Caseworker Q - CSA legislation

claire111

Hi

Thanks for all your informative posts

You mention that staff are bound by legislation when making decisions - can you point me in the direction of the rules that cover default maintenance decisions ?

My ex NRP has had a DMD made against him because he claims to be self employed but can't/won't/hasn't sent in the evidence of earnings that has been asked for. His DMD has been based on average earnings in the area he lives and has been backdated for 12 months so is a sizeable sum, but still he ignores their letters. This sum has been added to arrears that have built up over many years.

I understand the next stage will be application for liability order but am trying to establish if the sum awarded due to the DMD, can be challenged and reduced at the LO court hearing if he provides evidence to show nil earnings for that period?

Presumably not if the legislation is within the Child Support Act ?

Many thanks

Claire

CSAworkerx

Hi, Firstly id need to know what scheme your on, Im assuming 2003 so my answer will be based on that, Just know i work on an employed section, so when i see a case where an nrp is self employed i "flip" it to the relevant team, which is obviosly the self employed team, But since i use DMD's myself on employed people, i feel i can answer this.

I cant point you to anywhere official, ill tell you what we get trained to do, DmD wise, and hope that will help. So firstly a DMD is put in place when we have a confident address for an NRP, So we know hes looking at the paperwork, But is failing to speak to us at all.

Before a DMD we would check various places to try and get some income details, HMRC, Experian, ect, If were confident we know what the NRP does for a living, we have somthing called an "Estimation of Earnings tool" which basically means you input the nrps job, and it shows you a yearly figure including tax/NI, Unfortunatly this is very very rarely used, ive actually never used it, wont go into details why but basically if i input my own job title, it tells me i earn 4.2 thousand more than i actually do.

It does look like they have used this tool on ure case however, As normal DMD's are flat rate payments based on the number of children,

1 QC = 30/week
2 QC = 40/week
3 QC+ = 50/week

Now i need to be honest, DMD's are litreally the last resort option, its what we do when we just cannot get ANY works information from an nrp or by means of traceing, So rather than nothing being in place, we DMD.

Now onto your main question, As far as im aware, The only thing he could do to lower his arrears would be to contact the CSA, inform us he has had a period of nil income, But its a double edged sword, if he does that he MUST provide up to date income details, direct debit details, up to date contact nums, his job title, address, list goes on. So for him to recive any reduction in arrears, he could theoretically do that if he has evidence, but at the same time we would take a method of payment from him on the same day and you would start reciveing maintenance.

I will also mention self employed can be a nightmare if they are not declaring things properly, or simply getting paid cash in hand, its impossible for us to prove and we cannot assess.

i hope this answer was ok, if you need more advice just ask.

Crellow4

A DMD CAN be revised if the relevant evidence is provided at a later stage. So in answer to your question, the amount of the Liability order can be varied following the court hearing if he subsequently complies and provides evidence of his earning.

PreludeForTimeFeelers

Crellow4 wrote: »

A DMD CAN be revised if the relevant evidence is provided at a later stage. So in answer to your question, the amount of the Liability order can be varied following the court hearing if he subsequently complies and provides evidence of his earning.

A DMD can, however it sounds more like they've estimated the NRP's earnings here, rather than imposed a DMD. It's my understanding that in that situation the NRP would have had to dispute the assessment and shown that the income used was wrong.

CSAworkerx

PreludeForTimeFeelers wrote: »

A DMD can, however it sounds more like they've estimated the NRP's earnings here, rather than imposed a DMD. It's my understanding that in that situation the NRP would have had to dispute the assessment and shown that the income used was wrong.

this was also my gathering on the post.

claire111

Thanks so much for responses so far.

To give some background info -

Case is 2003. Last time I had contact with CSA ex had been claiming benefits but had just declared himself s/emp with earnings of negligible amount which would have been about Aug 2012.

I recently saw him driving a company vehicle and emailed CSA advising them I thought he may now be employed and could they do a trace via Tax Office.

Following this I got a letter from CSA which said

Your child maintenance-Our decision

Following a change in circumstances we have looked again at your case and can now tell you about a change in the amount of maintenance you should receive.

We have worked out that Mr X should pay £XX from 21 Aug 2012


When I look at the net weekly income on their letter it is more than £300 pw.

So (super excited by now since I think my ex has finally got some work and can help support his children and pay off some arrears) I rang to ask if they could apply a DEO... but they went on to explain that the figures were based on average earnings in his area and that they didn't know what his earnings were or if indeed he was employed. The lady I spoke to on this occasion said that ex had until a certain date (one month?) to supply the evidence that had been asked for and if he did not then the assessment would remain in place for good. I am fairly sure it was called a default maintenance schedule. She implied that if they didn't hear from him by said date that it could not be undone and that a new assessment would only start from the date that they received the evidence.

So shortly after the due date I rang to see if he had supplied the evidence and was told no they had not heard from him. However the lady I spoke to this time seemed confused by my saying that the assessment could not be reversed and she said yes it could - if he provided evidence.

So I don't know whether to be optimistic of ever getting any financial help from him or not.

I am happy to trawl though legislation on the internet etc to find out if this assessment can be challenged in court but don't know where to start

Any thoughts ?

Many thanks

claire111

Crellow4 wrote: »

A DMD CAN be revised if the relevant evidence is provided at a later stage. So in answer to your question, the amount of the Liability order can be varied following the court hearing if he subsequently complies and provides evidence of his earning.

Do you know this for sure ? Not questioning you - I just want to be sure...


So it seems there is no value to the DMD in my case. Ex can ignore it along with everything else.

He can attend the LO hearing with a scrap of paper saying his declared earnings were £10pw for the period in question.

My hopes were really raised by the CSA letter - What was the point in sending it to me ?

Crellow4

It's an absolute fact that a DMD can be revised. If your assessment is based on earnings over £300 then the assessment is not a DMD - that uses income of £200. Standard appeal rights apply to an assessment using average earnings so your ex has initially 28 days to appeal, followed by a further 12 months to lodge a 'late appeal'. Whether a late appeal is accepted is down to the Tribunal service - not the CSA.

CSAworkerx

Thing is as your nrp was assessed on estimation of earnings, and not a flat rate DMD like most of them are, He may be able to lower his arrears, but we simply cannot use the EoE tool without hardcore evidence we know what type of job hes doing, So for exmaple, if we assessed him based on 300/week wages, and hes only earning 250/week, yes he will get a lower arrears bill, but not staggeringly lower.

You need to remeber this, To prove ANY of this, he would have to provide income earnings, at that point we can DEO him on the spot after asking for DD details.

It would be alot better to have an nrp with 500 quid arrears that is paying regularly, than an nrp with 5000 arrears who pays nothing.

claire111

ok - rang CSA and the young chappie I spoke to, after reading all my notes, was as confused as me...

It seems as though ex has now rung them with details of his self employed earnings which have been accepted over the phone. This was not within the 28 days timescale given to him.

CSA said ex refused during this phonecall to make a payment or come to any agreement about payments.

However, before that phonecall was recieved a 'Refusal letter' was sent by CSA, so young chappie could not tell me from which date the new assessment would apply. He could not be clear what change of circumstances the refusal letter related to either.

What is a refusal letter ?

Thanks to anyone that knows.

Also is my case handled by anyone who answers the phone or should it just be one person ?

Claire

claire111

Crellow4 wrote: »

It's an absolute fact that a DMD can be revised. If your assessment is based on earnings over £300 then the assessment is not a DMD - that uses income of £200. Standard appeal rights apply to an assessment using average earnings so your ex has initially 28 days to appeal, followed by a further 12 months to lodge a 'late appeal'. Whether a late appeal is accepted is down to the Tribunal service - not the CSA.

Thanks so much for this, the 28 day bit sort of fits with the circumstances.

Does this legislation come under the child support act ? Can I look it up anywhere ?

Thanks