Although there have been reforms relating to the way in which child support payments are calculated, any child support payments that were calculated in 2003 and before then are still classified as coming under the ‘old rules.’ These were very complicated calculations and took into account a large volume of information that sometimes resulted in surprising outcomes.
Under the old rules, there are several classes of income: protected, assessable and exempt income. These three classes of income are treated in different ways by the CSA under the old rules for maintenance calculations.
Exempt Income
Income is classed as exempt if it is necessary for essential expenses for the parent. This applies to both parents - resident and non-resident. The way the amount of exempt income is calculated is as follows:
- a personal allowance for single people over the age of 25 years
- an allowance for a child living with the parent (their own child)
- if there is such a child, a family premium
- a disabled premium for any qualifying child or parent
- a carer premium
- housing costs
- travel costs for the purpose of employment, if travel for work is over 240 km per week.
Answer a few questions about your situation and get a clear summary of your child maintenance rights and options.
Try our Child Support Rights Checker free, here on this site →Assessable Income
After basic living expenses have been deducted from a parent’s income, the rest of the income is assessable income. It is a portion of this remaining income that is used for the purpose of child support payments. If a parent is in receipt of benefits such as jobseeker’s allowance, income support or pension credit they are treated as not having any assessable income. Similarly, if a parent ‘with care’ is on working tax credit, they are treated as not having any assessable income.
The CSA does not take into account the non-resident parent’s partner’s income when calculating the amount of assessable income. If two people (the non-resident parent and his partner) work together, for example, in a joint business venture they will be treated as earning half of the total amount of income each.
Self employed non-resident parents’ income is calculated on taxable profits from self-employment. The CSA can demand a copy of the tax calculation notice (and any amendments thereto) for the purpose of obtaining the amount of assessable income. In the alternative, the parent can provide gross receipts instead. The calculation is then made by taking this figure and deducting tax, NI contributions, half of any pension premium, any VAT paid over that which has been received, and reasonable business expenses.
Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.
Protected Income
Once a calculation for child maintenance has been made, a figure will be proposed that is the suggested maintenance payment for a particular parent. However, it is also the case that non-resident parents will never be made to pay more than 30% of their net income for the purposes of child support. If the proposed maintenance amount totals a greater percentage of net income than 30%, it will be reduced so that it does not exceed the 30% cap.
A further calculation that is made in terms of protected income is intended to prevent the non-resident parent and his family being left below the level of income support because of paying child maintenance.
I have £222 deducted from my wages every month to be paid to my Ex wife yet i have not seen my son in over a year because of his mums refusal to let me see him.
i used to get letters from CSA on a daily basis and always contested it, i have been to court twice and still she refuses to let me see him, there are no legal reasons why i cant see him just her refusal and her insistence that if i want to see him then i take her to court. My ex wife doesnt work and receives over £1500 a month in various benefits. why should a father pay to the child when the mother refuses access.
Back in the 90ies i split up with my husband and moved out the family home and i took my daught and my ex had my son.... I worked 15 hours a week and picked up £54 a week and i received 5 pound a fortnight income support....
My husband went onto income support and he got money off them and my son dla and carers allowance and a few months later he got a job found a girlfriend so income support... Dla 310 month and got a job worth over 2 hundred pounds week then moved in with his new girlfriend she was single mother of 2 and they claimed the new tax credits child and working i got that.... The worst bit was he never had to pay me a penny maintenance all because he was on the new tax credit...if a man has to go on working tax credids he must be on a low wage so he is exempt from paying CSA...... He was getting a grand a week with all the benefits and her claiming as single mum.... This is the worst bit i a single mum of 1 and gets 54 week working wage and 5 pound a fortnight £5.10 a week i had to pay my ex for my son and nothing for me x now i call that very sexes
Never had chance with dex,
WOMAN A, laws an arse,,
Let me know dex and I pay, otherwise I rather go to jail
I've requested for a review and since then I've had three children total of 5 . I've been a single mother supporting my children which has caused hardship from being homeless numerous times not to mention lose of four years of not seeing my son who lives states away . I can't even travel to see him. The Mendocino county child support seems to be avoiding my request.
Continued)
I have already tried to contact my ex-wife by phone to once again try an amicable solution but as expected she seems to be ignoring my message.
Basically I struggled when I was paying CSA before even though I was on 40K-50K salaries then but I know that if I do have to pay now what has been calculated by the government website and on speaking to 'Options' as £144.00 per month plus a potential extra 20% if they collect the money that I will not be able to continue to work and will be back on benefits. I managed to obtain a 2 bedroom flat when I moved back to the north, so my daughter had her own room when she came to stay with me, but if I cannot work I will be 'clobbered' for bedroom tax plus the extra needed on Council Tax. Worst scenario is I will need to move to a 1 bedroom flat and then my daughter will have nowhere to sleep when she comes to visit me 2-3 times a year.
Any advise would be so appreciated.
Regards,
Steve.
I've been told by the CMS that he no longer has an income and he's been given a nil assessment.
I work full time and juggle two young children by myself and he no longer sees them through his choice. I am exempt from any benefits due to my full time employment.
He has numerous holidays...Dubai, Spain, France Egypt and many more skiing holidays, he rents a luxury apartment and is living a fruitful lifestyle.
Because he opened the case with the CMS to use their blanket legislation to his advantage,
I cannot close the case, it has to be him, but why would he!!
After 6 months of pure upset and worry, I had nothing to do but to write to my MP.
A blanket "one size fits all" approach cannot work in everyone's scenario.
I was listening to a national radio channel a few months back about the CMS and I was able to
air my concerns to the Work and Pensions Minister Steve Web. I was reassured and was informed that redundancy money was taken into consideration and that they has access to HMRC records and check them regularly.
Calling the CMS with this information "from the horses mouth" so to speak, the staff knew nothing about it and contradicted everything he said. No action was taken.
My ex husband was a perpetrator in which I suffered many years of emotional and financial abuse and and support from the Police. 3 years of a battle of a divorce, for it to end up him being assisted to walk away from his responsibilities. The government/CMS have supported him through this process. I'm left speechless.
Very simply, can anyone tell me whether the CSA are right? I am currently off sick and receiving Statutory Sick Pay which the CSA are using as 'earnings' for their calculation and this is fine. However, I have an insurance pay-out due to being off sick. This is tax-free, I pay no NI or contributions in relation to this pay out and it comes in the form of a monthly cheque until I return to work.
The CSA are insisting that I tell them how much I receive as this is classed as 'earnings' - despite it being a fund that doesn't take into account income tax, NI etc! Is this right?
Thanks for your advice.
He seems to think that if he buys him a vidio game or a new pair of footy boots or takes him to the pictures that he is "doing his bit" and sees no reason to contribute towards food,clothes,shoes,gas,water,electricity etc etc etc.
What should I do to have a fair contribution? I am going out of my mind with worry.
Ask Child Support Laws a question
Ask our editorial team a question and we will reply with our advice. Tell us as much about your situation as you can: the more detail you give, the more useful our answer can be.
You do not need to use your real name. Please do not include your full address, phone number, email address, or the names of other people. We may edit or remove identifying details for privacy and legal reasons.
Comments are moderated before publication.