How are arrears calculated for unemployed?

MrAverage

kingfisherblue wrote: »

Don't you help your wife to keep her kids fed and clothed?

Of course I do but in ethical terms I am paying for my own kids and someone elses. Is that right? The unemployed people get away without paying while the hard worker has to make sacrifices. All we want is a fair system to evaluate parental contributions. I believe the best way forward is voucher/coupon system not money. That way, the kids benefit from clothes on a regular basis and scheming PWC's do not get their habits funded.

MrAverage

Kimitatsu wrote: »

If you believe the NRP to be working then you can report them to the benefits fraud hotline. If you want to ensure that your wife gets the £5 a week (and some of us ONLY get that despite the NRP working.......) then you can ask the CSA to deduct the amount at source from his benefits.

As frustrated as you are tat the system the above is all you can do.

The hotline is a load of rubbish too. They do not act on anything you provide.

MrAverage

CSA_Help wrote: »

I know you are frustrated at the system and so are we all as i get fleeced plenty because of a scheming "PARENT WITH CARE" who takes everything that is going.

A lot of people in this economic climate don't have jobs through no fault of their own and if they are assesed at £5 pw then so be it .How on earth can they be accountable for arrears when they eventually get a new job

Yes I actually agree about people who do lose their jobs beyond their control, an I do have sympathy for those people.
So for example if I become unemployed, would my arrears just disappear? I doubt they would. And the moment I started work I would expect to pay. If the arrears dont disappear then where do they go? Who pays them?

Caz3121

If you were to lose your job you would be reassessed at a new rate and expected to pay that so as long as the £5 per week was paid there would be no arrears.
My husband has paid maintenance for his 2 for 8 years at over the CSA rate (he was at one time paying £1000 a month to fund his exes new life abroad with her then boyfriend that she left him for) This was then reduced after 2 years when his level of debt made this unsustainable and reduced to still over the CSA rates. he has recently had a 20% pay cut but is still struggling on and paying the same with me subsidising him. He is however about to be made redundant and once the money is gone my salary cannot cover 100% of our bills + £500 to his ex so, if he does not have a new job (which hopefully he will) he will need to pay a reduced amount.
Unfortunately the children are far away and we pay all travel costs - their mother charges us to take them and collect them from the airport (20 mins from her) as she refuses to use 'her' money.
He feels really bad that there will be a reduction but also has to remember that for a number of years she was happy to live on benefits and maintenance (didn't get income support as maintenance was too high so kept it all but got full rent paid and tax credits) and not personally contribute 1p to the pot herself.
The thought of £500 a month 'arrears' building up would finish him off

so there are no arrears
example - when working you may be assessed to pay £50 per week
when not working you would be assessed at £5 per week
when working again back to £50...as long as these are all paid there are no arrears, unfortunately both the PWC and the NRP need to adjust their lifestyles to fit the income

kingfisherblue

MrAverage, as a PWC who is on benefits (I care for my disabled son), I agree that some form of voucher scheme, is a possible way forward. Some money would still be necessary - I can get baby wipes for my son from Home Bargains for 59p, compared to 99p in most supermarkets, but if vouchers were introduced for some items, I doubt if HB would take them.

As for whether it is right to pay for someone else's kids as well as your own, I think it is something that you accept when you start a new relationship. This doesn't mean to say that I agree with NRPs not paying, but if they are not earning, how are they supposed to pay? I know that there are plenty of people out there who have no intention of working, but I don't have a solution to that.

As for arrears and unemployment, well, my ex ran up arrears and the amount was frozen until he started working again. He now has to pay the arrears that he ran up during his time in work before unemployment, when he refused to pay any CM. I don't have a problem with that. He chose not to pay towards the children that he helped bring into the world, even though he knows that I cannot work because of our son's complex needs. Despite him not paying, I have let him see the kids whenever he wants (he sees them every week). I have also encouraged the kids to see him when they have not wanted to, usually after he has let them down. So he is now paying off the arrears and I don't have a problem with that.