Relationship between CSA and Child Benefit

New_World_Man

First post. Thanks in advance for any replies.

I've been paying CSA 2 for my 2 kids without any issues for almost 8 years.

My eldest (aged 16) recently moved in with me. 14 year old still stays with mum. CSA notified. Mum confirms the change to them.

I now get paid CSA as PWC for my son. So far so good. It's all going smoothly.

However, my new payments as NRP for my daughter do not give me the 15% deduction for the child who now stays with me - and for whom I have been awarded CSA payments.

I write to CSA to point out the missing portion of their arithmetic. I get a phone call today saying that I am not entitled to a reduction because I am not yet being paid Child Benefit.

I ask for the legislation which provides for this. No reply other than "it's in the rules". I then ask what happens if I don't claim Child Benefit. "It's the rules". Can they confirm this in writing? Apparently not.

Finally I am told that I will be reassessed when I am awarded Child Benefit (which I applied for in August but I'm still waiting).

Has the world gone mad? I get CSA for my child but as far as the CSA is concerned I have no child living with me in respect of their calculations for payments due by me.

Am I missing something here?

duchy

Yes it's correct-Claiming child benefit for a child is the criteria for entitlement to claim child support . One payment was changed as Mum agreed the change -however the overnight calculation won't run without the linking of the child benefit change.

If you look on the direct.gov website it is all spelt out there "in writing" (not sure why they didn't tell you that-unless you were demanding a personal letter explaining it )

Did child benefit give you a timescale for them changing the payment over to you ?

Seems to be a delay due to you applying for CB later /CB slow processing or a mix of the two.

kevin137

This is NOT right, there is NO legislation that says this is so, make a formal complaint, and contact your MP to involve him on your behalf...

They feed duff info on a regular basis, and this is wrong...

New_World_Man

There seems to be a difference of opinion.

Over the years I have had dozens of CSA leaflets sent to me along with their correspondence. I do not recall Child Benefit being mentioned which is what prompted me to query the CSA calculations.

In fact, in their examples which they use to illustrate the calculations they just mention children who normally live with you (and not described, for example, as children living with you AND for whom you receive Child Benefit).

I have not yet checked the direct.gov site but why hide it away outwith the CSA literature?

The Child Benefit people sent me out a form a few weeks ago. I never thought to chase it up because I was not aware of it having any added significance.

Bluemeanie_2

What if you earn over the threshold for CB? What is the deciding factor then?

New_World_Man

Bluemeanie wrote: »

What if you earn over the threshold for CB? What is the deciding factor then?

That's an interesting point.

Perhaps you need to claim it first and then pay it all back through your income tax.

Or just say no to a pay rise!

So much for streamlining the tax and benefit systems.

New_World_Man

Update. I was sent the new payment schedule dated 3 October which didn't take into account my son living with me (which was the same date that I spoke to CSA and they said there was no trace in the system of me being in receipt of Child Benefit). Then I get a letter from HMRC dated 1 October confirming that I in receipt of Child Benefit. Thus everything has to be recalculated yet again.

At least things are going in the right direction, albeit with obstacles.

On a related point, I was told that we needed to negotiate a new repayment schedule because it appears that I have made a significant overpayment. However they can't just pay it back in one go because it has to come from the PWC in the form of deductions. Seems odd. It was not PWC who took my cash. It was CSA who took it.

I can't imagine that CSA 3 will be straightforward if CSA 2, based on apparently simple arithmetic, causes so much confusion.

My youngest is 14. Am I likely to be moved to CSA 3 any time soon? I'm not sure that I could cope with the stress!

kevin137

Don't worry about CSA 3 just yet, there are still people on CSA 1 cases that have been promised numerous times to be moved over, and never have...!

Write a nice letter clearly stating that any overpayment to the CSA will be subject to interest at base rate + 3% for any outstanding amounts after 28 days from the date of the letter. And that you would consider this a reasonable time. Also ask for copies of legislation that states they do not have to repay money owed in a timely manner should it of been overpaid.

it is ridiculous that you cannot have overpayment back immediately when it is there mistake, and there is no hard fast rule on why you can't...! So kick up about it, if you are adamant that you want it back quickly, and they are not forthcoming, then file for a CCJ against them with costs and interest, you could also claim for your time at your current hourly rate for employment as a reasonable cost. This may be more effective and get a swifter answer from them...

And make sure they backdate to the 1st October as that is when the CB was paid from and you had opened a claim so they where aware. And as such should of opened a claim on your behalf against the NRP and deducted from your payment as an NRP

nicky3

New World Man Your ex told the truth to CB, so you don't have to fight this particular battle, but for the record, Kevin is bang on, there is no such legislation. I fought a lengthy battle to prove it. CSA still won't accept facts and have repeatedly denied any error and even tried to accuse me of withholding information in order to win my appeal. They have declined to respond to me since last December. Essentially the CSA is NOT required to learn by it's mistakes, so they can continue to wheel out the same old lies and abuse the public that they were created to serve. I am in the long slow process with ICE (yawn) trying to get the CSA to admit their blatant (and I suspect widespread) abuse of 'legislation' that does not exist.

Kimitatsu

The CSA are wrong - there is NO qualifying benefit required for you to be in receipt of maintenance. I will dig out the relevant legislation for you tomorrow.

CSA 3 - we have just finished a CSA1 claim, so it wont happen anytime soon. The "plan" such as it is, is that all new claims after a particular date (I would hazard a guess but it wont be adhered to!) will go straight onto CSA3 with CSA2 being gradually moved over.

I may be cynical but I heard this old chestnut when the CSA changed its calculations last time and yet there are still hundreds of cases left in limbo on CSA1 because the computer system cant cope.