Can someone help with a calculation please?

kingfisherblue

I'm not very good at working out the calculations, so I'm hoping some kind soul can help me out.

My ex has been on JSA, so I was receiving £5 per week. Before the move over to CMS, maintenance was taken at source (from his JSA more recently, but directly from his wages previously) due to continued non-compliance, for which my ex was taken to court a few years ago. He has paid £20 per calendar month since about March this year.

Recently he has started working again. It's a temporary contract until Christmas, but he's hoping to be taken on permanantly. He is working 4x12 hour shifts, each with one hour unpaid break. He tells me that he is on minimum wage.

So, 43 hours a week @ £7.20 an hour.

Maintenance is for our two children. He has one child living at home. This is where I get confused. It was 20% of net pay for two children, but I don't know whether it is net or gross pay now. I don't know how much to allow for his younger child (from his new relationship).

He has paid £150 for a calendar month. He told me that a woman at work calculated it for him. It was £215, until he said he had a child living at home. He also told her that he spends around £30 per child per month in addition to maintenance (it's about £30 maximum in total, but I know this does not count).

He doesn't have a history of being honest, so I'm not sure how accurate his payment is.

Can someone show me a simple calculation please, so I understand not just how much, but how it is worked out?

Thank you.

SerenityFire

I've calculated the following and i've put some assumptions in.

Salary is 44hrs per week at £7.20 an hour = £16473.60 per year (Assuming no other benefits claimed on top)
That works out at roughly £316.80 per week gross pay (assuming no pension contributions which is taken into account for CMS)
According to child maintenance calculator (.gov website) and based on paying for 2 children plus 1 in his own house payment with an income of £316.80 per week would be £45 per week or £195 per month. (Assuming he spends no more than 52 nights with your children, if he spends more the maintenance reduces)

However if he is paying into a pension scheme this would reduce income and have a knock on effect to maintenance.

It looks as though he is about £45 down on what he should pay - it's whether that's enough for you to want to make a case and risk him stopping work/reducing hours.

Kim_13

Sounds like you've been moved onto the 2012 scheme? This is the guide that explains it https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/325219/how-we-work-out-child-maintenance.pdf

There are similar leaflets for the older schemes if you're on one of those.

kingfisherblue

Thank you both. I don't know what scheme I'm on. It was CSA2 but I'm not sure if it was migrated over to the new scheme. I'll have to dig out the paperwork.

He only has the children very rarely, and never both together. In over eleven years, the boys have probably spent less than 25 nights in total overnight, and that's between them, not each.

The job is temporary, so unlikely to be paying into a pension scheme. It's never been one of his priorities, and I doubt if he will have a private pension.

I don't think he will give up work if I request more - he's just more likely to refuse, and then turn nasty if I get the CSA/CMS involved to do an official calculation. He had lost his job, then been ill for over a year (requiring serious surgery), then moved over to JSA for a few months before getting this job. He's always been a worker and is bored if he isn't in a job.

I'll just have tpo decide whether the extra money for the kids is worth his unpleasantness. It's been an expensive year though, with both boys in college and needing various things. I've paid, for example, moped insurance, part of the cost of the moped, and the cost of an exhaust, as well as CBT - with no help from my ex. This was necessary because public transport to my son's college is so poor, and would work out far more expensive. It means that my savings, such as they are, have been virtually depleted. I like to have some emergency money in case of boiler breakdown or other necessities.

Thanks again for your help - much appreciated.