This site is an archive of the OneSpace Forums. Return to forum index.
This site is an archive of the OneSpace Forums. Return to forum index.
Hi,
Not sure if this is in the right area, recently i have found out about changes to the CSA system, has anyone else heard about these. I heard from and organisation called Gingerbread that they are planning on imposing two new charges to this system, which of course will hit us single parents again. Does anyone know any different?
One charge is 20% which is charged to the absent father on top of the normal payment every month and the other is 7% which is charge to the recieving parent and taken out of the money that is paid.
Hello there,
Indeed there are changes afoot and we discussed this quite a while ago on here, when they were first mooted.
The initial proposals have been revised. They were designed to encourage parents to make their own family-based arrangements. They apply to NEW applications to the CSA, not in retrospect, as far as I can see.
The deal is that the parent with care will need to pay £20 to register with the CSA (fee will be waived if the parent is under 18 or is a victim of domestic abuse) The fee is payable even if the CSA does not collect anything from the other parent. Monies that are collected: seven percent will be deducted before the money is passed to the parent with care. The parent with care will have to pay the CSA 20% on top of the maintenance amount.
In practical terms, for every £100 the CSA collect for you, you would get £93 of it and the other parent would have paid them £120.
Anyone wanting to read the full document can read it here
Thanks Louise - if this is the case I hope they improve the service. Ive had an awful experiance with them and its still on going where i have had to involve my local councilor.
Lying about income living a life style that does not match his income not paying being told next time he does not pay they will take from his wages - never happened he missed 6 mths then was allowed to pay me back £5 a week while struggled
Time will tell and i know they do a lot of good too x
HM
Thanks Louise, that helps. I know i had to go through CSA when ex started missing payments, but i do like that they re assess him periodically so he pays the right amount to me for our sons upkeep,
It just seems like the goverment like going after those that are single parents all the time.
They are implying that they will pursue parents without day to day cafre with more rigour. Personally I have never been able to understand why they do not have direct access to Inland Revenue records.
It does raise the interesting point....if a parent has paid them, does this oblige them to provide a better service?
I dont think it will, they do have access to inland revenue as i get yearly reviews telling me the payments have gone up but i would rather the payments should be made by the absent parent and that if an additional charge has to be made, then it should not be taken from the money that is set aside for the child. I would be happy to pay them if that meant they would be assessing him through Inland Revenue records rather than on his saying
Hi
I do know they can access the absent parents bank account - did it to my ex but they cant tell me what they found but the fact he was allowed to pay me back the £1000.00 he owed me im guessing he is skint (the new wife lives on sunbeds nail shops and diets pills that dont work) he also works for his friend who blags his wages half cash half in to the bank
HM
I find it mind boogling that they are charging so much, maybe with all the austerity cuts and the real time system that HMRC are introducing they might come up with a system that gets the balance right.
Just to say that the plan is not for the CSA to charge the parent without care part of the money that is set aside for the child. The assessment is made and that is what the parent without day to day care should pay. They then have to pay the CSA another 20% ON TOP of the assessed amount
From what i understand, one of the fees actually comes out of the money that is paid to the parent with the day to day care, so affectively it does come out of the childs money, it would be better if it was kept seperate and left up to the parent to pay from other income sources, but it is deducted before the parent even gets it.
Ah, apologies, I read that previous comment wrong and I see what you mean, as paid by the parent with care...yes 7% will be charged to them and the easiest way to do that is to knock it off the money received. I guess it is better to get £93 in every £100 than none at all. Still don't agree with the system, why should the parent with care pay at all? but I see why they are doing it, setting up a separate system would be even more costly, giving rise to charges of much more than 7% as there would be all the usual non-payment issues, I guess
That is true as well Louise, some money is better than none, lets hope they provide a better service and a more accurate service than what they give now. I know i am one of the fortunate ones who does not have to chase their ex for the money but i still think he hides some of it from them as he gets at least two pay rises a year but money for our son only goes up once by a couple of quid
my ex has had the same job for at least 10 yrs and no pay rise wouldnt you think hm rev or csa would have noticed!! Joys of working for a friend who blags his wages - i saw him out with his wife one day and asked him how he liked depriving a child of their support from their father and would he do it to his children - guess what - he couldnt answer - his wifes face was a picture
Nice one, happy mamma 
If I said that to The Git and Gittess, they would put their heads to one side and smile sweetly. 
Good for you hm.
Good on you Happy Mamma,
Hi SG
Ive heard a lot of stories about changes but i dont think anything has been decided - i spoke to the csa 2 weeks ago about my case and she said nothing set yet and lots of stories - I hope someone on here could enlighten us both
HM x