Child support-Entitlement to contractual redundancy payment

Errata

hepcat42 wrote: »

OK, but I guess I don't follow why it would be considered "assets" rather than earnings, since it's clearly a payment made by his employer as part of a contractual redundancy payment? I can understand how if he, say, won the lottery it would be assets but that's not the case here.

And as far as having a private arrangement goes, well- that can change, too if needs be.

It's not earnings because he hasn't earned it, as in - done any work for it. Redundancy money is a 'bribe' to make a worker stop turning up every morning to do a job which no longer exists.

missbunbury

If you want, you can apply for a variation to have this money taken into consideration, but I'm not sure it'll have the effect you're after.

You could try on the grounds of income not taken into consideration. You'd need evidence of the payment. This type of variation is usually rental income or dividend income, I'm not sure whether a contractual redundancy payment would be classed this way but if it was, I would guess they would have to work out what period of time the payment worked out as in terms of his salary - as in, they have paid him six months wages so for six months we will assess him on both his new wage and his old monthly wage. This is the only way they could look at it as income, and I'm not convinced you'd be successful on this ground, but if you were you would get substantially more maintenance during the period he was deemed to be earning, I guess.

Alternatively you could apply on the grounds of assets - i.e. he has got a lump sum of money. However, only assets above £65k are looked at, and you can't include his home or the car he drives as assets. If he already had a fair bit of savings, then you could ask them to take into consideration everything over £65k. They would treat this as earning 8% interest annually, and add the 8% to his assessable income. This I think is more likely to succeed than the first one, but has less of a positive effect from your point of view.

I don't know of any legislation that would allow the CSA to just take 15% of the money off him straight away.

cte1111

I've been told by the CSA that the only money they can try to claim from a redundancy pay off would be if there were arrears.

My ex has been made redundant and from the day he found out, he told the CSA and they stopped taking the DEO. I've pointed out that he would still be earning after and would at least be paid a month's notice but they can't be bothered to do anything about it. He is now on holiday in the US, so not convinced that his cries of poverty are completely honest but there we are. Sorry not directly relevant but just trying to show that the CSA would not necessarily be much help.

missbunbury

I'm not clear now* - is it a CSA case or a private arrangement? If it's a private arrangement then there is nothing you can do in terms of forcing him to pay anything at all from his pay-out.(*edit - I understand this now, I had confused the OP and the other poster.)

If it's CSA (as suggested by the DEO) then as above you can consider asking for a variation. You may need to phone up and ask specifically to have the relevant form issued, and you'll have to have evidence of what you're saying (that he has this money,) which you send in with the form. You may want to get more specific advice on this before going ahead, try searching online.

If the CSA can't help, I can only suggest you see a solicitor for further advice.

Fission

DUTR wrote: »

Eg, a NRP has £165k of assets , the 1st 65k is disregarded leaving £100k then 8% of that is £8k, this £8k would be 'taxed' for CS at the 15,20 or 25% on top of the usual assesment

No there is no £65k disregard.

If its > £65k it all gets taken into account at 8 per cent a year added to income.

sarflee

I may be totally wrong here, but the way I understand it is, contractual redundancy is classed as earnings only so far as a deduction of earnings order, ie the calculated monthly amount can be deducted from the payment, not for a maintenance assessment.

cte1111

I think you've had a rough ride on this thread, but I do think the facts of what most people have been saying is correct. Not sure why they feel to need to mention handbag funds, evidently there is a reason why these men are no longer with their partners! Misogynists seem to be drawn to these threads.

But back to the question you asked, I've looked at what the CSA have on their website. It isn't 100% clear, but my impression of what they are saying is that they cannot take a DEO from a pay packet, if it is wholly made up of statutory pay (redudancy, maternity or whatever). However they can take a normal DEO from non-statutory redundancy pay.

So in my case, this is helpful as I already have a DEO in place so will now chase that up with them, in case any of my ex's redundancy pay was non-statutory. I don't see that this will apply to you, as you don't have a DEO.

mrsspendalot

hepcat42 wrote: »

My former partner and I have a three year old child. I am the parent with care. We have a private agreement between us as far as payment of maintenance. He's always paid on time- no problem there.

He just signed a compromise agreement with his employer for a voluntary redundancy package in the region of £66k. We are having a little difference of opinion as far as what my daughter is entitled to (and what he should accordingly pay me as the parent with care).

I estimate that £30k of it is tax free and so exempt from CSA assessment but £36k would count as earnings on the basis that it is a contractual (not statutory) redundancy payment. This is accordance with the CSA published guidance.

He is saying (following his own call to the CSA) that they won't touch it because it is a "private matter" between him and his employer. Therefore he says I am due nothing.

Incidentally, he had already accepted another job offer (with a base salary of £85k plus bonuses) so was leaving his current job anyway- he just managed to get a VR application & offer tied up quite neatly to correspond precisely with his new job start date (not that his present employer know about that).

I have put in a call to the CSA myself but haven't heard back yet. Anybody have an idea about this?

I'm really not trying to be grasping but I find it pretty astonishing that he is proposing that he will be able to walk straight out of one job (in a public body by the way- this is your tax dollars at work) and into another well paying position with a fat payout of about £52k in his hand- and my daughter gets nothing of that?

As you state this is a private maintenance agreement, what the CSA would or wouldn't count it pretty irrelevant, as they are not involved. In my own experience, an application could take over a month to even be processed, and then they have to make contact with the NRP before liability starts - and all they would be interested in is what he earns monthly, which would be on his new income from the new job he has got. I doubt they would have any interest in redundancy payments from his last job.

Speaking as a PWC who has just battled for a year to get a penny for my 2 boys from my ex, I would just count your lucky stars that you have an NRP who pays, by your own admission, month in month out with no problem. Some of us could only dream of that luxury. I would also be grateful that he has found alternative employment straight away and that you will continue to receive regular maintenance payments, which based on the salary you quote above will be substantial - you might have ended up with him out of work for a year and paying you nothing at all, or at best a fiver a week out of his JSA payments.

The CSA are not all they are cracked up to be, and in my opinion a private arrangement that works for both parties is worth its weight in gold. I wouldn't rock the boat too much over a payment that the CSA may or may not have even taken into account. This is only likely to lead to ill feeling between you both, and once that starts it is very hard to stop it, and the children always suffer as a result.

Like someone else has suggested in the thread, I would possibly suggest that rather than ask for a chunk to be handed over to you, an amount of the payment be put in savings or in trust for your child when they go to Uni or reach a certain age. The NRP might do this anyway as they seem like they are more than happy to provide for their child.

AnxiousMum

hepcat42 wrote: »

As I stated above, he ALREADY had accepted a job offer from another place. There was never any risk of him being out of work. The only reason he didn't hand in his notice was because the opportunity to claim voluntary redundancy came up and he was able to conceal the fact that he had accepted another job from his current employer. How delightful that you and I as the taxpayer are funding the payout from a job he was already leaving.

As far being grateful- sure, it's great, he does his bit financially. I get the impression that as a PWCs I'm supposed to be offering up a special round of applause for receiving the bare minimum toward his child's upkeep, a monthly sum which by the way doesn't (even on his new salary) cover her nursery fees per month. Nor will it pay for heating, lighting, home insurance, groceries, petrol, new shoes (for her) or my latest Mulberry handbag (or will I get a Chloe whatsit- gee, so hard to decide).

As far as some of the responses received here-clearly having the audacity to even DARE query things hit a nerve amongst some people. God save us from uppity wimmin, eh?

Thanks to everyone who did actually have something to contribute to the discussion without resorting to insults.

You seem to be resentful that he was smart enough to line up another job, whilst negotiating a voluntary redundancy - smart man - but, I wonder if you were still together if you would still feel this way, or you'd be delighted that he had the foresight to do this?
In terms of his support not paying the necessities - you entered into a private arrangement with him - if you feel that he is not providing in proportion to what would be a fair assessment, then by all means, try and renegotiate or go through the CSA for a proper assessment.

But......it's not just his child support that is meant to pay the rent, the heating, the electricity etc., you as the mother, are also responsible to provide for your daughter, and should consider your ex's contribution as helping to ensure that the financial needs for your daughter and her care in a safe, warm environment with three good meals a day are just that - his fair contribution. You can earn quite a bit yourself and still qualify for WTC Childcare element - have you looked into that?
His child support payments though are not meant to provide you with a lifestyle choice, it's meant to ensure that a fair proportion of what funds he has available are providing for his child's needs.

AnxiousMum

Hepcat - you aren't going by CSA though - you have a private arrangement. When you made the private arrangement - was there an agreement as to what would happen if he should come into extra money in some way? Or, was it a case of 'you earn this, and so you'll pay this' with no thought given to any extenuating circumstances, an end date, whether higher education would be included etc.?