Housing costs departure....

bobspan1

Hi
I'm a bit new to this but i could do with some advice regarding CSA1.
I recently remarried as my wife is expecting our first baby together. Following our marriage my ex issued us with a departure against my housing costs on the basis that my wife can afford to pay half, which in principle is fine because she can. The problem is that i was only able to claim half of our mortgage as housing costs in the first place and since the departure, due to the fact that i will not disclose my wife details, they have just halved my housing allowance. This has the result of attributing 3/4 of the mortgage costs to my wife and increasing my payments to the CSA.

We have put up with this as we have no choice but now that she is pregnant we are worried about what will happen when she has the baby. I have been told unofficially that the departure will be lifted when i inform the CSA that i have a new baby but we need to know if this is what happens or is it more complicated than that?

Also, when my wife is on statutory maternity leave - if she provides her details (as her wages will drop significantly), can she then refrain from providing her details again when she returns to work or will she always be 'in the system'?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated
Many thanks Bob

bdt1

Kelloggs expert on CS1. Similar happened to us, I'm NRPP and would not supply my wage (don't see why the case is that of my hubs and his ex!). But we were penalised and paid more, so when I went on maternity leave, supplied SMP wage slips, they were supposed to alter housing allowance, long story but we awaiting Tribunal for accurate assessment, but since then CSA have demanded my income, they then got Criminal Compliance to look at joint bank statements, so got the info anyway. Wouldn't trust them with regard to unofficially telling you departure will be lifted!!!!!

kelloggs36

Why were your housing costs restricted? Was it because they were more than 50% of your net income? If so, then they have acted correctly I'm afraid. If your wife earns more than you, then I would say leave it, but once she earns less you really should provide the details as it will be in your own interests to do so. Trouble is, later on when she goes back to work, if you refuse to provide up to date details when requested by them, you will revert back to where you are now. AND you won't get the protected income.

CSA_Help

I get the full mortgage cost but not the other protected things like council tax etc as i won't supply my wifes details .When our baby (7 now) was born i told them about my wife being on SMP and they still have my wifes details on their system although my wife will not provide them her new details .

kelloggs36

But they have not used them as they have not given you the protected income - which could be costing you more in the long run - particularly if she works part-time or not at all.

bobspan1

We originally sent the mortgage statement to them with the full amoount of the mortgage. They calculated 50% of my net income as anticipated and allowed me this much as housing expenses which is fair enough - roughly half the mortgage. When the departure came through they stated that because my wife had refused to give her details they would assume she would pay half of the cost and the way they accounted for that was to halve my housing allowance as it stood - even though they could clearly see what the full cost of the mortgage was. They basically said that was irrelevant.
I had advice from elsewhere that said that once there is a dependant child in the household then there can be no restriction on the allowable housing costs and i will be allowed to claim for up to 50% of my net income again - is this not the case?
My wife is concerned that when she is one maternity leave and earning statutory maternity pay my wages plus what i pay to the CSA leaves me only £100 a month for all other costs - obviously an impossible situation and that our child together as a dependant baby will be at a disadvantage compared to the teenager i have with my ex.
HELP!!!!

LizzieS_2

I cannot answer your question.

The only help I can offer is what other income you may receive.

If this is your first child (in your household):
£20pw child benefit
£20pw tax credits for the first year, reducing to £10 after - assumes your income is below 50K per year.

In the same situation, but with this not being your first child in the house:
£14pw child benefit
£10pw additional tax credits

bobspan1

Hi all,
Thanks for your answers so far. I had another look at the CSA1 'rules' this morning and under eligible housing costs it states that 'with various exceptions the weekly housing costs of the NRP should not exceed half the net income' and listed as one of the exceptions is where ' the NRP has the day to day care of a child'.

Does this not mean that we have a case for the departure, limiting my housing costs to 25% of my net income, being lifted?

God it makes me laugh whenever i read this booklet now - the examples they use are so out of date - weekly mortgage costs of £50 with £45 of that intrest???!!! Council tax of under £9 per week!!! where do these people live.......

kelloggs36

You have been advised correctly - when the baby arrives, the restriction will be lifted, so you would be given 100% of housing costs - however, if your wife works then it may be restricted to half because of her earnings - but that depends on what her earnings are in relation to yours.