[Solved] what do CSA payment cover ??

Hi mart,

There's a sticky that you'll find at the top of the Child Maintenance section called "How does the CSA calculate payments". It links to an informative CSA leaflet.

Your CSA payments cover all expenses and you are not liable to pay any extra. You are also entitled to reductions if the children stay overnight with you.

oh thank u !!

yeah i do have them every fortnight !! .... plus i travel around 80 miles (all in all) to have them and take them back ..... coz i also understand i came clam for traveling too .....but i ain't that petty !!

there is just no pleasing ex's is there !!!! 👿

thanks for repling !!

Have you googled the CSA calculator to check that you're paying the right amount? 🙂

Hi Mart

Thank you for your post, I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant. If you have a family-based arrangement in place with your ex-partner, you may wish to try to discuss and negotiate what is included when calculating your child maintenance payments. Family-based arrangements are not legally binding and there is no one to enforce payments if they are missed. With a family-based arrangement there are no strict rules or formulas to follow, they can be flexible to suit the needs of both parents and their children. They do not have to be just about exchanging money, you could include within your family-based arrangement paying for school uniforms and travel costs.

If you have a case with the Child Support Agency (CSA), you may wish to speak to them in regards to your payments. The CSA works out child maintenance using the paying parent's income, which includes earnings, money from an occupational or personal pension and tax credits. They use the amount of income left after deductions such as Income Tax, National Insurance and any money paid into a personal pension scheme.

Child maintenance is a contribution towards the cost of bringing up a child and this includes not only such items as food and clothing but also it is a contribution towards the home that the child lives in and the associated costs of running that home. With a statutory child maintenance arrangement, you have to pay the amount calculated by the CSA. You can of course buy specific things for your children, but they will need to be in addition to your regular payments and they will not count towards your statutory child maintenance payments.

If you would like an idea how much child maintenance you may receive if you were to make an application via the CSA, you can use our online calculator. This is on our website at www.cmoptions.org/en/calculator. You may want to use this figure for negotiations to help you with your family-based arrangement.

We have a sorting out separation web-app on our website at http://www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation that you may find useful as it offers help and support to separated families.

If you would like to talk to our team in complete confidence about child maintenance you could give us a ring on 0800 988 0988 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday or 9am and 4pm on Saturday. Alternatively, for useful tools and guides, you can visit our website at http://www.cmoptions.org.

William

The sticky you refer to, i can't find. I'm having the problem of being asked for half of this and half of that, when i already pay. I would like to be able to present to my daughter's mum that state in black or white what CSA covers. Can you help?

From the front page, if you click on the child maintenance section it will bring this section that you posted this on up. At the very top highlighted in orange are the stickys and its the third one down. There are two links there, click on the top one as that's working and it still applies....the second link which is for the new system which is being phased in, I've just clicked on it to check and the page is down at the moment and is saying to try again later. In the mean time this might help....

www.gov.uk/how-child-maintenance-is-worked-out/overview

Thank you for responding. The information details how maintenance is calculated, which I am aware of and fully understand. What I am looking for is somewhere that says what exactly child maintenance is supposed to cover. Many forums state that it should cover school trips, dinner, uniforms etc. Which I think is a reasonable assumption. However I can find nothing in black and white to substantiate this. My daughter's mothers stance on this is we should go halves on everything and the maintenance I pay is purely to put a roof over her head and food in her belly. I would have no problem contributing to a skiing trip. But I think my maintenance should cover a £10 trip to the theatre.

The legal definition of child maintenance is that it should be a contribution to the PWC's household: Parent with care.

The Child Support Legislation governs the level of child maintenance that should be paid by a natural parent who is absent from the child's household (the non-residential parent) to the parent with care.

What you are paying via the csa is what is legally required , YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PAY ANY MORE . Unless you want to, she has no legal right to ask you, what ever she gets is put in the pot and she provides for the children, that means every thing.
Now if it means your child cant go on a trip etc I think it would be fair in contributing to this cost

I agree. As I said I would glad help fund a trip skiing etc. and I've bought helf her uniform etc. In fact I more than contribute my share. I just think there has to be a point when I stand up to her and say 'no'. It's getting to the point where she expects me to contribute half to everything. Thanks for your help.

Hi - I am in the same position, just want clarification on what payments should cover. Despite paying the majority of private school fees, equal share of shoes, clothes, food etc, full payment of joint loan, I am still required to pay £300+ per month by the CMS (Band C). As I am legally obliged only to pay CMS costs, what about the costs of buying new uniforms, school shoes, trainers etc. Also, if the kids need new bed linen or dressing gown (for example) at my house, can I request her to pay?

Hi - I am in the same position, just want clarification on what payments should cover. Despite paying the majority of private school fees, equal share of shoes, clothes, food etc, full payment of joint loan, I am still required to pay £300+ per month by the CMS (Band C). As I am legally obliged only to pay CMS costs, what about the costs of buying new uniforms, school shoes, trainers etc. Also, if the kids need new bed linen or dressing gown (for example) at my house, can I request her to pay?

You can request it all you please but you'll never enforce it