Mileage Deductions...??

kategregory

Hi there,

Can anyone tell me if the new child maintenance service take into account mileage?

My children's dad has told me today that he can't afford £25 a week for our 13yr old (he earns £300 a week) cause he has to travel 128 miles there and back once a month, and claims that the child maintenance service has said he can get this reduced?

We have agreed to the £25 out side of this service but he said he would go down this route as they have informed him he'd payless?

We did have a court order in place which meant I did half the traveling but this was broken over 5yrs ago by him, I am unable to travel due to being housebound.

He pays nothing else towards his son at all, and has no contact during the month either.

Can anyone shed some light?

Thank you in advance!

Caroline_a

I doubt this very much, plus if he pays nothing its all a bit 'what if'.

Call his bluff. You won't lose anything and if he goes to CMS they might just say ah yes you haven't been paying.....

jimd-f

the reduction he will get for mileage costs will be minimal.
before calling his bluff you need to consider his employment circumstances. if he is employed rather than self employed then your chances of getting regular payments through CMS are substantially greater, and looking at his earnings you would probably get more than the £25 that you have currently agreed.

kategregory

Thanks for your replies!

He is a bus driver and earns anywhere from £275 to £300 a week he has 3 children that live with him so I know this gets taken into account.

Basically he told me that he had been in touch with the Child Services and they have said that he should be paying less if anything as he has to travel once a month £65 a month diesel costs.

I've checked the calculator myself tried it as if I was him and even took off the diesel cost per yr and it came up with him having to pay a little more...

I'm going to contact them and then go from there Thank you once again for replaying.

Caz3121

kategregory wrote: »

Basically he told me that he had been in touch with the Child Services and they have said that he should be paying less if anything as he has to travel once a month £65 a month diesel costs.

CMS may have different rules but under CSA I believe there was a excess travel deduction but it worked similarly to below
Cannot be used in conjunction with shared care deductions
First £15 per week classed as 'normal' contact costs and the remainder excess deducted from income before calculation made...this makes a very minimal impact
As £15 per week equates to £65 per month, if CMS use the same calculations it doesn't look like there would be any deduction

jimd-f

CMS calculate the weekly cost of the paying parents travel costs and then deduct this from his weekly income.
£65 for diesel costs once a month seems very high for the mileage, but CMS will do their own calculations. even at this figure it is only around £15pw cost so the assessment would be reduced by less than £2pw.
the fact that PP is working means deduction from earnings would be the likely outcome if the PP shows any reluctance in paying.