Does ESA reduce CSA payments?

celestesmummy

My husband husband has always met his financial commitments to his son from a previous relationship. Unfortunately he had a stroke in 2011 and was off work for 2 and a half years. Initially he was on full pay but after a period his salary was reduced and he had to claim ESA to top it up. Eventually they stopped paying him altogether (whilst keeping his employment open in the hope that he would recover and return) and he was only receiving ESA.

The CSA were notified of his stroke immediately in March 2011 as coincidentally they had written to say that he was going to be reassessed.

He continued to pay his normal CSA payments (via DoE) right up until he went onto ESA only, at which point they suspended the DoE and instead deducted £5 a week from his benefit.

Last year (mid-2013) my husband received a letter from the CSA - it had had 3 letters in the envelope:

Letter 1: said that he had been reassessed and that from 1st November 2010 he should have been paying pay £85 per week in child maintenance.

Letter 2: stated that from 8th September 2011 (when he went onto ESA) he should only pay £5 a week in child maintenance.

Letter 3: said that because the difference between the two amounts was less than 5% that the normal amount applies (or words to that effect, which didn't make sense at all).

He did query these letters with the CSA as he was only in receipt of ESA by that time and was told that all the time he was claiming ESA he should not have been paying the full amount of child support (I think it was about £76 per week) but just £5 and that they would recalculate everything and repay whatever overpayments he had made.

We had not heard anything back from them until about a week ago when he was sent another letter stating that his maintenance payments had been reinstated at £86+ per week but gave no instructions on how to pay, when payments would start or how this had been calculated. There was no mention of any overpayment/ underpayment.

Before he contacts them again, can anyone clarify if he should have been paying at the full rate while he was receiving some salary and ESA or if receipt of ESA automatically means that you only have to pay £5 per week?

Thank you.

HoneyNutLoop

While he was working, with no ESA, it would have been based on his income. When he had ESA only, and no other source of income, it would be £5 a week. The bit in the middle is a touch more complicated.

To be able to receive ESA whilst also having some income, he would either be receiving ESA contributions based, or he had a credits only claim for ESA income based, I.e. the award was nil due to his other income but he was otherwise eligible.

If he was claiming and receiving contributions based ESA, then initially the maintenance calculation would be £5. But the PWC could apply for a variation to also take into account his other income (if more than £100 a week) and his maintenance would then be recalculated using both the ESA and the income. You should have been told the PWC had applied for a variation, either by phone or in writing.

If he had a credits only claim for ESA the maintenance calculation would just have been based on his income, until that ended and he was solely receiving ESA, at which time it would change to £5.

celestesmummy

Thank you so much for the response HoneyNutLoop, that does make sense. We were never informed that she had made a claim and didn't know that his liability had fallen until we received the letter. The trouble is, everything is so confusing and it doesn't help when they contradict themselves and send several letters at the same time. At least he knows what to say to them now. Very much appreciated! (Sent from an iPhone so I know what you mean about autocorrect!)