CSA1, Private Pension, living with gf

rustyB_2

I pay through CSA1 for my 15yr old son. I am employed full-time, and payments are taken via DEO. I have no arrears.

I will shortly be taking payment of a private pension. I appreciate that my monthly pension must be declared to CSA, and have no problem with this. However, I will be taking my 25% tax free lump sum (not much, only around £10K). My question here is would the CSA be wanting to take any of my lump sum off of me?

Further question: My girlfriend and I want to move in together. I know that the CSA say that they don't take money from partners for children who are not theirs, but in practice this can be exactly what happens as my protected(?) income would be reduced- effectively leaving her to make up any possible shortfall. Now, I don't know what she earns (it's none of my business), and she's already told me that she will refuse to disclose this information to ANYBODY. Where would this leave me, when the CSA ask me to provide details of her income?

shoe*diva79

I don't know the answer to the pension part but with regard to living with your girlfriend, if she refuses to disclose her salary then the CSA will assume she will be contributing 50% of the rent/mortgage costs so your disposable income goes up, so your assessment should go up.

HoneyNutLoop

shoe*diva79 wrote: »

I don't know the answer to the pension part but with regard to living with your girlfriend, if she refuses to disclose her salary then the CSA will assume she will be contributing 50% of the rent/mortgage costs so your disposable income goes up, so your assessment should go up.

That isn't fully accurate. That can happen if the PWC applies for a Departure to attribute some of the housing costs to the NRP's partner. If there is no departure then the NRP will have 100% of their housing costs taken into account subject to the normal limits (£80 a week or half net income, whichever is greatest).

If your partner won't supply her income details after the CSA will have to put a category B interim maintenance assessment in place. What this means is they can only take the calculation up to "notional liability" stage which is what you will be asked to pay. You will therefore not receive a household protected income calculation because this is deducted from the household's disposable income, and without details of your girlfriend's income they can't calculate disposable income.

So, they will still calculate your net income and your personal exempt income (including all your housing costs providing they don't exceed half your net income or £80 if that is higher unless the PWC applies for a departure). You will then typically pay half of what is left as maintenance, unless that is more than the maintenance needed figure.

If your girlfriend has children who will also be moving in with you then these will not be taken into account as children that are not naturally yours are only taken into account in the protected income calculation. Also if you decide to have children together in the future, you will only receive half the child allowance and family premium amount in your exempt income calculation, as it will be assumed you and your girlfriend can equally contribute to the support of your joint child.

Even if she did supply her income details then, you may still only receive half the allowances if her income was above a certain level. But you would then benefit from a protected income calculation which includes a bigger array of allowances than the exempt income calculation.

You may find it makes no difference at all to the amount you should pay unless a departure is applied for.

rustyB_2

Thanks for your replies, the situation re my girlfriend moving in is now clarified for me. Her children are now independent adults, and as we are both in our 50's, we are not planning on any of our own...

But, can anyone out there answer my query about my pension lump sum?

Crellow4

Maintenance is not calculated against your lump sum. The interest generated can be taken into account, but let's face it, you're not going to get much interest these days!