Had a call from the CSA this morning

shellsuit

I had to go back onto benefits on May this year when my ex fiance left me.

I have 2 children but they aren't his, so when I claimed for IS, I had to check a box to apply for maintenance from their Father.

CSA rang this morning to confirm that they had received kids dads details and my letter confirming that he has them one night a week (he doesnt always but sometimes the kids dont want to go to his so i cant hold that against him because he is still willing to have them overnight once a week)

Anyway, they said that their systems are down, so they will be asking him to pay me direct and this could be for upto 2 months.

I explained I wasn't happy with this, because firstly, I know he won't be forthcoming with paying the money direct to me (he had only paid me proper maint. for 1 year and 8 months even thought we haven't been together for 8 years) plus the fact that I will have to delcare this money to IS, so they will take the extra from my IS, which means if he doesn't pay me, I will be in shoite street!

Then of course once the CSA have their system back up properly again and he can pay it through them, I will again have to let IS know so they can alter my money which as we all know isnt as straight forward as it sounds because they take ages to look into changes and do anything about them.

What's the best way for me to go about this? Is there any cut off point which doesn't have to be declared (say the first £10 he gives me?!)

One more thing, they say they have worked out that he has to pay £25.24 a week (for 2 kids?!) when on their online calculator I make it £41. (with the same exact details he has given the CSA) That seems VERY low to me!

Any ideas or advice from anyone please?

rubytuesday

I have been waiting 4 years to get maintainence for my daughter from the CSA they are bloody useless! I wouldn't say anything to anyone for now!

astonsmummy

Last i heard, if you are on IS you only get £10 of the maintenance x

missk_ensington

Where's this online mainanence calculator?!?! My ex has told me that he's been told to stop paying CSA and sort it out with me amicably because CSA is being scrapped!

rollergirl1507

missk_ensington wrote:

Where's this online mainanence calculator?!?! My ex has told me that he's been told to stop paying CSA and sort it out with me amicably because CSA is being scrapped!

They are still dealing with cases :rotfl:
I mean i am owed £14000 in arrears and due to an oversight they have forgot to take any payments so this will be added to the arrears again i have only every recieved regular payments for a year and a half (that was over a year ago) and nothing since.

ribboninthesky call them again cause there systems are working fine just trying it on and tell them that you cannot agree with your partner on payment etc and you insist they sort it for you. Then if not happy ask to speak to someone more senior or a face to face meeting.

good luck

shellsuit

Thanks for the replies

There's no way on earth I want to go around mucking my money up when there is the possibility of my ex not paying me - where would I be with my IS dropped and him not giving me anything?!

I'll let my ex know I don't want him to pay me then he can ring the CSA up and let them know.

I'm not gonna do their work for them, nor waste my money on phone calls!

sarahlouise210

To be honest your very best bet is to get a job for 16 hours a week. You will get help with childcare through Tax Credits, you will have your income supplemented by tax credits and child tax credits AND will be able to keep 100% of the maintenance without it affecting how much tax credits you receive. Peace of mind...even if he does not pay the maintenance. Sometimes the only person you can rely on is yourself.

looby75

sarahlouise210 wrote:

To be honest your very best bet is to get a job for 16 hours a week. You will get help with childcare through Tax Credits, you will have your income supplemented by tax credits and child tax credits AND will be able to keep 100% of the maintenance without it affecting how much tax credits you receive. Peace of mind...even if he does not pay the maintenance. Sometimes the only person you can rely on is yourself.

That isn't always possible, childcare issues, illness or lack of qualifications can often make this all but impossible. The CSA is supposed to be there to help parents with custody make sure they have the money then need to take care of their kids and this new DIY suggestion is just opening up a whole new can of worms...but as usual it's the children who are going to end up losing out.

shellsuit

sarahlouise210 wrote:

To be honest your very best bet is to get a job for 16 hours a week. You will get help with childcare through Tax Credits, you will have your income supplemented by tax credits and child tax credits AND will be able to keep 100% of the maintenance without it affecting how much tax credits you receive. Peace of mind...even if he does not pay the maintenance. Sometimes the only person you can rely on is yourself.

There's nothing I'd like better than to get a job to get back into the swing of things, but right now it's not possible.