Employment Law - here's a sutuation for you...

declutterqueen

No CSA dont take the partners income into the calculation at all, that is why its being done like this im guessing. It should be means tested i think and if they are sharing house and life then his kids should be included into the calculation, but its me thats paying for everything.. and sadly i dont get a social life, because id rather put clothes on the kids, than on myself. you never know one day I might get something.. but its been 18 months now, it just doesnt seam fair thats all, nevermind.. least we are still alive hey!

paulwf

OP the best place to start is by going to the Companies House website. You can then use their webcheck service to search for a company by their name or number. If you don't know this there are sites where you can find companies by the name of the director.

On Companies House you will get basic details such as the registered office address, although this may or may not be the actual address of the business...some people use a third party service.

For £1 a report you can download company documentation, you can get some info although not anything useful related to accounts. The key piece of info is finding out who the directors are.

If your ex is a director then it is standard to be paid a small salary (up to the tax threshold yearly) then the rest is taken as dividends, usually every 6 to 12 months. Therefore it might be his total yearly pay not his weekly pay slip that is important.

Companies House also shows the accounting dates for the company. Generally companies will produce accounts within the first 18 months or so, if the business has been going for "a few years" there will be accounts and HMRC will be able to get hold of them.

There may or may not be tax evasion going on here, do some digging on Companies House and take it from there.

grey_lady

'Thanks for your replies, some good points raised, CSA are on to him and as the business has only been going for a few years there is no accounts yet,'

If the business has been going for more than a couple of years there should be accounts filed, as the previous poster said you can check on companies house website.

alunharford

jdturk wrote: »

Sounds rubbish but it shouldn't be upto partners of ex partners to provide for the ex partners child.

Of cause it shouldn't.

But it should be up to ex-partners to provide for their children (and the amount they should pay should be influenced by their household income)

terra_ferma

pinkshoes wrote: »

It sounds like a lot of hassle and trouble to go to just to get out of paying for his own kids! Does he begrudge his kids that much? Perhaps the business isn't making much profit, so he's offering to work for just £100/week?

Do you have proof of the company turnover and profit to prove they can afford to pay him much more than this?

Unfortunately people use their children as weapons against ex partners, through denying maintenance and'/or visiting rights.
Probably to us decent people it seems unthinkable what goes on in some cases I know of...

dharm999

Declutterqueen

Firstly as someone has said go to the companies house website, and get the accounts and annual return for the company, which will cost you £2 in total (£1 for each). The annual return will show you who the owners of the company are, and the accounts will show you who a number of things; who the directors are, and if dividends were paid. You need to know the legal company name, and search for that on the Webcheck part of companies house website. Make sure you get the legal company name, and not a trading name, e.g. a trading name may be smith plumbers but the legal entity may be called Smiths Plumbing Limited, iyswim. Once you have these then you will hopefully know if he is taking more out of the company than it appears. If he is an employee, then minimum wage applies, but of couse it will all depend on his contract of employment. It may say he only works 16 hours a week, and has to do unpad overtime to get the job done, in which case there apears to be no breach of minimum wage. Its all very grey to me, as you get into arguments about voluntary overtime becoming contractual as you are forced to do it, etc.. Anyway try companies house, and see how you get on.

cazziebo

I don't understand why the OP is being advised to consult Companies House?

All that will show are the directors and minimal accounts and some other information irrelevant to this case. I have access so if the OP wants to PM me I'm happy to look it up. It won't give info relating to an individual's income.

It may be that the ex is a Director, being paid under the tax threshold, and waiving his right to dividends. This will keep declarable income low.

It's not right, not moral, but probably legal. (Hard to believe, but I've had employees refuse bonuses and pay rises because they want to keep their incomes low to avoid paying the CSA)

paulwf

cazziebo wrote: »

I don't understand why the OP is being advised to consult Companies House?

All that will show are the directors and minimal accounts and some other information irrelevant to this case. I have access so if the OP wants to PM me I'm happy to look it up. It won't give info relating to an individual's income.

It may be that the ex is a Director, being paid under the tax threshold, and waiving his right to dividends. This will keep declarable income low.

It's not right, not moral, but probably legal. (Hard to believe, but I've had employees refuse bonuses and pay rises because they want to keep their incomes low to avoid paying the CSA)

Companies House won't give you all the info but I'm suggesting it because it is the best starting point. A lot of people don't realise that a company director will derive most of their income through dividends rather than their weekly/monthly wage.

Once it is known if he is receiving dividends or not then you can move forward from there.