Hi i have very little, ok no experience, with child support matters.

I have a client who has recently been ordered to pay child support. She has joint residence for her daughter and sees her approximately 4-5 months per year. The father claims CTC and CB for the child. My client has never claimed benefits for the child since the seperation.

She has never received any help to maintain the child when she sees her, her ex patner never gives her CTC or CB when the child is in her care.

She is very upset to say the least. I have explained that he probably didnt have a choice in claiming CSA IF he is in receipt of Income Support. However it does seem very unfair that she does not receive any help to look after the child when she does have her. My client is on a very low income.

1) Could my client claim CSA herself as she has joint residence? Her ex partner is equally an absent parent and does not maintain the child when she is with my client. Clutching at straws maybe! (not sure if he is working or claiming IS)

2) is there any scope to challege the decision? I am in the process of ordering a CSA handbook! I am slightly unclear about whether Statutory maternity pay is ignored? The decison notice states Statutory Sick Pay is ignored but no mention of SMP. Client due to go on SMP shortly.

3) Im also looking at possibility of client claiming CTC and CB when child in her care, although Im not holding out.

4) I also noticed that there is scope to consider the costs incurred when collecting the child when assessing CSA. Child lives in Wales, mother in Leicester, so it is very expensive. It doesnt seem that can be a ground for appeal though? Could I lodge on appeal on these grounds, as CSA have not enquired about costs incurred to client to collect the chld?

5) Finally, how often to CSA review payments? If she does overtime at work, will the CSA calcuation be affected immediately?

Any suggestion would be gratefully received while i keep reasearching.

Hi Rita,

The CSA have a very useful web site http://www.csa.gov.uk/new/ that you may want to check out it also has a calculator.

You need to check the calculation and ask for a vairation I Think! give me a bell and we can discuss.

Phil

Hi Phil or anyone else with similar cases

trying to find info re CSA

I have a client who has just got the CSA to admit he has been overpaying his child support for the last seven years, as his ex-wife had a child to a different absent parent in 1999. My client has been paying for his own two children for the last 12 years and now CSA are saying he was only eligible for 50% of carer element and family element but had been told he had to pay it all. CSA have said they can only allow overpayment for last 2 years back to when his ex-wife last requested reassessment. CSA state they cannot consider full seven years as they were unaware a 3rd child was born. Was there not a 'duty to disclose' on behalf of the ex-wife that another parent and child now in the picture? Do CSA not have to consider all child benefit being paid to parent with care?

Sorry this is a bit rambling - first time using discussion forum

Where there is an overpayment the CSA usually try to put things right by adjusting ongoing maintenance. However, they can also recover maintenance from the parent with care, in some circumstances. They can't enforce recovery which is due to CSA error - but in this case, it sounds as though you are saying that the last 2 years are due to CSA error and they will allow this, but before that the overpayment was due to them not knowing about the 3rd child and they will not take responsibility for this.

Recovery from the PWC is a discretionary decision, so they have to consider the welfare of any children concerned. ALso, they can't recover if the PWC was on IS/income-based JSA when she was overpaid or at the time reimbursement is being considered.

Child benefit: although govt depts can exchange information in certain circumstances, here I can see no particular reason why the CSA would know about the child benefit for the third child, I'm afraid. Also, I'm not sure there would be any 'duty to disclose' if the ex-wife was only claiming child support for her first 2 children, unless it was made clear to her that having other children was a relevant change of circumstances she needed to report. There can be no 'failure to disclose' unless there is a legal duty to report a fact - if someone is not asked for info, there can be no failure to disclose. Unfortunately, having another child is not in itself a change which must be notified, as far as I know.

Your client might want to complain to the CSA because they should be checking cases periodically, and clearly the failure to do so in this case has caused a serious overpayment. He might also want to take up the matter with his MP (whether or not as part of the complaint), as part of the problem seems to lie in the 'old rules' set up, in which the PWC having another child does affect liablity (it wouldn't under the new rules) but reporting it is not required.

Hi Rachel

thanks very much for your help- your information is brilliant

much appreciated
Lorrie

Hi Saffron,

I'm the author (well updater) of the CPAG Child Support Handbook (which obviously I recommend that you get hold of!) But a few pointers off the top of my head might be useful.

First of all, your client's ex partner's application is probably being calculated under the 'new' child support rules which came in from March 2003, but not necessarily... as there is still a backlog of 'old' rules claims to be dealt with! But I'm assuming that it probably is a new rules claim, and the rest of my info follows from that.

1) unfortunately even where there is joint residence, one parent has to be the non-resident parent (NRP), and one the parent with care (PWC). It would not be much use your client applying for child support, because the rules are that the NRP is the person providing care to a lesser extent (fewer months of the year in this case), or if care is shared equally, the parent who does not get child benefit.

2)there doesn't sound as though there is any scope to challenge the decision in itself, ie your client's liability for child support seems clear. However, there may be scope to challenge the amount of child support she has to pay, and/or as Phil suggests, request a variation. I'm puzzled by your saying that the decision notice stages SSP is ignored - it isn't! It is treated as part of earnings, as is SMP, and counts as income (under the old rules or new rules). So I'm afraid your client's SMP would be treated as part of her income.

3) Re client claiming CB and CTC whilst child is with her, technically possible I suppose if the 4-5 months is continuous. However I just think this would be a nightmare in practice - think of the delays in switching over each time. CTC would be bound to get overpaid to one parent, underpaid to the other and vice versa, and then your client could get in an even worse mess. Similarly the CSA would never be able to cope with a situation where PWC and NRP status kept swapping over!

4)Costs incurred to collect the child - the CSA will not consider these separately unless your client asks for a variation, as Phil suggests. However, you need to be careful. Your client's child support should already be reduced to reflect the shared care arrangement - and costs of contact cannot be deducted by a variation if they are incurred as part of a night of shared care that is already accounted for in the maintenance calculation. So you need to check the maintenance calculation first, ensure that shared care is properly accounted for, and if not, appeal. Only if the costs of contact are not part of the shared care within the maintenance calculation can they be included in a variation. A reduction for shared care as part of the calculation can be a maximum of half the maintenance otherwise payable - this applies if the NRP has the child for 175 nights or more. Since your client does not have the child for this many nights, I think in fact a smaller reduction should apply (this actually depends on whether it is 4 or 5 months, but for eg if 5 months I'd expect a reduction of 3/7). Basically, at the moment, if the calculation is done correctly, your client's shared care should already be taken into account and I am not sure that a variation for contact costs would be successful. However, not harm in asking, especially as your client's costs are particularly high, and if the 4/5 months are not continuous, and involve several visits, must be even higher.

5)CSA are really slow about everything! But in theory there is a periodic case check every 2 years on average (can be more or less often, or could be requested by the PWC). It would depend whether the overtime was regular and affected her average earnings - see the book for more info on how these are calculated. But yes, if average earnings increase, your client could immediately be liable to pay more, and once a check was done could be in arrears. Irregular overtime done now and again, on the other hand, may not increase average earnings if it is not part of the client's normal pattern of work.

Hope this helps! Rachel

Thank you both very much for that. The link was very useful and as your posts' suggest, it would appear that the calcultion is correct. Like i say, I have no experience in CSA...clearly!

I agree re CTC and CB. However client's income is very low and she takes unpaid leave when she has access to her child, all school holidays and additional weekends. Obviously I need to advise her to claim IS during these periods but then she effectively has no source of income for the child. This has been the arrangement from the outset.

The period is not continuous and I am doubtful that she will be able to claim CB/CTC for these short periods, not to mention as you say the nightmare it would cause with CSA and Inland Revenue, can you imagine trying to work through a Tax Credit notification in these circs!

So i just dont know what to advise her for the five months she has her daughter. As you may have guessed there is no scope for an amicable arrangement with the ex!

Thanks alot for the detailed response, its clarified what i read up on the CSA site, which is pretty helpful i must say..but obviously CSA handbook is still on order....

I need to think about the easiest way, if any, for her to claim benefits for her daughter during the summer, or ill just ring you in a bit Phil!

cheers Rita