children.

(Sorry rant over!!;))

Don't worry, get it off your chest

karenx

I suppose it could be a good thing though and your payments might go down?? Depending on your income!
A friend of mine was paying £40 per week to his ex and she started getting gready and saying she wanted more, when he refused she went to csa. And because he was self employed he was only asked to pay £5 per week! Guess who shot herself in the foot there Going from £160 per month to £20!