[Solved] Child maintenance and F.E - when payment stops

My son is 18 in March 2014 and is in full time education until sept 2015 - when do I stop paying maintenance? If he gets an apprenticeship will I still need to pay? If he gets an apprenticeship with a day release to college will I need to pay?If he gets a part time job as well as his education do I still need to pay? Just like to know the situation as he keeps changing his plans about what he wants to do. Many thanks in advance.

Hi,
My daughter left home to live with her boyfriend and left collage last September. The boyfriend was short lived and a couple of months later she went back to live with my ex. The ex told my daughter that the only way she would allow her to come back is if she went back to collage so she could go back to claiming child support.
My case was closed in September and I heard today it was to be re-opened. So when exactly does it end? My daughter is 19, she will be 20 in October, I am not sure if she will finish in September or stay for another year. Obviously if she finished this September then that would be the end of my payments but if she continued would it stop exactly on her 20th birthday (in October), or does it continue until a certain point in the year?
Thank you for any help.

I looked the other day and I assume it ends on the date of the 20th birthday

Child maintenence ends when the child reaches 20 or until Child Benefit stops, whichever is sooner.

Doesn't specify a date as such

Thanks, the reason I was asking is because if a child (at 16 or 17) leaves school at Easter or July then payments continue until September. I was wondering if that was the case for a 20 year old as well?

Think its the case for child benefit

the last day of February
31 May
31 August
30 November

But I can't see any dates for child maintenance, it reads as though it would be of the child's 20th birthday

http://www.dad.info/forum/child-maintenance/37659-when-to-stop-paying

This might be helpful

My daughter is 19 in March 2014 and is hoping to start University in September 2014. Will I continue to make payments until she is 20 in March 2015 or stop in September when she goes to University?

Payments via the CSA wouldn't be payable when she went to university as it's classed as higher education

So September you will need to inform the CSA

hi all
im new to this site and after some info my daughter is 18 next week and not working and has left school does anyone know when I stop paying csa as I cant get me head around all the new changes any help would be great
thanks

Payments can continue until a child is 20 as long as they are in full time, non advanced education.

If your daughter has left school, is not in college or doing any BTEC courses then your liability to pay maintenance should stop.

If the mother is still claiming child benefit for her and you pay maintenance through the CSA then you might have a problem stopping the CSA from continuing to take payments.

My daughter is 17, she left college August 2013 and then left her mums December 2013. She is claiming income support. When do I stop paying CSA, as I have been told I have to pay till she is 18 or they will set the enforcement team on to me. My ex has not declared any of this, where do I stand???

Hi Paul

You definalty shouldn't be paying maintenance if your daughter is claiming income support

if one of the following happens, your payments will stop straightaway:
your child starts paid work for 24 hours a week or more
your child starts getting certain benefits, such as Income Support or Employment and Support Allowance, or tax credits in their own right

Who said they will set the enforcement team on you? The CSA?

Payments should have stopped the 31st August, anything you've paid since then has been an overpayment

I would ring the CSA again and be firm (half of them don't even know the correct legislation and give wrong information) stand your ground, tell them your daughter left college in August 2013 and now claims income support, they should be able to check with the DWP as the computer systems are accessible by the CSA

Do not pay anymore money as you will struggle to get it back, they would have to try and get the overpayment back from your ex

If they still insist you pay until she is 18, write a letter to the complaints resolution team at the office your case is held at, they have 15 days to respond, if you get no joy, then write to your MP, he will then write to the chief executive of the CSA (who then passes it back down to the team :whistle: and then get things sorted because they only have 30 days to reply to your MP

Thanks for your advice! Yes it was the CSA who said they would send the enforcement team out to me!!!! I am currently chatting with my daughter who has informed me that she is not in receipt of any benefit as she is not eligible and has to apply for hardship payments!
Am I perfectly within my rights to stop payments through CSA to my ex and pay my daughter directly???
Talking to the CSA is like knocking your head against a brick wall!!!!

Do you know if the mother is still claiming child benefit
Does your daughter intend to go back to education or get a job?

I wouldn't stop the payments via the CSA just yet then, they won't take into account you giving it to your daughter direct

And yes I know it's like knocking your head against a brick wall 😀

I can prove that my daughter is not living with her mum, as she sent me a copy of a DWP letter. The CSA have said it could take up to 12 wks before I get a response from them, so in the meantime I'm expected to keep paying my ex rather than helping my daughter out who is not receiving a penny from her mum! Am not sure if she is still in receipt of Child Benefit. I have had the same problem before when my ex didn't declare our son moving out of her home and he was working!
Surely the CSA stands for child support, not parent claiming support??
Appreciate your advice! Many Thanks

I would keep calling them once a week
And have the CSA said they will refund you your overpayments whilst they take 12 weeks to sort!

If it were me I would be inclined to stop payments as you defiantly know she isn't entitled to CS

Many thanks for your advice which as been highly valuable! 🙂

hi can you help me just found out my daughter has just turned 18 and is getting job seekers do I still have to pay csa looked on line and its all abit confessing

Hi, here's some info for you

Child maintenance runs in line with child benefit, so as long as her mother has told the child benefit office that she is no longer eligible for it, then the child maintenance should also stop.

You need to call the CSA and tell them your daughter is claiming JSA and to do a child benefit check

Child leaves education or training - and is 18 or over
Your payments will normally carry on from the date your child leaves education or training that counts for Child Benefit, until the week that includes the earliest of these dates:
the last day of February
31 May
31 August
30 November
But if one of the following happens, your payments will stop straightaway:
your child starts paid work for 24 hours a week or more
your child gets certain benefits, such as Income Support or Employment and Support Allowance, or tax credits in their own right
your child reaches the age of 20
You will need to report any of these changes to the Child Benefit Office.

thanks for info il get in touch with them and find out thanks again for the info

Hi all just found this forum today,

my daughter will be 17 in June, she has left college on her own accord, where do i stand with regards to CSA payments. In the meantime she is trying to get an apprenticeship with a pharmacy if she does am i still required to pay CSA. What happens if she does not get an apprenticeship?

I also believe that her mother has not informed anyone about this change?

Help

Hi Bostonboy

Have a read of this link
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/keep-up-to-date/when-child-aged-16/child-16.htm

You need to inform the CSA that the child has left education

The mother should also inform the child benefit office but many don't !!! ;;)

Hi am just wondering if am correct on thinking that my son is 18 this month still at collage till the summer,and the going to university in September. Will I stop paying CSA in September?

Yes, I think that is correct.

Payment until the end of full time secondary education is that the same as further eduction and would it be payble if under 12 hrs?,

the payments stop at the end of full time secondary eduction or 18th birthday which ever the later, he will be 18 next moth and going to a private tutorial college to re do some of the A levels grades I will be paying,( under 12 hrs ) i was hoping that would not be considered full time secondary education? so maintenance would stop on the birthday, appreciate your time and advice

Yes secondary eduction would be non advanced education, up to and including A levels. I would say that was the case....although he is in secondary education, because he is studying less than 12 hours a week he is not classed as being in full time education. I would say therefore that as per the court order it would be his 18th birthday when payments stop.

If a child has finished education for this year (waiting on exam results) and has taken on a job, would maintenance payments stop??

They would end in September.

Hi
My son is now 19 and doing A BTEC LEVEL 3 Qualification at college. I am not sure if his mum is still getting child support.
Firstly should I still be paying monthly CSA if my son is on this course?
Secondly my job changed two yrs ago but my monthly CSA outgoings stayed the same. Should I have been paying more and could his mum claim back payments for the difference?
Many thanks.

I'm not sure where that course fits in (looking at the very first post in this thread) so it may be worth having a word with CSA to see if they can confirm whether this qualifies.

The CSA won't recalculate maintenance unless you pay has changed by more than 25% since they last calculated payments.

Hi,
First post, so hope I am in the right section?
I am currently abroad having my first holiday in years as my maintenance payments stopped in September. My daughter turned 20 on October 18th this year so no longer qualifies for maintenance. Yesterday, however, I had a missed call on my phone, I dialled the number and it was the CSA, they would not tell me anything as I do not have my ref number etc and told me to wait until I arrive home to ring them. The thing is that I am now worried that they are opening my case again or something along those lines and it is spoiling my holiday, do I have cause to be concerned? Am I right in assuming payments end on the 20th birthday and not some months later?
Also, a second point, which is probably just tough on my part, both of the 2 previous years my daughter has signed up for a collage course simply so her mother can claim benefits, both years she has done a couple of months, then dropped out of collage but payments have continued until September. When I mentioned this to the CSA, they said that she had 'found a loophole in the system' and there was nothing I could do about it. Is that correct?
Any advice please, especially on the first matter, so that I can get back to enjoying my long awaited holiday.
Thanks.
Steve

Hi there

I'm pretty sure that payments stop on the child's 20th birthday. Try not to worry and don't let it spoil your holiday.

As far as the second query, if your daughter left a couple of months into her college course then child benefit and maintenance should have stopped a few weeks after she left. As its in the past though I doubt there's much you can do.

Thanks Mojo,
That's reassuring, I just cannot understand why they are ringing me? Previous experience tells me they only ring when they want money?
Steve

I agree with Mojo - unless there are any arrears, then payments should have stopped. Best way though is to clarify with the CSA - let us know how you get on.

Hi,
I have been paying an agreed amount for my daughter outside of the CSA. She has recently left 6th form not wanting to continue the course that she has started.
She has now decided to start an apprenticeship with a local child care facility. She has identified it as an apprenticeship but I am not sure if this is fictitious being engineered by her mother to continue maintainance payments.
She will be getting paid £400 a month for working at the place. Am I still liable to pay her mother the payments?

As far as the CSA are concerned, if the mother is still receiving child benefits, then maintenance is still payable - as long as the mother is being truthful about the circumstances. Since you are not paying via CSA (now CMS), you could ask your ex for proof that the apprenticeship does qualify under CMS rules - if you aren't happy with the answer, you have the option of stopping payments and telling your ex to open a case with the CMS.

Sorry if this is not quite the right thread for discussion but I am new to using forums. My question is I have recently separated and am still paying the mortgage and other bills at our what was our marital home and is still jointly owned. Its a big mortgage costs and now my ex wants me to pay child maintenance as well and I cant afford both. I don't want to sell the house but is there a way my child maintenance can be reduced to reflect the payments to the house and bills?

hi rs

If you can come to an arrangement with your ex, then you can do so, but since your ex is after everything she can get, then I doubt this is an option. Likewise, a court can order whatever levels of maintenance it feels suitable, though after a year, you can then ask CMS to take the case and they will override the court order with regards to child maintenance.

So realistically, your best option is to use the child maintenance calculator to work out child maintenance, and then negotiation on any additional payments (if any) that you are prepared to make, or let the court decide - but at all times, I'd stick to the child maintenance calculator figures.

Hi im new to the site but wondered if anyone could help on the following issue ......
My son is 18 and was at college he left last year has been working for an agency ,my ex wife was claiming child benefit which stopped back in June, after much chasing and letter writing they informed me child benefit was stopping and i received a letter telling me i was not longer liable so i gave this to my employer,however in October i received a letter saying the case was reopened and i am now liable, i contacted the CSA and they told me child benefit was now being paid to my ex wife again , i explained he is now working and the circumstances have not changed and he is not in further education.
Upon further research i read somewhere that because he is not working on average more than 24 Hours a week and is living with my ex wife still , she is still entitled to child benefit and as we all know if she gets child benefit then the CSA will insist on payments for maintenence,
Can anyone clarify if this is true? and if not how can i get the child benefit office to chase this up and get it stopped as in the past i have reported to the child benefit office that he is no longer in further education but nothing further has ever happened.
Because he works for an agency its hard to say how many hours a week he works so its based on average , ive even got an email from the agency which ive sent to the CSA but while child benefit is being paid they wont action anything.
Also she says hes been attending college 2 days a week but i dont believe that is the case , how do i prove otherwise ? i believe its just a cover,

If anyone can point me in the right direction here id would be extremely grateful.

This summarises it quite nicely http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/tax/benefits/child_benefit/9364.html

That's a great summary actd very clear. 🙂

Hi I am just after some help regarding when my CSA payments will stop.

I have been paying for around 7 years and have never missed a payment, I have no problem with paying the CSA and she is 9 years old

The reason I ask this question is because my daughter is extreme special needs, and will never have a job or a standard education, she is in a wheel chair and will never talk or read or write so the education part is difficult for me to understand.

Cheers

Andy

I'm surprised that this is being dealt with by the CSA as I thought a court order would be more appropriate. - take a look at point 6 on this http://www.edwardsduthie.com/finance-for-children-and-the-child-support-agency.html

I would say that when the CSA stops, that your ex would be able to go to court and get maintenance extended indefinitely - it may be worth trying to work out an agreement with her.

Thank you for that also i am worried that because it is an arrangement that we made between us to i have a feeling that when he turns 18 and i no longer have to pay she will say that i have never paid anything and try and take me to the CSA can she do that ?

How do you pay the child maintanance? Cash, direct to bank, cheque etc?

I suggest that you set up a direct debit or whcih clearly states that the payment is for Child Maintenance this way you can prove via bank statements.

If there is no proof of payment or that the payments are for child maintenance then she could do as you describe so you need to ensure that you have proof of payment and that it is for child maintenance.

Regards,

Dave

My daughter turns 18 next month, I'm paying my ex wife child maintenance which I have had no issues doing over the last 2 years. However I'm now asking the question do I stop paying it when's she is 18. She goes to college 2 days a week doing a BTEC Level 2 course. She also works part time and earns over £100 a week. Currently she spends 90% off her time living with her boyfriend s family and not with the ex wife. Where do I stand......Please help.

If she's in full time education (more than 16 hours per week, including any work experience that's part of the course, if I recall) then you are still liable for maintenance, up until she finishes (or Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec after) or age 20.

This section really needs updating by someone in the know as largely it only refers to CSA / CMS maintenance. It doesnt touch on court orders for maintenance in higher education - even to fund a GAP year!!!!

We are in the process of updating and shall take your comment on board.

I shall lock this thread for now. Thanks 🙂