Csa payments - help please

lindseydaniel

Good morning,

I received a letter from the CSA saying that my ex partner is going to be going through them for all future child support payments. I am not sure why because we have had a private arrangement that we agreed as soon as we split which I have always paid on time.

I last paid her on December 24th and I am due to pay her on January 24th. I would imagine that the CSA payments would not be sorted by then so do I still need to pay her "privately" on the 24th Jan or do I just let it all go through the CSA now? I don't want to pay her & then the CSA make me pay her too!!

Also do they take into account overtime pay I receive when calculating payments? I keep finding conflicting advice on the net. For the last 2 months I have been working non-stop trying to pay off debt (inherited from ex) and I will probably be offered overtime for the next 2 months and I don't want her taking a large chunk of it. On the CSA website it says payments are calculated from regular income. I don't think 4 months of overtime payments in 3 years can be classed as regular. Can anyone with experience of this please advise??

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Rgds
Daniel

13Kent

If you do pay her then DO NOT PAY CASH UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES and make sure you have absolute proof that the money you give her is for child maintenance as she can go to the CSA and say you haven't paid and although it will be your word against hers in our experience the CSA side with the PWC and you may end up with an arrears bill.

shell_542

Personally I would say DON'T pay her. Keep the money set aside as you will be accruing arrears from the date the CSA sent that letter to you. If you give her money and she states you haven't, you WILL pay through the CSA again.

Yes, they will take overtime into account unfortunately. If your pay varies month to month, they will take an average over a period of time. Have they asked for pay slips? The only thing you can do, I believe, is once the overtime is done ask for another reassessment with your normal pay ... but you will pay a higher amount when doing the overtime.

Go onto the CSA website, put in all your details ... approx weekly NET income INCLUDING overtime, factor in how many children you have with the PWC, any children living at home with you and how many nights you have your children over to stay in a year and see how much they will ask you to pay a week to the PWC - and put that aside. Then clear the arrears off straight away.

DUTR

lindseydaniel wrote: »

Good morning,

I received a letter from the CSA saying that my ex partner is going to be going through them for all future child support payments. I am not sure why because we have had a private arrangement that we agreed as soon as we split which I have always paid on time.

I last paid her on December 24th and I am due to pay her on January 24th. I would imagine that the CSA payments would not be sorted by then so do I still need to pay her "privately" on the 24th Jan or do I just let it all go through the CSA now? I don't want to pay her & then the CSA make me pay her too!!

Also do they take into account overtime pay I receive when calculating payments? I keep finding conflicting advice on the net. For the last 2 months I have been working non-stop trying to pay off debt (inherited from ex) and I will probably be offered overtime for the next 2 months and I don't want her taking a large chunk of it. On the CSA website it says payments are calculated from regular income. I don't think 4 months of overtime payments in 3 years can be classed as regular. Can anyone with experience of this please advise??

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Rgds
Daniel

Don't pay her on the 24th, if the csa are dealing pay via them (which you should have been doing from day 1)
Yes they take the average of the most recent 2 monthly wage slips or 5 weekly.

pd001

13Kent wrote: »

If you do pay her then DO NOT PAY CASH UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES and make sure you have absolute proof that the money you give her is for child maintenance as she can go to the CSA and say you haven't paid and although it will be your word against hers in our experience the CSA side with the PWC and you may end up with an arrears bill.

Totally agree here..
Never ever pay cash..

Always ensure that if you pay by another means (other than the csa) then make sure that all payments are properly documented


By that I mean you should make sure that there cannot be any misunderstanding what the payments are actually for in the future.

You should do more than just cross a cheque.....you should also
send a letter, by recorded delivery only, with each payment that you make, to the effect that the payment is specifically made to support your child (ren).


edit...You should also name the child (ren) that the payment is for.
edit...The letter has to state that the money is for child maintenance and it must also stipulate for what period

Postal orders will suffice provided that you keep the stub, DO NOT LOSE THEM!
Ensure that it has the correct name in the payee section. Ensure that you cross the order or make sure that it is crossed when you buy it. If you dont cross it then it can be cashed and is much more difficult to trace in the future. Dont forget to send a letter with the postal order as I have specified above.....and again...very important indeed...
DO NOT make cash payments!

If you make payments through a bank, then I would advise that each time a payment is taken from your account, then you also send the letter as detailed above, to the PWC.

Keep copies of these letters, DO NOT LOSE THEM!
Make sure that each letter is dated with the same date that is on the cheque.
DO NOT make cash payments!

kelloggs36

rare overtime will be ignored - you need to make sure that you don't do any more, and get a letter from your employer to confirm that the overtime you have done recently was a rare thing and won't be continuing. I agree with Shell- don't pay her direct but put the money aside for when the CSA come to you for the first payments. Take 15% of your net income for one child and put it in the bank.