CSA assessment for self employed parent

justontime

Please can someone offer some advice. My husband is on CSA 1 with no arrears, he became self employed in early October (he could not remain in his previous job because symptoms associated with his disability had worsened and he couldn't cope with the journey to and from his workplace). He notified CSA straight away and was told to keep paying on his old assessment for 3 months, then if he was still self employed his case would be passed to a different team and he would be reassessed.

He worked for part of that 3 month period but due to the delay in getting paid for his work he was not able to pay himself a salary during that period. Our finances were very tight but he paid CSA on time every month. When he filled the assessment form in he asked them to please wait for a couple months to get a more accurate picture of his income before doing a reassessment but they gave him a nil assessment. This will annoy his ex and make things hard for his children. He will have an income when they next assess him, is there any way we can get them to alter the nil assessment quickly, so that his ex is not messed around and he avoids future arrears. Direct payment is not an option in this case.

DUTR

If direct payment is not an option then the PWC could be cutting their nose to spite their face, hope his business venture works out well in this difficult financial climate.

sfm82

There's nothing you can do if you can't make a payment directly to the PWC until they next assess him. If you are worried about arrears just put aside a portion of your income to cover what you think it might be.

There's no point in worrying about something you cant control.

justontime

Thank you for your advice. We will put the money aside and we will ask for a reassessment as soon as possible. We are worried about arrears, but mostly we are worried about doing what is right for his children and trying not to antagonise his ex.

sfm82

You are doing whats right for his children by paying what the law tells you you should If his ex gets annoyed just remind her that you are doing everything you can to arrange payment via the csa and any delay in your assessment is due to their own system.

I wouldnt offer to pay her directly in the meantime as you may get into a whole host of trouble if you do build up arrears while you are waiting to be assessed and you may end up having to pay her twice during this period.

jacklink

i agreed with everything what was said in this post until sfm82 said ' your doing everything what the law tells you to do, (growl) law laid down by this government is crushing the poorest in society, including parents both nrp and pwc