private agreement qu's (and a cheeky one to finish!)

ellissa

Hiya guys

We've been having issues with CSA for a few years now. I won't go into details purely because I don't want to waste your time but the case has been with Parliamentary Resolution Team twice after we wrote to our MP last year and it was supposedly sorted then when it all fell apart again this year we wrote again. I could rant and rave for hours but I'll spare u all!

Anyway, as CSA just cannot get it right and our money is not being passed on to PWCs we would like to look at a private agreement. This is what I now need advice on please.

OH is NRP on CSA 2. My OH has 2 children - each child has a different mother (I know, I know!). Through CSA, when they get it right, we should be paying 20% of his income that is then split 10% to each PWC.

PWC both on benefits, don't work, both got one other child - yes to other fathers!

Anyway, we are considering 2 different possibilities:-
1) to do both arrangements on a private agreement - if we did this would we still pay 10% to each PWC? or would this change to 15% each?

2) to do one privately and one thru CSA (got good reasons, long story!) - again, if we did this, would CSA take 15% for the single child going thru them? And then we'd have to pay other PWC privately 10%? Meaning that we would pay 25% in total?

Hope this all makes sense. A worry is that if we don't go thru CSA we will have to pay more than we can afford.

Also, does anyone have any experience of private agreements? Any pros or cons we should bear in mind?

I worry how PWC will react if we have to reduce payments if we have a child of our own, or if OH moves job etc. On the same hand however, we would have to increase payments if his wages increased - and this would be fine!

Finally, on a different note, does 'phasing' with CSA accrue arrears? ie if PWC will be paid £50 pw from next year but we are currently being phased at £40 pw - do we accrue arrears of £10pw in the mean time???

Sorry for all the questions
Thanks in advance for your help (I hope!!!)
Ells x

shell_542

1) If doing both on a private agreement you would do the same as with the CSA. 20% of your partner's wages split between the two PWCs equally.

2) If you had one private agreement and one CSA case, the CSA would not take into account the second PWC. So you would end up paying 15% to the PWC through the CSA and then could offer 10% to the second PWC. In order to pay the 10% to the PWC through the CSA you would have to have both cases going through them.

HTH.

Sorry I'm not sure about the phasing. Hopefully someone who knows will come along soon. x

shell_542

ellissa wrote: »

Also, does anyone have any experience of private agreements? Any pros or cons we should bear in mind?

We have a private agreement with the mother of my husband's daughter. It is paid by standing order and is marked clearly on the standing order that it is "Child Support for (child's name)"

Never pay in cash if you can help it. Always get receipts signed by the PWC. Try and keep to the agreement without too much messing around and hope that the PWC doesn't.

3onitsway

Shell_542 has answered 1 and 2.

The phasing amount is the amount you pay - so no arrears. So in your example, £40 is what you pay. £50 next year etc.

LizzieS_2

"phasing" suggests one pwc is being moved from old rules to new rules - they will get more than pwc2. Normally on csa2 each would get 10%, but due to the phasing your husband will be paying 20% plus a bit more (the bit more will be all going to pwc1.

Both are on benefits so assuming they are declaring the full amount they receive, then effectively they will be £20pw better off.

If your OH opts for a private agreement with one or both - do not pay anything until he receives confirmation from the csa that the case is closed.

Again with the benefits, he could have scope to reach a lower payment agreement - considering neither will be better off by more than £20pw (I think that goes up to £40pw in April though).

A private agreement does not have to echo what the csa calculations are.

If only one is via the csa, he will have to pay 15% for that one (possibly more due to the phasing if it is pwc1).

shell_542

Sorry should have written "COULD do the same as the CSA" not "WOULD do"