csa help please!!!

mztoxic

Hi everyone

I've been a longtime lurker on these boards and have always found them really helpful so thought i would ask for a little advice

My partner and i have been together for 6 years i have two children from a previous relationship who live with us ,My partner has a 14 year old son from his previous relationship who we havent seen in about 2 years he moved to scotland with his mother and her new partner and since then we have heard nothing from him(phone calls are unanswered ,letters are never replyed too etc )Up until the move to scotland we saw my partners son on a very regular basis ,

Anway to cut a long story short about a month ago my partner recieved a letter from csa saying his ex had put a claim in ,we filled all of the forms out and today have recieved a letter saying that he has too make weekly payments of £39 ..now the thing i really dont understand is i dont work due to health problems,my partner only works 24 hours a week..and we have my two children living with us permanantly and also our 2 year old,,it seems they have taken the child tax credits into account when working out my partners income ..is this normal practice ?
i claim the child tax credits for my children so why should that be taken into account ?
Any advice or thoughts would be greatfully received

missmontana

Is this the set amount, or does it include arrears?

mztoxic

Its the set amount ..up until about 7/8 weeks ago my partner and his ex had a private arrangement they had both been happy with this for the past 7and a half years so we are clueless as too why she stopped it and went through csa

missmontana

Maybe she thought she'd get more going thru them? And doesn't want to have any contact at all with him.

mztoxic

she wasnt having any contact previously .like i said she moved too scotland 2 years ago ,The purpose of my thread was too ask advice about the amount being taken by csa and not why she has gone through csa (only the ex can ever answer that afterall)

missmontana

It was just a thought.

I'm sure someone else will have an answer with regards to the tax credits.

Does it not explain how they have worked it out and can you appeal against the decision if it is going to cause financial problems for yourselves?

moomoomama27

As far as the tax credits go, they do take them into account sometimes. I think it's very dependant upon the amount. I know 2 people who pay CSA one the tax credits are taken into account, and the other, when they've worked it out the CTC are not taken into account. Both people submitted the correct and factual figures, both including CTC in the form.

All I can think of in the cases mentioned above is that the one who's CTC and WTC were taken into account had a large income from both benefits, the other case they only had a minimal amount of tax credits per week?

TBH the whole systme is rubbish, and it doesn't seem like they have a set rules!

Are you getting a high % of CTC and WTC? If so all I can think of is that as that is likely a high % of your overall monthly income they've used it.

So very unfair to take money that is meant for children, and use it to calculate money for other children. It should NEVER be used IMHO as the money is means tested for the children in the NRP's family. The child in the PWC 's family already get CTC, why should they have a % of the NRPS childrens tax credits??

Especially a kick in the teeth when maintenace is direagreded in benefit claims makde by the PWC!

mztoxic

Tax credits are a big % of our income at the moment , i have quite severe health problems hence my partner only working p/t and me unable to work ...

It does seem wrong that ctc is taken into account as like you said i claim that for my children .. my partners ex claims it for their son
My partner is going too try and call csa but whether or not that will do any good remains too be seen

Like you said moomoo there doesn't seem to be any set rules.

In the letter it states that my partner will be paying £39 per week csa
But it also states that they deduct £80 per week from our income for our three children so therefore they are saying that my OH's son needs £39 per week yet my 3 children only need £80 per week between them ..Doesnt seem to be any logic there at all!!!!

moomoomama27

mztoxic wrote: »

Tax credits are a big % of our income at the moment , i have quite severe health problems hence my partner only working p/t and me unable to work ...

It does seem wrong that ctc is taken into account as like you said i claim that for my children .. my partners ex claims it for their son
My partner is going too try and call csa but whether or not that will do any good remains too be seen

Like you said moomoo there doesn't seem to be any set rules.

In the letter it states that my partner will be paying £39 per week csa
But it also states that they deduct £80 per week from our income for our three children so therefore they are saying that my OH's son needs £39 per week yet my 3 children only need £80 per week between them ..Doesnt seem to be any logic there at all!!!!

No it's a completley screwed formulae they use! Basically the CSA claim to help get children out of poverty, while putting the children from the 2nd family into sometimes direct poverty/hardship!

I sincerly hope your partner can get some 'joy' from them, because I've BTDT and it's the worst situation to be in. You wholeheartedly accept that a father is liable to contribute towards his children finacially, but that shuld not be to the detriment of children in the second family!

If CSA payments don;t count as income for the PWC when claiming TAX credits, then tax credits shouldn't be used at all for the NRP. The injustice of that part of the system is very hard to accept. Especially when tax credits are for your children, and you recieve them!

battlestarone

Your local mp may be able to help,this is an outrage....

The csa system is a shambles,it should only be the absent parent income taken into account,but they dont,they take into account how much you pay and he pays to ward your household expences,simple way would be for 1st child he pays simple 15% of his net take home pay,then close the file,simple,but the govement want to screw people for every penny,i bet your man ex has become unemployed or has started claiming some sort of benefit,this is when the csa jump in,,,,,maybe bst contacting the mother and sorting something out to get round this,maybe to late though.

tamsin1982

I never thought tax creds were included on a csa 2 case, it should be 15% of his net income after the % for your children at home had been taken off!
go on to there website and use the calc and see what it says, then obv follow up with a call to csa - are you sure they took off % for the 3 children you have in your household? hopefully a simple mistake somewhere x