About 20 years ago I had a relationship with a girl and we had two children The relationship didnt last and we both ended up with other partners My new partner and I saw the children regularly and for a while it was civil until she decided to get the csa involved I was not in a good place mentally back then and didnt deal with this as I should have done
Myself and the ex had many arguements at this time during which she told me the children werent mine and she was still seeing her ex husband and had been all along I received a letter from the csa saying that the pwc did not wish to pursue the case any more
About two years ago I had a letter from the cms saying the pwc is owed £11,000 and she would like this money collected also the debt was made a liabillity order some 18 years ago and therefore it was up to them to just collect it
At the time my homelife was difficult and rather than fight this and cause more issues I agreed to pay £100 a week which I did
Recently I changed jobs and started a franchised position which involved me putting money into before receiving a rise in my earnings I explained this to the cms
Unfortunately with pretty awful timing I caught Covid three weeks into my new position which meant that with no income and expenses ongoing I ended up with my first months money I owed the company £500
Again I explained this to cms but since then they have just taken money from my bank accounts
I have less £100 in each account at the moment and will struggle to get by this month I have asked friends to help out but one put £100 in my account but cms took £40 of it before I could withdraw it
Now my council tax and other direct debits are bouncing Im guessing my credit rating will take a dive and that in itself may mean I will not be able to renew the francise contract when it is due
I have tried to keep the cms informed of my situation and have tried to cooperate but the cms are just not approacable
Any help would be greatly appreciated or does anyone know where I can get reasonably priced legal advice
hi,
is it possible to not continue the franchise contract? or if you explain to them your in a lot of financial hardship, would they be willing to freeze/defer payments, then you start paying back at a later date? unfortunately child maintenance is a priority debt, so even if you were declared bankrupt, the liability is still in place. You could try contact CMS and tell them your struggling to pay arrears, can it be made more affordable by spreading it out over a few years?
you could consider claiming universal credit . there is a good CMS support group on FB. check it out. https://www.facebook.com/groups/239699060076601
@bill337 Hi thanks for your reply
I did contact CMS to let them know I would be changing from weekly pay to monthly pay but I wasn't factoring in catching Covid as well I have kept them informed of my drop in income but without replying to me they just started taking money out of my bank
I will try the universal credit route though might even try a loan while I still have a credit rating and just hope this is a temporary blip
Is it right that the repayment calculation is based on the last tax year and as such is set in stone even if your income changes
hi,
yes they would base your maintenance payments on most recent tax year. if all they can see is last years, then they will base on that. if your income goes up or down by 25% or more, and is expected to stay that way for at least 12 weeks, then they should re-calculate your payments once you told them.