[Solved] Changes to the CSA in 2014

Again, using the takehome pay calculator, a £12k per annum gives a month takehome of £915 per month

Under CSA2, for 2 children, the maintenance would be £183 per month, and under CSA3 it's £160 per month.

I agree that the CSA system is a long, long way from perfect, but to improve it on a case by case basis (which is the fairest way) would massively increase costs, which would almost certainly be passed on to the parents.

What take home pay calculator only takes 8.5% from gross? It should be more like 35% from gross.

Again, using the takehome pay calculator, a £12k per annum gives a month takehome of £915 per month

Under CSA2, for 2 children, the maintenance would be £183 per month, and under CSA3 it's £160 per month.

I agree that the CSA system is a long, long way from perfect, but to improve it on a case by case basis (which is the fairest way) would massively increase costs, which would almost certainly be passed on to the parents.

far better to lead low earners to the brink of suicide/starvation, then to risk the rp`s money after all.

Really, but NETT averages out at 35% from gross does it not, taking a 5% pension into account?
This reply is in response to actd's comment on page 6.

Again, using the takehome pay calculator, a £12k per annum gives a month takehome of £915 per month

Under CSA2, for 2 children, the maintenance would be £183 per month, and under CSA3 it's £160 per month.

I agree that the CSA system is a long, long way from perfect, but to improve it on a case by case basis (which is the fairest way) would massively increase costs, which would almost certainly be passed on to the parents.

far better to lead low earners to the brink of suicide/starvation, then to risk the rp`s money after all.

I want 50/50 custody with 50% of the benefits. I want to be able to afford to see and hold my children for multiple days every single week. Why is it I that will have to move into a bedsit , childless, while the mother has all the pleasure of a big house and the kids to hold every day.
By taking so much money from me and so stopping me from being able to house my kids has surely got to be breaching one or more of my and my kids human rights.
But, I am just another grain of sand and many fathers have already said the same, but nothing has changed for the better.

Again, using the takehome pay calculator, a £12k per annum gives a month takehome of £915 per month

Under CSA2, for 2 children, the maintenance would be £183 per month, and under CSA3 it's £160 per month.

I agree that the CSA system is a long, long way from perfect, but to improve it on a case by case basis (which is the fairest way) would massively increase costs, which would almost certainly be passed on to the parents.

far better to lead low earners to the brink of suicide/starvation, then to risk the rp`s money after all.

I want 50/50 custody with 50% of the benefits. I want to be able to afford to see and hold my children for multiple days every single week. Why is it I that will have to move into a bedsit , childless, while the mother has all the pleasure of a big house and the kids to hold every day.
By taking so much money from me and so stopping me from being able to house my kids has surely got to be breaching one or more of my and my kids human rights.
But, I am just another grain of sand and many fathers have already said the same, but nothing has changed for the better.

I know how you feel chap believe me. I know that one day i will get to see my daughter again, i will be part of her life, i know the csa will stop beating me into submission and let me live, let me be able to do things for my daughter and live my life too. its a long way away though but its the only thing that keeps me going, im sure its the same from most people in our situation

Really, but NETT averages out at 35% from gross does it not, taking a 5% pension into account?
This reply is in response to actd's comment on page 6.

Not sure where you are getting 35% from - aside from the pension, if you earn £32k per year gross, and are on the standard tax code, you will take home £24,578 per year - that's just over 23%, not 35%

If you are under CSA3, then the pension reduces your income further. If you are under CSA2, then a 5% pension would reduce the amount the CSA use to calculate the maintenance from £2048 per month, to £1945 per month.

One important point with the new workplace opt-in pensions - there is the option to reduce your tax bill by paying into the pension by salary sacrifice. This has the effect of reducing your gross pay without reducing your takehome pay. As I understand it, this is perfectly acceptable to the Inland Revenue. This would have the effect of reducing your maintenance payments slightly. However, before you act on this, get proper advice from a pension advisor (your employer may have a tame one when setting up the pensions) or contact the Inland Revenue to confirm.

What take home pay calculator only takes 8.5% from gross? It should be more like 35% from gross.

Don't forget, you don't pay any tax at all on the first £9400 of income, so if you earn £12k, you are only paying 20% tax on £2600 - that's why the overall tax percentage is so low (if you earn less than £9400 per year, you will pay no tax at all, just NI, and if you earn less than £7750 you don't even pay NI).

Because of this, and the higher tax band, the percentage overall deductions through tax and NI does increase as your pay increases, but you have to be earning around £100k before it gets to 35%

Really, but NETT averages out at 35% from gross does it not, taking a 5% pension into account?
This reply is in response to actd's comment on page 6.

Not sure where you are getting 35% from - aside from the pension, if you earn £32k per year gross, and are on the standard tax code, you will take home £24,578 per year - that's just over 23%, not 35%

If you are under CSA3, then the pension reduces your income further. If you are under CSA2, then a 5% pension would reduce the amount the CSA use to calculate the maintenance from £2048 per month, to £1945 per month.

One important point with the new workplace opt-in mortgages - there is the option to reduce your tax bill by paying into the pension by salary sacrifice. This has the effect of reducing your gross pay without reducing your takehome pay. As I understand it, this is perfectly acceptable to the Inland Revenue. This would have the effect of reducing your maintenance payments slightly. However, before you act on this, get proper advice from a pension advisor (your employer may have a tame one when setting up the pensions) or contact the Inland Revenue to confirm.

What take home pay calculator only takes 8.5% from gross? It should be more like 35% from gross.

Don't forget, you don't pay any tax at all on the first £9400 of income, so if you earn £12k, you are only paying 20% tax on £2600 - that's why the overall tax percentage is so low (if you earn less than £9400 per year, you will pay no tax at all, just NI, and if you earn less than £7750 you don't even pay NI).

Because of this, and the higher tax band, the percentage overall deductions through tax and NI does increase as your pay increases, but you have to be earning around £100k before it gets to 35%

Sorry, I don't understand, what are opt in mortgages, and how does take home pay not get less if more go into pension.

Thanks, btw, for letting me know about take home pay calculators, I used it and it means when I do lose my job, I can look for even lesser paid jobs, if I can get any job at all, and break even at the lesser amount.

Sorry, my mistake - I meant opt-in pensions - the new workplace pension scheme. I've amended my post to show this now.

If you google takehome pay calculators, there are loads around, I use the MoneySavingsExpert calculator for this.

The way the salary sacrifice works is that if you earn, say £20k, and you pay £1k per year into your pension, your gross pay is still £20k. However, you can ask your employer to reduce your pay by £1k, meaning that your gross pay is £19k, and your employer pays the £1k directly into the pension. The same amount goes into your pension, your takehome pay goes down, BUT you aren't paying pension out of it, so it's no lower than when you were earning £20k and paying the pension out of your income. There may be other implications, and as I said, you really need to get independant advice as I am certainly not an expert on this - it's just something that came up when we were having workplace pensions explained where I work.

Ok I'm new here but have have some questions about these changes.

My situation like several others is an evil ex who is after as much money as she can get and screw what happens to me.

Split up 7 years ago I have 3 kids by her who are 14,12,9 and for a few years I paid her directly and we had no contact with the Csa at all. Then after about 2 years I met my now wife and the evil troll went to the Csa I was told what to pay and I paid her directly but then about a year later she contacted them saying I'd never paid. I disputed this and showed bank statements etc to prove payments were made, but that didn't matter cause the Csa member of staff who spoke to my ex told her to say it was not payments for maintenance so I got hit with huge arrears and then to rub salt in the they deducted straight from my pay.

My current wife and myself have had 2 children together (she has 2 kids previously to us ) so we have 7 kids between us. My wife set up her own business in 2012 and was doing ok I joined her and went self employed spoke to Csa they said I didn't have to pay anything if the business was not making money ( we expect by the end of 2014 to turn a profit) but the troll decided to have a fluid with the Csa again and so I had to prove my income which means our business which makes no money at the moment to provide an income to us and so was asked the question about what do we live on. Unfortunately I said about tax credits and since then we have been pushed to the brink (my wife especially) because the Csa decided that out of the child tax credits we receive in the household that I'm to pay my ex 15% of the tax credits ie money that is meant for my wife's children before me as well as our children so we are pushed from just treading water financially to being pushed under and held there by the Csa.

My question comes to the changes to the cms will it continue to punish people for moving on and having a new family and deduct money that is not even proportionately related to my children with my wife but all 4 kids that live at home. Will the arrears that I'm still paying off continue or will that be wiped clean when it switches to the cms .

I also see the Csa from the rp side as my wife has a nightmare with the other children's NPR and the Csa seem to do nothing but I know if I was to pull half the things that he has I'd get shafted by them but they do nothing to him we get £16 per week from him but pay out more then double that to my ex for 1 more child.

The Csa/CMs need to be made fair not this abomination that is geared to line the pockets of greedy ex's
Btw my ex has a new hubby who has a very high paid job £60 k + and I have started telling my kids to make sure they have phone credit etc ever week cause if I'm going to pay her money every week then my kids need to spend that money every week.

Hello

Unfortunately the arrears are carried forward, the only good thing with the new 2012 system is that they don't include your tax credits ( as CSA2 did) nor your partners wage (as CSA1 did)

The new 2012 will be your gross pay, minus pensions then a % applied for how many children live with you and a further % for the children you pay maintenance for

Hope that helps

Ok I'm new here but have have some questions about these changes.

My situation like several others is an evil ex who is after as much money as she can get and screw what happens to me.

Split up 7 years ago I have 3 kids by her who are 14,12,9 and for a few years I paid her directly and we had no contact with the Csa at all. Then after about 2 years I met my now wife and the evil troll went to the Csa I was told what to pay and I paid her directly but then about a year later she contacted them saying I'd never paid. I disputed this and showed bank statements etc to prove payments were made, but that didn't matter cause the Csa member of staff who spoke to my ex told her to say it was not payments for maintenance so I got hit with huge arrears and then to rub salt in the they deducted straight from my pay.

My current wife and myself have had 2 children together (she has 2 kids previously to us ) so we have 7 kids between us. My wife set up her own business in 2012 and was doing ok I joined her and went self employed spoke to Csa they said I didn't have to pay anything if the business was not making money ( we expect by the end of 2014 to turn a profit) but the troll decided to have a fluid with the Csa again and so I had to prove my income which means our business which makes no money at the moment to provide an income to us and so was asked the question about what do we live on. Unfortunately I said about tax credits and since then we have been pushed to the brink (my wife especially) because the Csa decided that out of the child tax credits we receive in the household that I'm to pay my ex 15% of the tax credits ie money that is meant for my wife's children before me as well as our children so we are pushed from just treading water financially to being pushed under and held there by the Csa.

My question comes to the changes to the cms will it continue to punish people for moving on and having a new family and deduct money that is not even proportionately related to my children with my wife but all 4 kids that live at home. Will the arrears that I'm still paying off continue or will that be wiped clean when it switches to the cms .

I also see the Csa from the rp side as my wife has a nightmare with the other children's NPR and the Csa seem to do nothing but I know if I was to pull half the things that he has I'd get shafted by them but they do nothing to him we get £16 per week from him but pay out more then double that to my ex for 1 more child.

The Csa/CMs need to be made fair not this abomination that is geared to line the pockets of greedy ex's
Btw my ex has a new hubby who has a very high paid job £60 k + and I have started telling my kids to make sure they have phone credit etc ever week cause if I'm going to pay her money every week then my kids need to spend that money every week.

Please take the time to email your Mp (you can find who your mp is here http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/ ) I actually got a reply from mine today, he has raised the issue with another Mp (i guess its a case of its going up the ranks) if enough of us contact our Mp`s and let them know this system is wrong and unjust it WILL get changed, it wont happen for us, these things are too slow for that but it will stop the CSA from ruining more lifes later down the line. Nothing will change though while we stand idle and do nothing.