CSA arrears

Joyful

Help required please. My Son in law lost his appeal about back paying CSA arrears( the ins and outs don't matter for now) He lives with his wife and 2 children - 1 of them his. He has just been told by a Solicitor acting on behalf of the CSA that he needs to pay £337 a month out of his salary of £836 for the arrears and they will not accept less.They only have to leave £500 protected income. The CSA also want £130 out of this £500. Their Mortgage alone is £400!

They also have a plan in place to pay arrears on Council tax but have advised them that with this new debt added they will struggle with that too.

They have been trying for a debt plan for the last 18 months but have not got enough income to get on one.

My Daughter is unwell and is currently undergoing treatment so can't work.

A lot of info but my main question is when it gets to this stage can they get the arrears down to less in payments?

bdt1

Not sure others will be along, but I believe they can take 40% of wage for regular payment then more for arrears. CSA not interested in outstanding debts owed etc etc, so council tax arrears etc won't make any differrence.

Maybe some comfort in fact that, when (not if) CSA refer this debt to bailiffs, after they have written their own Liability Order, bailiffs are much more realistic about repayment thean CSA, and he will be able to negotiate more freely.

If CSA are currently stating that the arrears must be made within a 2 year fixed period, and this is the basis of their sums, refer them back to your MP and complain as this is an internal steer and no legislation exists to support this

tiggerkian

not worth trying to negotionate with bailiffs they want half of arrears down before even trying to negotionate....ld try to sort it before they get a liability order or he's stuffed,they'll get a charging order on his house.....:(

kingfisherblue

My ex owes arrears and is paying 40% of his income via a DEO at the moment. He gets a 15% disregard because he has one child in his household, then he pays 40% of the remaining amount. 20% is to pay regular maintenance for our two children and 20% is to pay off the arrears.

Your SIL needs to ask for a breakdown of how the amounts were reached. The CSA would like all arrears to be paid within a two year period, but although they will say that these are the rules, I don't think it is law.

Your SIL should get a 20% disregard of his net pay before any deductions to the CSA, as he has two children at home. The regular maintenance for his children from his previous relationship is then assessed at 15% for one child, 20% for two children and 25% for three or more children. The remaining percentage should come off his arrears.

Hope this helps.

Kimitatsu

From my sums I make it that he has a 20% disregard for the two children in his household already and then they can take UP TO 40% of his net salary so the maximum they can take is £267.60.

Think if I was in his position first thing I would do is to call their bluff and give them a ring back with his own set of figures and get his MP on board. They are blatantly in contravention of their own policy if they are telling him that he has £500 protected income and then in the next breath telling him they want £130 of it.

For today ring them back and ask them for a breakdown of how they get to the amount they are able to take in writing, tell them that once they have that they will be contacting their MP as they are not in a position to pay and that they are forcing his family into an untenable financial position. Then Monday contact NACSA to check on the assessment and the amount they can take (or Kellogs may do it for you if she is about today) and contact your MP as a matter of urgency to get them on board and writing to the CSA asking them what they think they are doing!

You wouldnt credit it really, you cant get hold of anyone useful in the CSA at the weekend but apparently they can all ring NRP's when they know they wont be able to do anything about it...........

kelloggs36

The most they can take for anything is 40% of his net income - they can request more but the most they can get via a DEO is 40%. If he can't pay that, they will seek a liability order through the courts and then take further legal action to recover the money. I can't see how they can actually get more via the courts if they already have a DEO in place collecting arrears.

Joyful

Thanks. The problems seems to be that the CSA were waiting for salary slips. They acknowledged that they were going to be unable to pay the amount requested. My Daughter advised they would have 3 by April but has now been told after 1 week they sent it to the Solicitors so it is now out of their hands. Are the rules any different for England or Scotland? We are in Scotland.

Kimitatsu

Joyful wrote: »

Thanks. The problems seems to be that the CSA were waiting for salary slips. They acknowledged that they were going to be unable to pay the amount requested. My Daughter advised they would have 3 by April but has now been told after 1 week they sent it to the Solicitors so it is now out of their hands. Are the rules any different for England or Scotland? We are in Scotland.

Ah well there is the crux of the matter! If your daughter sent them by post then the CSA should have allowed 14 days for them to reach the right person. According to the CSA as a client you have to allow 14 days from posting for the item to reach the right desk as the post is not openend on their own sites. So there again the CSA are in breach of their own ruling.

Blob

Get your MP on the case, mind read them their rights on Friday and may well come into Court to tell the Judge that they are acting against the will of Parliment. That is if they now take it further!

The 2 year 'Steer'is causing a deal of concern and has been debated on teh floor of the House of Commons as some MPs are now nimded that this will cause people to start to take their own lives as used to happen all the time. For the record it is 62 to date that they have been officially credited with!

Honest_broker07

Blob I personally know 2 Male NRPs who have attempted Suicide because of unreasonable CSA demands.

Sad isn't it that at least 62 little ones are growing up without a parent becasue of the CSA / CMEC.

Strangley and OT I'm sure if a model of car had a fault that killed 62 people it would be fixed !

Joyful

Thanks for all your input so far. It looks like they have a real problem as they will not have enough to live on and don't seem to have a way forward. They are being given only 5 months to pay this amount from the Solicitors then they will have more arrears to pay that do not appear to have been passed over. So much for a 2 year timescale!