CSA recalculation/advice.

tinkerbell212

My partner is currently paying child maintenance for his son. The amount was calculated about 8 years ago when he was in a much better paid job. His ex didn't want to work as she felt she had to be there for the child. Fair enough. The child is at school going age now. My partner is not trying to get out of his duty of paying but I'm pregnant, so we will get a big reduction in income.
I wonder if there is a way to independently have the amount my partner pays, recalculated without going through the CSA (don't want them to think they can squeeze even more out of him). Does anybody know whether there is an organisation who could help us with this?
Also, the ex was planning to marry, would that reduce the payments and would it be up to us to investigate this or would CSA do this. And if we overpaid for years, do they pay you money back (partner has been out of a job and on a very low paid job for a year but still paid the full amount based on almost double his salary..)

Scarlett1

If your husband is in a lower paid job then you can ask for a re-calculation, but yes it will go down anyway when your baby is born so you could wait until them.

I think on the CSA website there is a calculator where you work out how much maintenance is to be paid, its 15% of your partners net wage, and I think they then reduce some of that to allow for the new born.

If the ex gets married it wont come into the calculations, she could marry Sir Alan Sugar and your partner would still have to pay 15%.

tinkerbell212

At the time, part of the payment was a carers allowance, would that still be effective now the child is over 10 years?

Scarlett1

tinkerbell212 wrote:

At the time, part of the payment was a carers allowance, would that still be effective now the child is over 10 years?

mmmmm sorry dont know, is that a carers allowance as in the child has a disability, I thought that came from the government and was paid to the resident parent

I would get onto the CSA and ask about a re-calculation, in the mean time have a play here

https://secureonline.dwp.gov.uk/csa/v1/new/calc.asp

tinkerbell212

Thanks Scarlett, I'll have a look. Child is perfectly healthy. Think it was an allowance to allow her to stay at home with the child...

System

If the maintenance was calculated 8 years ago then it is obviously based on the old rules so the 15% is not valid for his calculation unless they have transfered him over to the new rules system. I doubt that because he would have had a new calculation done by the CSA within the last 3 years.

The thing is, as far as I know, on the old rules your income should also have been included in the calculation along with your partners if the CSA were aware he had a new partner. Not fair I know but that's why the new rules were brought in.

If his ex remarries I don't think it makes any difference to your partners maintenance payments because it is not up to his ex's new husband to pay for your partners child. However your partner should really have gotten in touch with the CSA as soon as his income decreased to ask for a new assessment rather than struggle on making payments which were based on a much higher income. He should also tell them as soon as your new baby is born as he may be entitled to a discount for having an extra mouth to feed.

Prudent

Your partner can not have any of this money paid back. Any changes are only applicable from the day he requests a reassessment.Idf he requests a reassessment no and it takes the csa 6 months to do, then any chnages will be bak adted for those six months. As other posters have said, he will be on the old system and may have to pay more than 15%. When your baby is born you will be entitled to an allowance for the baby to be deducted form the calculation. It will make no difference if his ex remarries.

krashovr10ad

++

Yep - it makes no difference if the ex-remarries... It also won't make any difference if they split after having children meaning that your fella will still be assessed on the old rules and her latest ex will be assessed on the new rules...

I know (through personal experience) - I pay more for my son than the other guy pays for two. Where's the justice in that..?

He should also tell them as soon as your new baby is born as he may be entitled to a discount for having an extra mouth to feed.

I wouldn't bet on it :mad: although your circumstances are different to mine - suffice to say that I'd be better off out of work (or at least no worse off!!) thanx to the CSA...

Don't mean to be the Harbringer of Doom - but I've never had any positive outcomes when dealing with the CSA and the old assessment system...

++

kelloggs36

If ex re-marries and her partner has a huge income, then it would technically be taken into account when calculating her contribution to the maintenance which is obviously not paid, but in some (rare) cases, can have an impact on the amount the ex is paying.

Can't get any refund unless there has been a calculated assessment which you have been paying more on.

The carers allowance is reduced when the qualifying child reaches 11 years old. This is part of the old system which determined what was 'needed' as a base line for assessing maintenance. Children up to 11 get a higher allowance as they are deemed to require a higher level of care. After 11 it drops and then ceases altogether later on although it makes hardly a difference to the assessment in reality because by then, the wages of the NRP are likely to be higher! If you want a more detailed breakdown of how to work out your assessment, let me know and I can give a rough idea. I would need age of child in question, your income, income of partner, housing costs both interest and capital repayments on a mortgage plus council tax, or if rent is paid, rent payments, all details of any children in your household, the number of nights the child stays with you, any benefits (including child benefit), the number of miles the person paying maintenance travels to work if it is over 150 per week AS THE CROW FLIES. The most inportant info is the NRP's wage details - gross income and a list of all deductions as this would be easiest to determine what payments are allowable (50% of pension contributions are allowed to be taken off as is 100% of all tax and NI), any TAXABLE expenses and ANY bonuses.

It is a huge list, but not impossible. You could then get a projection of the amount you would be liable to pay once the baby is born as another calculation can be done to give an idea. Don't expect a huge decrease in maintenace though.

redwarf

please can u tell me if maintenance from my partner for my 2 children is for absolutly everything... clothes, shoes, school expenses, school trips. what i'd like to know is am i within my rights to ask for contributions to things outside the normal day to day running of the household finances? we are on reasonably good terms... so far!

thanks

lil_me

Maintainence is for everything, and for every night he has the children I believe he can ask for 1/7th to be deducted from anything he pays, up to 50% I think it is. You can ask him to contribute but he can refuse. If you are on benefits and he pays anything extra it usually is deducted (when you tell them)

There is an online calculator which you can use to estimate the payments that would be due.. http://www.csa.gov.uk/new/calculate/

There is usually a small reduction if there are children in non residents home. I think what my friend paid for his 2 daughters reduced by £5 a week when his little boy was born to his new partner.