Hi
i pay £600 CM for 2 kids. i have never paid into a pension, so i pay based on my full salary.
from what i have readup i can pay upto 25% into a pension?. Im 40 years old, my salary is £43k.
if i start paying into a pension now, will the payments go down immediatley? or will CMS look at my last few payslips. i guess i just dont know how to play it, i dont want to pay into a pension which reduces my take home salary and CMS still make me pay based on my old salary figure before i paid into a pension.
advice pls.
@Vik2001 If you just started paying into a pension, you can pay up to 25% under CMS rules. Check the following document.
You may need to wait 3 months to show the payslips but I would mail them and ask them directly.
ok thanks, thats what i needed to know how long i should wait before i adjust it. i currently pay at the moment between a private arrangement. but i know she go to cms if i adjust it. so i will wait 3 months after paying into a pension to adjust it. still robbery because she will still get 3 months worth of extra pay.
@Vik2001 Sorry, I misunderstood. You don't have a case with CMS. If that is the case, I think you don't need to wait. If she opens a case with CMS and claims excessive contributions, you just show you are contributing 25% to your pension and they must allow it as per their own guidelines. See below:
"Once the non-resident parent provides the information, for excessive pension contributions, we should refer to the FSA table above and consider the percentage of 12% as a guide of what might be reasonable amounts of contributions to make towards their pension.
Age contributions started Required % of income
30 12 - 18%
35 16 - 22%
40 18 - 25%
45 25 - 30%
50 30 - 45%
55 45 - 70%
@Vik2001 as you don't currently have a CMS case open, I wouldnt wait 3 months but I would wait 1 month so that your pension contributions show up on your pay slip (assuming you plan to enter employers pension scheme?). This will save you the hassle of having to prove to CMS that you are paying into a pension and provide documents etc.
In the 1st instance your ex probably won't claim for excessive contributions but rather she doesn't believe your calculations and then the CMS will see your pension and work out new gross salary figure and provide that to her.
On the other hand if you are looking to do this via a private pension then I wouldn't wait at all, but reduce payments once you have paid 1st monthly amount.
All the best.
im not currently paying into a pension. ex is taking me to court over the house, so i probably start pension contributions once the finances is out the way. or i dont know if i should start paying into pension now. i got my final hearing this week, trying to move house also. so much going on, i dont know what to do sometimes.
but yes i will be joining the employer pension scheme.
Ok, I wouldn't pay into a pension until you have secured financial order. The reason being is that monies in a pension will be considered as part of the financial negotiation... Quite quickly she may become entitled to 50% of it... Better to stick it under the mattress and protect your assets...
Or the value of your pension pot could be offset against the value of your house for example... However, pension contributions after separation but whilst still married are included in calculating the full marital assets pot.