Unaffordable child support payments

pmlindyloo

From what you say your rent is your main problem.

I think you need to downsize to a one bedroomed place for the time being.

Your children can still stay if you arrange things. For instance, they can have your bedroom at the weekend and you sleep in the living room on a put you up.

Get some clothes from the charity shop and keep them at your home.

Yes, it shouldn't be like this but if your ex is not being reasonable about this then you have no alternative.

The most important thing is keeping contact with your children.

beckstar1975

To be fair I have seen clothing used quite a lot as a weapon between ex partners, it's not nice.

OP, sorry you are in this position but it's unfair to blame solely the maintenance for not being able to afford anything else.

I agree you need to see a debt advisor to advice on your overall budget , but surely you can eat beans on toast for a week or two to buy clothes for your kids from a charity shop? Or ask on Freegle/freecycle? Sadly going without for our kids benefit is part and parcel of being a parent.

HappyMJ

fred_bloggs26 wrote: »

Unfortunately my rent is £800 a month. There are no other suitable properties where I live at this rate - a small two bed flat tends to be in the region of £900. If I downsize, I will never be able to put a case together for the children to come home. And why should they lose the property they call home just because the system is flawed? In any event? I don't have the capital to move.

I suppose I could do a house share in London closer to work. But then I wouldn't have anywhere for the children to stay, so no court would agree to overnight contact and again, it drives home what an utter failure I am.

I don't qualify for tax credits as my gross salary is too high. I already claim housing benefit, but with what CMS are about to do I'm looking at a £200+ a month deficit.

My ex refuses to send the children with clothes for the weekends they spend with me. And complains the clothes they wear when with me are too small. Some of them are (leggings are more like cropped trousers, and some things have the wrong age label, but still fit in the body and arms), but that's because the kids have grown since I last bought clothes (February this year), but I can't afford to buy new ones because of the maintenance payments.

There really is no way out of this. And it seems that there is no help out there. I haven't chosen to have an expensive life to get out of providing for my children - I have the same commitments I had before. If I could change things and reduce costs in a meaningful way, I would, but there really isn't anything I can do. I can't believe there is no help out there.

Can you apply to the council for a discretionary housing benefit payment to help you out?

They don't want to see anyone homeless as they have a statutory duty to house you which is much more expensive than giving you £200 a month in additional support. It's a very difficult payment to get but there is assistance.

You could also stop paying your council tax to pay your child support arrears. No court would ever imprison you for not paying your council tax if you are prioritizing your children first. There is also help with discretionary payments of council tax available to people in your situation. Again very difficult to get but not paying the tax might get them to take note of your situation.

DUTR

HappyMJ wrote: »

Can you apply to the council for a discretionary housing benefit payment to help you out?

They don't want to see anyone homeless as they have a statutory duty to house you which is much more expensive than giving you £200 a month in additional support. It's a very difficult payment to get but there is assistance.

You could also stop paying your council tax to pay your child support arrears. No court would ever imprison you for not paying your council tax if you are prioritizing your children first. There is also help with discretionary payments of council tax available to people in your situation. Again very difficult to get but not paying the tax might get them to take note of your situation.

I don't think that is quite correct, certain bills have to be paid otherwise you can go to prison, CT being one of them.
However I do not recall anyone being sent to prison for not paying CS contributions. I don't recall any child being starved of frozen due to lack of contribution (which often goes on tattoos and fags).

The OP will have to re-asses their budgetting, and stear from living right up to the last penny of earned income.

HappyMJ

DUTR wrote: »

I don't think that is quite correct, certain bills have to be paid otherwise you can go to prison, CT being one of them.
However I do not recall anyone being sent to prison for not paying CS contributions. I don't recall any child being starved of frozen due to lack of contribution (which often goes on tattoos and fags).

The OP will have to re-asses their budgetting, and stear from living right up to the last penny of earned income.

If you can pay and do not pay your council tax you are at risk of prison. If you cannot pay council tax as higher priority payments are consuming your income you will not go to prison. Higher priority payments are income tax, national insurance and pension contributions deducted from gross pay then child support, rent and food. If there's nothing left over then you can't pay the council tax. I have well over £8,000 of council tax arrears and there's nothing they can do. I'm not refusing to pay I just can't pay.

Not paying your child support obligations can lead to imprisonment. It can also lead to being disqualified from driving, removal of passport and many other things. The enforcement options available are worse than not paying council tax.

Accusing someone of spending the money on tattoos and fags isn't helpful.

thriftylass

Based on the figure of 460 they want to take as payments (=30%) I guess your income is about 1500 after tax. Surely a rent of 800, nearly half is not sustainable if you have other debts to service too. I would highly recommend to pop over to the debt free wannabe boards and post a SOA and definitely look into increasing you income, benefit options, moving etc.

Can you arrange a payment holiday with some of your debts at least till the child maintenance arrears are cleared. There are free of charge debt charities out there that, I'm sure, have seen cases like this before and can offer advice.

Don't give up. You will find a solution

DUTR

HappyMJ wrote: »

If you can pay and do not pay your council tax you are at risk of prison. If you cannot pay council tax as higher priority payments are consuming your income you will not go to prison. Higher priority payments are income tax, national insurance and pension contributions deducted from gross pay then child support, rent and food. If there's nothing left over then you can't pay the council tax. I have well over £8,000 of council tax arrears and there's nothing they can do. I'm not refusing to pay I just can't pay.

Not paying your child support obligations can lead to imprisonment. It can also lead to being disqualified from driving, removal of passport and many other things. The enforcement options available are worse than not paying council tax.

Accusing someone of spending the money on tattoos and fags isn't helpful.

Can you show any examples of these sanctions being implented?
We already know they are idle threats. As they are counter productive.

However I can see examples
of inprisonment for not paying council tax.

pmduk

DUTR wrote: »

However I do not recall anyone being sent to prison for not paying CS contributions.

I understand there are examples, though usually where fraud and deception has been used as a means to avoid payment. For an employed NRP they'll be far more likely to deduct income at source.

That said imprisonment for failure to pay child support is a last resort.

pmduk

OP, CMS are unlikely to consider any further submissions from you directly in respect of your budget. They're likely to insist on something from a debt support worker or money advice centre.

DUTR

pmduk wrote: »

I understand there are examples, though usually where fraud and deception has been used as a means to avoid payment. For an employed NRP they'll be far more likely to deduct income at source.

That said imprisonment for failure to pay child support is a last resort.

It is a last resort, as much as it never happens :eek:
BTW I'm not suggesting for a moment that the OP does not supply his contribution.