Welcome to the DAD.Info forum: Important Information – open to read:
Our forum aims to provide support and guidance where it can, however we may not always have the answer. The forum is not moderated 24 hours a day, so If you – or someone you know – are being harmed or in immediate danger of being harmed, call the police on 999.
Alternatively, if you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123.
If you are worried about you or someone you know is at risk of harm, please click here: How we can help
Hi all, I'm new here and could really do with any pertinent advice about how to successfully appeal a failed CMS Mandatory Reconsideration Notice. I have downloaded the SSCS2 form and SSCS1A (the guidance booklet) and have yet to go through them.
My situation is that I work offshore (on a ship) and my salary varies hugely month to month depending on what I actually work and it's not regular. The CMS recently did their yearly review, and for some reaon will not use my Yearly P60, they instead took two pay slips, (where I was working for the whole period, so was way above average) and calculated my annual salary and payments based on that. They have applied this retrospectively back to March 2020 and have applied arrears onto the account also. I've never missed a full payment btw, but this latest one is ruinous...
My question is, does anyone have any tips on this process? Did anyone get legal help? Was it worth it? Cost? Other sources of information or legal advice would be very welcome.
All I really want to achieve is for the CMS to use my yearly P60 salary figure to calculate my payments, this is then fair to my ex and to me and is something we can both budget for.
Thanks in advance,
Dad of three
I thought CMS based it on the figures that are provided to them by HMRC?
Hi Mike, they say they do, but it seems there was a mistake in the P60 figure they used at my annual review (in March), so used an old figure. They then did a re-calculation (I don't know why) in June and used two high payslips from the previous year to re-calculate the whole year. That figure they've used is about 34% above my actual gross this year... Hence my mandatory reconsideration...
Hi
Was the 2 month average 34% higher than the yearly earnings? If so then it makes sense as you would have had to declare the increased earnings at the time as they were greater than 25% of your usual salary. If not then their approach is unusual.
However if those 2 months are now 34% higher than this years salary, then as soon as you have 2 months payslips demonstrating this you should be able to notify them of a reduction in earnings (change in salary greater than 25%) and they would recalculate anyway. If you are on the borderline then consider increasing pension payments to generate a greater than 25% drop for 2 months and trigger a review...
Thanks, for your reply, that cherrypicked 2 month average was 34% above , but then they've applied that backdated to March last year, giving me now thousands in arrears. Which I'm not sure would be removed if I did >25% variance for 2 months now....
So, I don't know what tactic to take really, possibly 1. DO the appeal to hopefully remove the arrears and get a new more realistic assessment and 2. do the review to get it down further.
Would be very interesting to know what are peoples experience of the appeal process?
Hi
Was the 2 month average 34% higher than the yearly earnings? If so then it makes sense as you would have had to declare the increased earnings at the time as they were greater than 25% of your usual salary. If not then their approach is unusual.
However if those 2 months are now 34% higher than this years salary, then as soon as you have 2 months payslips demonstrating this you should be able to notify them of a reduction in earnings (change in salary greater than 25%) and they would recalculate anyway. If you are on the borderline then consider increasing pension payments to generate a greater than 25% drop for 2 months and trigger a review...
Hi @Daddyup, the two month average you state, is that what they use? I can't find any reference to a two months average in the CMS publications....
hi, as far as I know, they should not be cherry-picking your tax records, and should be using your most recent tax return from HMRC. you can try this organisation for help:
Welcome to the DAD.info forum.
We don’t like to set ‘rules’, but to make sure that you and the other dads are kept safe, we have some requests. When engaging with the forum, please be aware of the following:
- The forum is not moderated 24 hours per day.
- Many of the moderators do so on a voluntary basis. Whilst they may be able to provide some guidance, advice or support, they may not be able to deal with specifics.
- We are not an emergency crisis service so if you or someone else is in immediate danger, please call emergency services.
- If you are concerned about the safety of a child, please click here to find the support you can get for them (link to new page)
- If you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123. They are open 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.
We hope you find this forum a supportive environment and thank you for joining us.