[Solved] CSA allowances

Hi Mike and welcome

I'm afraid it's not good news. Unless you are on benefits, the basic calculation is, as you already know, 15% of your takehome pay. I haven't looked recently at the rules, but you certainly used to be able to reduce the takehome pay figure (NOT the amount you pay) by the cost of travelling to see your child by the reasonable cost of travel (so they would expect the cheapest form of travel - I'm not sure how they dealt with car costs), but they expect you to pay the first £15 of costs. So, if you are spending £60 per week on travelling, you would be able to reduce your takehome pay by £45, so you would reduce the maintenance you pay by 15% of this, which is a reduction of £6.75. I'm not sure whether the £15 that they expect you to pay is per week, even if you only travel once or twice per month, so it's worth having a word with CMEC (there is a link at the bottom of the website) to clarify the details.

Hi Mike,

Just found this site myself. I'm in the same situation. I live 200 miles away from my son (job relocation at time of separation) and the cost to travel to pick him up Friday, take back to my house, take him home on sunday and drive myself home is around £100. As I can only afford to do once a month after CSA payments, the CSA won't take this cost into account. Their responce was "it's not our fault you live so far away". Not very helpfull as if I saw him more often it would be costing me a fortune!!

If you're seeing your child quite often, you may get a more positive responce. You'll definately need to talk it through with the CSA.

Good luck

John

Thanks for your replies, I have been at a total loss for the last week. Just trying to see how this is ever going to work!! I can only think that selling my house and renting a room will be the only way I have enough money to survive and see my son. This whole system is ridiculous and does not care at all about what the children need, only that throw enough money at a situation and hope that is the answer!!

🙁

Mike

Hi Mike

I'm not a fan of the system at all (my ex has seriously abused it over the last few years to avoid paying maintenance) but it is better than the old system in that it does allow a more uniform and quicker system for the majority of cases - the problem as you have found is that it has very little flexibility. It would be worth contacting the CMEC (contact details are at the bottom of the forum) for their advice.

Sorry

Which is the link for CMEC?? what does it stand for?

Mike

Ah Mike, you're right, it's not clear from what I said which link.

At the bottom of the page, there is a list of Dadtalk Partners - you want the "Child Maintenance Options" link

Great Thanks

Hi, I'm Sarah, a Child Maintenance Options consultant and thought it'd be useful if i gave you some information about these allowances.

15% is the correct liability amount to be paid for 1 child, however there are allowances for if you have your child stay overnight (for a minimum of 52 nights a year) or you could apply for a "variation" to take contact costs into account. The Dadtalk moderator is right in that the 1st £15 is disregarded and this would be a weekly amount.

I'd recommend that you give the CSA a call to take one of the allowances into account. You can find contact details on any letter the CSA have sent to you. Or, you can find the right number here: https://www2.dwp.gov.uk/csa/v2/en/contact/index.asp

In addition, it may be worth bearing in mind that its no longer compulsory for parents to arrange child maintenance through the CSA. If you can reach an agreement with the other parent, you can make a family-based arrangement. This type of arrangement is a lot more flexible, because you can agree between yourselves how to share the cost of raising your children.

You can get information and support on family-based arrangements from Child Maintenance Options. Visit www.cmoptions.org for more information and useful tools, or call the Options team in confidence on
0800 988 0988.

I hope this has helped you Mike.

Sarah