10p Income Support

x_emma_x

The story goes.... i left my husband last year and am now in rented property with my 2 children. I had to leave my job because of having no child care and claim income support, housing benefit , council tax benefit and tax credits. Part of my i/s claim was me agreeing to go to the csa for maintenance which i cant do as my x-husband is self employed and would make my life living hell, anyway, he pays me £50 p/w for the kids and i was getting £23 p/w income support. Because i wouldnt comply with the CSA, Income support have now cut my benefit to 10p p/w although from April 10th it goes up to 15p p/w. Has anyone ever appealled against a decision from I/s and won? Really dont know what to do now, any advice would be appreciated. xx

allen35

I dealt with a client who was penalised £22 pw from his benefits 'cause he didn't want the non resident parent to be involved due to the risk of harm or undue distress to himself and his daughter by the other parent harrassing them and causing difficulties, being self employed doesn't exempt him and he does have a legal right to help bring up his children financially.
You probably get child tax credits but it is your income support that is affected, this is your money so any money he gives, thinking it's for the children isn't because apart from £10 disregarded the money he gives is actually deducted from YOUR benefit and not the childrens.
You would probably find it hard convincing the DWP of undue stress as how does he pay, does he call around with the money or bank transfer, do the children see him and what harrassment would he give(any history of violence).
You now get full housing benefit/council tax benefit which before the split he was paying towards and isn't now.
You can appeal (costs nothing to appeal) and eventually take it to an independent tribunal where they will decide on your circumstances, my client was awarded all his benefit backdated which was roughly £1000 as it took 12 months.
Feel free to PM me for any other advice as i know circumstances can be personal and i will help you possibly with your submission or a few tips on collecting evidence.

allen35

you only have a month from date of letter to appeal decision so if you are going to appeal go to local jobcentre, C.A.B or download the GL 24 appeal form from the DWP website

DaisyFlower

If he's paying you direct and you're claiming IS are you declaring it?

Is is around £59 a week so if you are declaring the £50 you would only be able to claim £9 anyway?

You can declare your private agreement and not have to go through the CSA as long as your IS is reduced accordingly based on the private maintenance. Surely that solves the problem anyway, you dont use the CSA and get what you are entitled to?

However it you havent told them about the money then they are correct in reducing your benefits for non compliance. Why should you be able to have both at higher levels?

mitchaa

To me it looks like you are paying back overpayments hence the reduction down to 10p.

You should at a max only have been entitled to the £59.15pw IS + £10pw child maintenance.

You were receiving £50+£23

As far as im aware you cant be in receipt of both IS and private child maintenance payments.

May be wrong though?

allen35

There would only be an overpayment of 3.85 so if this was the case a bit harsh to take so much!!!

mitchaa

Is the £10 maintenance payment only applicable if the NRP pays more than £70pw??

I.e £59.15+ £10

If he only paid £40 a week, would the mother still receive £59.15+£10, or would she only receive the £59.15pw IS?

I know if he was paying a lot more, ie £150pw she would only get the £59.15+£10, not sure though if the mother still gets maintenance if the father doesn't earn more than her weekly IS payment?

x_emma_x

He pays me £50p/w by cheque which ive declared, they dont take into account the 1st £10. The reason is ive been left with 10p p/w is they say they can reduce i/s by 40% for non-compliance of the overall figure of £59.15. Because i was only entitled to £23.00 anyway that has left me with a big fat 10p. My x-husband isnt violent but is very menacing and if hes upset over something he comes to my home and demands that i speak to him, he sees the children Fri- sun twice a month and apart from the £50 wont provide anything else for the children unless i beg, his reason is that i should sell my car if i cant afford to provide for them, hes been left with a 4 bed detatched house, van for work and a £15000 car. Am i being unreasonable wanting him to provide more? Sorry i ramble abit lol xx

kelloggs36

As I understood it (and I am CSA staff), if you opted out of CSA then firstly you are NOT entitled to keep the first £10. this can only happen via the CSA. Secondly, every penny you get given to you in maintnence would be taken from your benefits, thus leaving you with £9 per week in income support - this is on declared maintenance. If you just refused to cooperate and did not claim 'good cause' then they would reduce your personal benefit by 40%. It looks like your claim is wrong.

allen35

Hi Emma

Surely it would be more beneficial to you if you co-operated with CSA because:
1) You would be guaranteed £59.15 per week and not £50.10
2) You wouldn't have to contact NRP when he forgets to pay!!
3) You wouldn't feel as though you were begging him for money.
4) If he wants to buy kids something the money he pays CSA could effectively be paying towards a roof over their head and not presents so as not to be told your getting £50 for the kids.
5) He's self employed, what if he has a bad few weeks/months due to illness or profit, where would this leave you on 10p.
6) When you eventually go back to work will he still pay.
7) You will be paid from CSA most of the weekly payments when finishing benefits.
Obviously you will have your options and i am not telling you what to do but to look into it before YOU make a decision.
You should think about looking after number 1, yourself and let CSA look after the other person.