CSA and their stupidity......

purplemummy

Hiya everyone this may be a little long winded but will try to keep it short and sweet...

I need a little advise really..... I recently contacted the CSA for cm from ex as he hasnt paid up for 3years, I got informed 2weeks ago that in OCT 2010 he had stopped claiming benefits ( I had a Nil assessment in July 2010 which is fine as I know how hard it is to live off benefits) BUT THINKING ABOUT IT NOW we ended up in court over custody of our daughter he has shared care..... anyhoooo looking back at my solicitor notes AND court orders it states that he was working from wed to sun AND in HIS statement he stated it about 3 or 4 times..... but to the CSA they have him on benefits....

How can he of gotten away with this? not paying for his daughter but also scamming benefits and working, I know he is a taxi driver so self employed BUT its in my paper work from his solicitor and the courts that he is working during the time of claiming.....

Im having major problems with the CSA at the moment with my DH ex partner as well we have his 14 yr old every weekend we have given her money ALL the time (not through csa until last yr) but because she keeps moving further and further away and cost me loads in fuel as the hubby doesnt drive no more I dropped it down as she wasn't willing to help out with pick up and drop off...... well she didnt like it went to the CSA and all hell has kicked off now

MY husband and I have two children together plus I have my eldest from previous ex and my husband has his son, we pay for all four kids and the ex's seem to be getting away with murder........

I'm fed up now Im at boiling point.... any advice about anything would be BRILLIANT

Jess

purplemummy

ok Im getting the views just no replies

mmmmmmmm Have I done something wrong in posting or is it too boring of a post.........

sfm82

You've not done anything wrong.

The CSA are a shambles full stop. You are in the unfortunate position in that you are a PWC receiving no maintenance and a NRPP who pays out maintenance.

It may be worth writing a letter to the CSA requesting all the information they have on file relating to your case then you can see for definate what they have based their nil assessment on. I think it costs £10. Then go through the paper work with a fine toothed comb and gather evidence as to why you think you should have been paid maitenance. You should also go to your local MP and get them to take up your case, this usually gets the CSA going.

If you feel that your ex is commiting benefit fraud then cotact the benefits folk and report him. If you know he is working and earning contact the CSA in writting and tell them that you believe he is working and push them to investigate. They can get his files from the inland revenue to see how much tax he is paying in relation to his earnings.

Do not have telephone conversations with the CSA get everything in writing this way you have a paper trail of conversations. Keep pushing them to do something about it.

With regards to your Step child and her BM do the same if you are paying via the CSA, everything in writing, get a copy of your file. If you are driving far to pick up your SD then the CSA can take this into account and reduce your monthly payments.

Can your step child not get public transport to your house? her mum could drop her off at the train station and you can pick her up or something?

Caz3121

looking at the things separately

1) your CM from your ex. The CSA find it difficult to get maintenance from self employed people. Since the CSA have him coming off benefits over 2 years ago, have they done a reassessment?
Unless he is an employee you need to accept that anything you may receive will be a bonus

2) your husbands maintenance to his ex would be 15% of 75% of his net (75% as there is a reduction on 25% due to the 3 children you have at home) There is also a reduction of 1/7th if the son stays over 52 nights per year and 2/7th over 104 etc (assuming this is CSA2)

Re the travel, there is a way to claim for excess travel but it is probably not worth it
- you cannot claim the deduction for the shared care as well as the excess travel (it is one or the other)
- they assume £15 per week is the acceptable figure and the excess is removed from the income

eg income £400 per week
maintenance with no overnight stays/excess travel £45 per week
maintenance with 2 overnight stays per week (104 per annum) £32 per week
maintenance with 1 overnight stay per week (52 per annum) £39 per week
maintenance with travel costs of £60 per week £40 per week (£45 taken from the £400 income before other calculations)

justontime

Perhaps you are getting few responses because it is not really clear what you are asking. I am not sure that my answer is what you want to hear but it is based on bitter experience. Even if you tell csa that you believe your ex committed benefit fraud they will not be interested, he must have provided csa with proof that he was in receipt of benefits and that is what they will use for the assessment. You could report him using the benefit fraud number but are you sure that it really was fraud, there could be other explanations. In any case starting a war of words with him may not be sensible because he may decide to find ways to make things difficult for you in various ways. If they don't come up with a realistic assessment this time perhaps the best thing to do is to speak to csa and tell them that you suspect he is not declaring his true income.

As far as the issue of travel costs in respect contact, depending on the cost per week your partner may be able to apply for a variation but even if you qualify it will not make a lot of difference. The one thing I known from my experience is that when it comes to csa and contact matters, what happens and what is fair are often two very different things and everyone feels hard done by. Try not to let it get you down, focus on the children and be the best parent and step parent that you can be. If the other parents are not living up to their responsibilities keep in mind that usually people reap what they sow.