Advice for my brother

Pennn

He has never missed a payment and has his son every fortnight. His son is 17 in a few months and currently at college.

I spoke to my brother the other day about the csa and he told me he hasn't been assessed since he moved to his job in 2006. HE thinks he's still on csa1 but not sure.

Since he was assessed in 2006, he's married, moved house and had a baby but not told the csa about these changes. His pay hasn't improved at all in this time but he is likely to be made redundant this month and is talking about going self employed. He's entitled to no redundancy.

I'm worried he'll be hit with a massive arrears. What happens when his son gets to 18 or 19 and csa stops? Does he contact them or will it automatically stop. Will they automatically reassess? My brother just said it should automatically stop.

My brother obviously doesn't want to cause any problems as he probably could have had his payments reduced with his new baby.

I don't think the csa have his new address but his ex knows where he lives. Would she have contacted him/would she know if arrears were due?

I don't know enough about the system but am worried for him as it seems lots of people seem to have arrears!

shoe*diva79

It is entirely possible that he has arrears. If the CSA have tried to contact him which he will have no idea about as he hasnt kept them up to date with his address then obviously he wont be aware of them. The first thing he needs to do is inform them of his address. It is a criminal offence to have not told them within 7 days. See here:https://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance/changes-you-need-to-report

Pennn

How would he accrue arrears if he hasn't had a pay rise and has another baby which would reduce his payment surely?

shoe*diva79

If it he is on CSA1 then having a baby will not mean that his payment will go down, it could go up. Are the CSA aware of his wife? They take the spouse/partner earnings into consideration on CSA1. CSA1 is notorious for getting assessments incorrect with arrears turning up years later. The CSA may have written to him but he wouldnt know...

Crellow4

I feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall! The CSA do NOT increase payments in the basic formula based on partners earnings. In CS1 cases the only circumstance in which partners income increases liability is IF the PWC applies for a Departure for housing costs to be shared between the NRP and his partner.
If your brothers income, including tax credits, has not increased, it is likely that the birth of his child will reduce his liability. He should not be accruing arrears if he is meeting his liability in full and there are no changes of circumstance outstanding. The real question is whether he's happy with his payments - if he is there is no reason for him to report a change if circumstances which is likely to reduce his liability.

justontime

He should inform them of his correct address as he is required to do that. If he loses his job he should notify CSA and ask for a reassessment. If he gets any redundancy pay it will not be considered by CSA unless it is a very large amount. If he becomes self employed he should tell CSA straight away, they will need information about his business and his earnings (he may not have any to start with). My husband is also on CSA1, he got a nil assessment when he became self employed (but he had set aside money to keep paying support for his children). He started drawing a wage after a few months, but he has had to pester CSA for reassessments to take account of his earnings. I don't know how long they would have left him on a nil assessment if he hadn't asked for the reassessments. I think it is always best to be honest with CSA and report changes of circumstances - even if his payments go down there is nothing to stop him paying more to the PWC if that is what he wants to do.

Pennn

I agree. I think he needs to phone them.
Crellow4, so his wife's money won't be taken into consideration unless his ex asks her wage to be part of the calculation under csa1?

Pennn

Justontime, did your partners ex ask for your wage to be considered? I didn't think the partner had anything to do with it. That doesn't seem fair

justontime

Yes she did, and as I was in an unusual situation it caused us a lot of hardship. I had 3 dependent children and as I had previously been widowed there was no other money coming in to support them. CSA1 didn't recognise them so when my income assessed (a portion of the housing costs were allocated to me) it meant that I really struggled to support my children. To add to our problems when they calculated other benefits such as tax credits, uni grants etc they took our whole joint income into account (but a large chunk was going to CSA) so my children got very little help.

Having said all that I would still notify them of the change of circumstances it is easier to be honest. The change will not be implemented from the date they are informed so I don't anticipate that he will have any arrears. My guess is that if his income hasn't increased his assessment will be about the same they will take his tax credits into account and they will make an allowance for his new child so it will probably balance out. If he loses his job or goes self employed he must tell them and it is very likely that his payments will go down. When my husband became self employed they told him to keep paying at the same rate and they would recalculate after 3 months. He was able to do that as he had planned for CSA when funding the business start up, but CSA did say to speak to them again and to pay as much as possible if he couldn't pay the full amount.

From what you say your brother has got the important things right, he has never missed a payment and he has regular contact with his son. He has a maximum of 3 years left to pay depending on the circumstances. Does he make his payments to CSA or direct to PWC?

Csa_Survivor

shoe*diva79 wrote: »

It is entirely possible that he has arrears. If the CSA have tried to contact him which he will have no idea about as he hasnt kept them up to date with his address then obviously he wont be aware of them. The first thing he needs to do is inform them of his address. It is a criminal offence to have not told them within 7 days. See here:https://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance/changes-you-need-to-report

Mmm, bit of a scare tactic that one I think! I have read every single newspaper article over the years regarding this shambles and read several forums regarding Csa problems people have and this would be a new one to me to actually hear about anyone at all being fined ( I think its supposed to be around £1000) for the offence of not notifying of a change of address. In essence I believe Shoe Diva is actually correct as far as word of law goes but in reality no one or very very few get done for it lets be honest. Its only my opinion but you say your brother is making regular payments, and he told them he started new employment in 2006 (which he did NOT legally have to do, as far as I am aware, please correct me if I am mistaken anyone?) so its not like he has gone out of his way to avoid paying for his kid, I would put his chances of being done for this as practically zero!
However, I do agree that its dangerous for your brother that the Csa do not have his current address just in case they have been writing to him and I will explain why:
The Csa is notorious for getting things wrong and messing up big time so personally if it was me I would just pass on my new address but nothing else, then ring them back and confirm they have my new address on two future occasions a month or so later to make sure they have updated their information. Your brother sounds like a good guy and pays his way for his child, the last thing he needs is to miss letters from the Csa, because it is not unheard of for the Csa to dream up incorrect arrears out of nowhere so your brother does really need to be informed of any information as soon as he can be if anything should need sorting out! I do not mean to scare you, the chances are he will be fine, I am just giving you a glimpse of what could happen.
As for the Csa automatically ending payments when they should I seriously suggest you click on my name, Csa Survivor, above, then choose the "find more posts by" and take a look at my situation, I ended up paying for 2 years, yes that's correct, 2 years longer than I had to!!!!!!!!!!!! My first few posts should tell you all your brother needs to know.

shoe*diva79

Csa_Survivor wrote: »

Mmm, bit of a scare tactic that one I think! I have read every single newspaper article over the years regarding this shambles and read several forums regarding Csa problems people have and this would be a new one to me to actually hear about anyone at all being fined ( I think its supposed to be around £1000) for the offence of not notifying of a change of address. In essence I believe Shoe Diva is actually correct as far as word of law goes but in reality no one or very very few get done for it lets be honest. Its only my opinion but you say your brother is making regular payments, and he told them he started new employment in 2006 (which he did NOT legally have to do, as far as I am aware, please correct me if I am mistaken anyone?) so its not like he has gone out of his way to avoid paying for his kid, I would put his chances of being done for this as practically zero!
However, I do agree that its dangerous for your brother that the Csa do not have his current address just in case they have been writing to him and I will explain why:
The Csa is notorious for getting things wrong and messing up big time so personally if it was me I would just pass on my new address but nothing else, then ring them back and confirm they have my new address on two future occasions a month or so later to make sure they have updated their information. Your brother sounds like a good guy and pays his way for his child, the last thing he needs is to miss letters from the Csa, because it is not unheard of for the Csa to dream up incorrect arrears out of nowhere so your brother does really need to be informed of any information as soon as he can be if anything should need sorting out! I do not mean to scare you, the chances are he will be fine, I am just giving you a glimpse of what could happen.
As for the Csa automatically ending payments when they should I seriously suggest you click on my name, Csa Survivor, above, then choose the "find more posts by" and take a look at my situation, I ended up paying for 2 years, yes that's correct, 2 years longer than I had to!!!!!!!!!!!! My first few posts should tell you all your brother needs to know.

if you read the link I posted it clearly states that the paying parent is required by law to inform the CSA of a list of changes including moving address (within 7 days, ending or starting work with an employer, changing phone number, becoming self employed... plus more. Its hardly a scare tactic, it is what is required by law and could see the OPs brother land in trouble, especially if the CSA have been trying to contact him.