How's it going with the CSA?

Hi am back from 3 days annual leave - funny time to have a holiday - it was freezing cold in york but a beautiful city to visit.

Glad that lindsaygii thinks I know my stuff. It has taken me almost 17 years to get to this point. The trouble with self employed non resident parents is that the csa can use tax returns accepted by HMRC to identify their income and the law relating to HMRC and the CSA don't seem to mesh together. Self employed people are allowed more things against the company profits than the CSA law allows and this is the stumbling block many times-getting the CSA to actually investigate.

It is only by appealing that you have the right to see the infomation used to make the assessment and thereby challenge the figures. Going to a tribunal is a bit scary but the staff do try and put you at your ease and they are there to ensure the law has been applied correctly. They have the power to make people produce information to ensure that the assessments are correct. If information is requested by the tribunal but not produced, they can draw adverse inference from this. If all parties turn up, the judge can ask questions of anyone to get to the truth.

MPs can ask the agency to use accounts instead of tax returns which allows a clearer idea of true levels of income/profit. They can also request that the CSA send in inspectors but the csa will weigh up the "cost to the public purse" of doing so. The CSA do take account of enquiries from MPs but in my experience this can sometimes slow the action on the case down until the enquiry is dealt with.

if anyone wants a private confidential word about csa or any other matter - contact me.

Hi Louise, yes there is a time limit for requesting an appeal - 28 days after the letter refusing to revise the decision. It is importnant that the deadline isnt missed because you would have to make a request to appeal "out of time" to the Tribunal. You have to tell them why you missed the deadline. Often they do allow the appeal but it is by no means certain and it would be a shame to lose your appeal rights.

With regard to keeping child support I have the following information from the December DWP Touchbase Magazine to share with you all.

From 12 April 2010, child maintenance will be fully disregarded when calculating out of work benefits for parents with day-to-day care for children. This means parents will be able to keep every penny of their child maintenance payments (where it is paid) without it affecting their benefit entitlement.
This is good news for parents with care and will mean more money flowing to low income families. It will also encourage parents to agree a maintenance arrangement as all the money paid will go to the child.
Parents who require impartial information and support about child maintenance should contact the Child Maintenance Options Service. The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission offers this service to help parents gain a clear understanding of the options available for arranging child maintenance. The aim is that parents feel informed enough make a decision about child maintenance and act on it. Contact the Options Service on 0800 988 0988.

Hope this is useful.