CSA payments, whats taken into account?

hera123

Hello,

My partner is about to be assessed with the CSA for payments to his ex for his 3 children. He works full time and earns around £216 per week. I am currently in receipt of Child Benefit for my two children of £30 per week, we will also be claiming working family tax credit, but unsure what this will be as yet. My partners children will stay over 52 nights per year.
using the csa online calculator we worked the payments out to be £37 per week, but having read various horror stories about the csa from forums, we are unsure what they will take into account now. Surely it should just be my partners income ? not my child benefit and the working family tax credit ?
I am not currently in employment but this should change in the near future, will my earnings be taken into account also ?
help .. this is all confusing !:mad:

my partner has even said we might be better off if he went part time.

thanks

iluvfreebies

ok basically what will be taken into account is this
your partners income after tax national insurance and any pension contributions. any ctc paid into your household
he will then get an allowance for having the 2 children in his household - 20% will be taken from his net income
25% of this is then used for the assessment but he will be given a 1/7th reduction for the shared care.

any wtc paid in your partners name will also be included as income. any wtc paid in your name wont be used neither will your child benefit. the ctc is taken as income as there is an allowance given for those kids as well.

hth

Loopy_Girl

Freebies, I know that CSA1 is slightly different but am I right in thinking that it is basically the same i.e after tax, NI conts and pension and then the housing costs and whatever are taken off then and then it's the surplus? I think I have it kinda sussed but it is very confusing. Going on last assessment though I am glad I am on CSA1 as I worked out I would be get awarded less under CSA2

Thanks

kelloggs36

CS1 is calculated like this:P

Maintenance Requirement (based on ages of children and income support rates for them, plus carer's allowance, plus family premium LESS child benefit in payment for them).

NRP net income calculate: Gross less tax, national insurance and HALF of any pension contributions PLUS child tax credit and working tax credit if they are the higher earner or half if they are earn the same as their partner and no working tax credit if they earn less than their partner, plus any dividends from shares etc

Exempt income calculated= personal allowance for NRP (currently £59.15 per week) plus housing costs plus any other allowances which apply (eg travel to work which is in excess of 150 miles per week as the crow flies at a rate of 10p per mile over this 150 miles or disability premium, or 50% or 100% of any child allowances for any children which are biologically the NRP's or who has been legally adopted - 50% if the other parent of that child is able to contribute due to their earnings, plus family premium for those children)

What is left is cut in half. Normally the PWC income is also assessed in the same way, but in most cases the PWC has no assessable income

If that amount cut in half is less than the maintenance requirement, the final calculation is the protected income to see if the household can afford to pay what has been calculated. If not, it is reduced to fit the protected income, if it can, then that is the actual maintenance payable.

If the amount is more than the maintenance requirement, then a further calculation on the amount which is more than the maintenance requirement is done by working out 15%, 20% or 25% of what is left which is then added to the figure equal to the maintenance requirement and then becomes the assessable income. Then the protected income is calculated.;

hera123

thanks for that. I'm still no wiser mind.
the 2 children in our household are not biologically his and not been legally adopted either. Does that mean there is no allowance for them ?
Any suggestions as to the best option .. for example would he be better off working part time or even not working at all !!
They dont make it easy for people do they !

kelloggs36

If you are CS1 then there is no allowance for you or the children when calculating his exempt income and then his assessable income. However there are full allowances within the protected income which increases the amount needed in the household before maintenance can be paid out. If you want to PM me with your details I can give an indication of what would be best for you.

kelloggs36

If you are CS2 however, there is a 20% reduction in his income taken off before the relevant % is used to pay maintenance - so in effect you get more allowance for your children than he has to pay out for his own children - this is not right in my opinion, but it isn't my opinion that counts!

iluvfreebies

it doesnt matter that the kids in his household isnt biologically his - it is thought that as they are in his household he has a duty of care towards them so the allowance would be given. the best options would be for him to provide the csa with as much info as possible to help them complete the assessment. obviously not working as mny hours or not at all would decrease the payment but would also decrease the amount of money coming into your household. At the end of the day day they are his children and he has an obligation to maintain them so best to face up to that.

iluvfreebies

Loopy_Girl wrote: »

Freebies, I know that CSA1 is slightly different but am I right in thinking that it is basically the same i.e after tax, NI conts and pension and then the housing costs and whatever are taken off then and then it's the surplus? I think I have it kinda sussed but it is very confusing. Going on last assessment though I am glad I am on CSA1 as I worked out I would be get awarded less under CSA2

Thanks

It has been so long since i worked on CS1 (thank god) i wouldnt want to try to explain the formula - it is soo complicated to try to understand never mind trying to explain to someone else

soz kellogs has given some info on it though

hera123

Hi.. thanks for that information given. My partner is making private payments at the moment of which he has proof, its just been a case of his estranged partner demanding that much more from him. This being to such a point where he now feels to avoid being blackmailed over the issue, he might as well allow her to carry out the threat of the CSA. However it was also a case of knowing how this would leave us as a new family, whether any future income of my own would also be included as total household income..

kelloggs36

Okay, your child benefit is not taken into account, but any tax credits you get in the future will be. I take it that there is no current case with the CSA then?