Please help :( :(

pinktilgate

Morning all!

I really hope someone can give me some advice before I go insane!

My parter has a 7 year old daughter with his ex....csa started in 2007/2008....we live in NI but im pretty sure the rules are all the same for uk...i think! My partner has about £1800 arrears to pay (which he is disputing at the minute) but...my question is...can csa take child tax credit into account when assessing the case? At present they have placed a deduction of earnings on his wages and are taking 40%! We have a 7month old baby at home and my partners take home pay £238 after tax, but they have recalculated his income to £320 taking into account our child tax credit (which is 320 every 4 weeks)?! They are taking £93 per week off him. I have just went back to work and advised tax credit people and my tax credits payments have went from £320 to £130 every 4weeks.

I really hope someone can help as when we contact csa 2 people have told us that tax credits dont come into and 1 person has said they do. Also we were told that the 40% doe was temporary but now they have said that it is permanant until the arrears are paid?!

im just sickened as his ex lives in a council house (which is mostly paid for my govt, gets full tax credits and now is getting £93 per week from us whilst we struggle to pay for baby food and nappies week to week!) This is really getting me down and my partner and I are on the verge of seperating due to the problems this is causing!

Please help me before i lose the man i love

PreludeForTimeFeelers

pinktilgate wrote: »

Morning all!

I really hope someone can give me some advice before I go insane!

My parter has a 7 year old daughter with his ex....csa started in 2007/2008....we live in NI but im pretty sure the rules are all the same for uk...i think! My partner has about £1800 arrears to pay (which he is disputing at the minute) but...my question is...can csa take child tax credit into account when assessing the case? At present they have placed a deduction of earnings on his wages and are taking 40%! We have a 7month old baby at home and my partners take home pay £238 after tax, but they have recalculated his income to £320 taking into account our child tax credit (which is 320 every 4 weeks)?! They are taking £93 per week off him. I have just went back to work and advised tax credit people and my tax credits payments have went from £320 to £130 every 4weeks.

I really hope someone can help as when we contact csa 2 people have told us that tax credits dont come into and 1 person has said they do. Also we were told that the 40% doe was temporary but now they have said that it is permanant until the arrears are paid?!

im just sickened as his ex lives in a council house (which is mostly paid for my govt, gets full tax credits and now is getting £93 per week from us whilst we struggle to pay for baby food and nappies week to week!) This is really getting me down and my partner and I are on the verge of seperating due to the problems this is causing!

Please help me before i lose the man i love

Tax Credits are classed as a source of income for the CSA, however as you are now on lower tax credits you need to inform the CSA as soon as possible, so that they can recalculate how much your partner should be paying.

The 40% DOE generally will stay in place until the arrears are paid off, however under the circumstances they *may* accept a lower rate, perhaps 30%, you need your partner to contact them (or you can if you are able to act as his representative) to explain that setting the arrears payments so high is affecting the welfare of the child in your household. The case officer dealing with the case generally can go to their line manager and ask for the 40% rate to be lowered.

pinktilgate

Thanks for the info...I just wanted to be sure that the child tax credit element can be taken into account. I mean I fully understand that there is a lot of outstanding arrears to be paid which I am fully understanding of and compliant with....I just wasnt sure about the tax credit side of things!

makes me mad that my partner has been so stupid to let things get so out of control

Blue_Elephant

^^ what they said. Also they can only take WTC into account if he's the primary earner, but they can't if you're the primary earner. Tell then your tax credits have gone down and send them the notifications. Keep a copy though as they can take a while (and a couple of reminders sometimes) to send them back.

Make sure they've taken the fact you have a child in your household into account and tell them you're suffering financial hardship.

Even if they have taken your tax credits into account they can only take up to 40% of his net WAGE not the net income they've assessed you on, so for example if he earns £200 net, but they've assessed at £250 (£200 plus £50 CTC), they can only take up to 40% of £200.

HTH

bdt1

Blue Elephant is correct, you need to inform CSA that you have had your Tax Credits reduced, and also that you have a new baby in your household, as an allowance will be given for this.

In our case, CSA could not use Child Tax Credits as income in assessment, as I earn more than my husband (not just WTC they cannot touch if you earn more than the NRP). So, consider this, if you have gone back to work and earn more than your husband, then CSA cannot use Child Tax Credits, and I'm assuming that as you back at work, you maybe not eligible for WRC as your wage (rather than SMP) will have taken over their threshold for payment?

You really need to get in touch with them urgently and also put it in writing, recorded delivery, as they have a habit of denying things when you have told them of a reduction in wage or change in circumstances

Good luck

pinktilgate

Thanks guys for the replies....my partner earns more than me. Basically as things stood they were taking 40% of his net wage so i think that they are above board in all of this.
He is going to get onto them asap to advise of the new tax credit amounts.
Like i said before im just so mad that he has let it get to this stage, so please anyone reading this, dont try and dodge payments! It will bite you in !!! very hard

PreludeForTimeFeelers

pinktilgate wrote: »

Thanks guys for the replies....my partner earns more than me. Basically as things stood they were taking 40% of his net wage so i think that they are above board in all of this.
He is going to get onto them asap to advise of the new tax credit amounts.
Like i said before im just so mad that he has let it get to this stage, so please anyone reading this, dont try and dodge payments! It will bite you in !!! very hard

They can only set reassessment dates from when they are made aware, so I'd advise ringing them tomorrow, they are open 9-5.

missbunbury

It may be worth asking them to reduce the percentage they are taking for arrears on the grounds that you have another child. They are required to take the welfare of all children affected by a decision into account when making that decision. They normally will expect payments to be 30% of net income at least and will need special authorisation for any amount less, but since the regular maintenance will only be 15%, reducing your arrears payments down to 15% instead of the current 25% may give you a bit of wiggle room while he pays them off. They don't have to agree to this, but it's worth requesting it if this would help.

pinktilgate

Thanks again everyone....partner is at work today and cant use the phone so i called csa myself to advise but as im not authorised to speak on his behalf blah blah blah! but i have done it and documented that i called!

Another question if anyone knows....obviously at present there is the 40% deduction of earnings on his wages to collect reg maintenace amount and also arrears. They are including his take home pay and our tax credits as income to calculate this total. If we paid off the arrears in full, and then he just had to pay reg amount, will they still include tax credits even though they are only like £30 per week?

Thanks....hope everyone is enjoying the Easter holidays!

PreludeForTimeFeelers

pinktilgate wrote: »

Thanks again everyone....partner is at work today and cant use the phone so i called csa myself to advise but as im not authorised to speak on his behalf blah blah blah! but i have done it and documented that i called!

Another question if anyone knows....obviously at present there is the 40% deduction of earnings on his wages to collect reg maintenace amount and also arrears. They are including his take home pay and our tax credits as income to calculate this total. If we paid off the arrears in full, and then he just had to pay reg amount, will they still include tax credits even though they are only like £30 per week?

Thanks....hope everyone is enjoying the Easter holidays!

Yeah, the tax credits would still be classed as income after the arrears have been paid off.

HelpMePay

Out of curiosity, should it be 40% of net income or relevant income? With another child in the household should it be 40% of 85% of net?