Can anyone help me please? The CSA have told me that my daughter who is 17 years old and wants to get a job but also takes up night classes, will still be eligible for CSA support? Surely this is dependant on the hours she works and does at college I asked, but they said no as long as she is still in education???? Was I speaking to a moron or is this one of the new rulings?
Well, normally, if she is in non-advanced education (there's a sticky at the top of the maintenance thread expanding this more) for more than 12 hours a week of supervised study, then you are still liable. However, with it being night courses, I really don't know the answer to this - the general rule is that if the mother still gets child benefit, then you are liable for maintenance, so perhaps it might be best to speak to the benefits office to clarify what their rules on child benefit are.
Hi gbf66
Thank you for your post. I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant. We are unable to comment on Child Support Agency (CSA) cases as we are a separate organisation and do not have access to your case information. However, I can provide some general information.
Under child support legislation, regular child maintenance payments must be made until a child is 16 years old, or 20 if they are in full-time, non-advanced education (A-level or equivalent), or for as long as Child Benefit is being paid. The definition of full-time education is more than 12 hours a week of study. When a child leaves full-time education in the summer, Child Benefit generally continues until the first week of September. In addition, if arrears have built up on a case, those arrears must still be paid, even if regular child maintenance payments have stopped. You can find more information on the statutory rules on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/when-child-maintenance-payments-stop. For further guidance on a parent’s eligibility to receive Child Benefit for a child including approved courses and training at https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-16-19.
You may also wish to contact the CSA directly for further clarification. You can find the contact details for the office that is dealing with your case on any letters that you may have received, or by visiting Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance/contact.
For more information on the ways to set up child maintenance, please visit our website at http://www.cmoptions.org. Alternatively, you can call us free on 0800 988 0988 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday or 9am and 4pm on a Saturday. We have a sorting out separation web-app that you may find useful. It offers help and support to separating and separated families. The link is: www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation.
Regards
William