Can you appeal a child support outcome?

NeedSomeSleep · 7 September 2019 at 6:08AM

Hello all, new to the forum and joined to make this post, hoping you all can help me here.

I am a father of a beautiful teenage daughter, and I have full custody as granted by child services.

A few months ago after years of not claiming, I claimed for child support. They decided that because my daughter's mum was claiming benefits she has to pay the bare minimum of around £7 a week for our child

Here is where my problem with this is.

Her mum is self employed, doing something I'm not even sure if it's legal and has her own website online advertising this (This might give you a rough idea of what she does). So because she takes money cash in hand, she obviously doesn't declare most of it, if not any of it.

She can afford to go on holidays a few times a year to America and other countries, and when she very rarely sees our daughter, spends £200-300 on her as if to make up for not seeing her in so long, yet can only pay £7 a week towards her child?

Is there anything I can do about this? I'm very new to the whole child support system and just looking for help and support. Thanks!!

This doesn't sound like someone who is living on benefits and struggling and it's starting to grate with me to be honest.

Humdinger1 · 7 September 2019 at 12:10PM

Dear Need

You can indeed appeal; it takes a while, esp if you go the full distance which can include forensic accountants. I think you'd need to get evidence of this lifestyle spending, which could be unsavoury. I totally see where you're coming from but one question worth asking I think is whether it could have an impact on your daughter. How old is she and what relationship does she have with her mother? Will you need to ask her to give evidence against her mother and could that impact her relationship with you? I don't think you can back date claims to a period before you open them, so it could be a balance between the money you can expect up to when your daughter's 18 and the poss impact of the above.

Good luck and do please keep us posted. Humdinger

elsien · 7 September 2019 at 12:17PM

Depending on the answers to the above queries, and the answers about yours/your daughter's relationship, are HMRC aware of her self employment status?

snilloct1957 · 7 September 2019 at 1:19PM

Not sure if I'm qualified to post on this subject, but isn't there a govt hotline that you can ring up and report someone who may be claiming benefits they're not entitled to? If your ex is taking foreign holidays, she is probably posting piccys on Facebook, etc, which may indicate she has more money than she is declaring to the authorities. As others have said, talk to your daughter about this and think about what impact this could have on her.

Can you appeal a child support outcome?

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