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Im currently at SAHD - my wife works full time and I take care of our 2 baby girls. I will be doing a bit of part time work and so we need to put both our girls into nursery for 1 day a week. If I have the 'childcare vouchers' taken from my MOD pension this means my pension would ne £243 less than what I get currently.
Would my CSA payments be increased as a result of this? Ive read they would due to National Insurance contributions or something.
I think the £243 is a salary sacrifice and therefore not subject to tax and NI so I think in real terms it is a lot less but not sure how much
Are you paying maintenance to an ex for children - you haven't said so. I'd have a word about this direct with the CSA, the calculation is on takehome pay, and as the vouchers are a salary sacrifice, then it's possible that the CSA won't take the vouchers into account, but I'm not sure. However, either way, the vouchers are definitely worth considering - depending on your pension and your total income, the voucher can effectively know about 30% off the cost of childcare - however, if you are getting child tax credits for childcare costs, then you need to reduce to amount of cost you declare by the vouchers, so this can reduce the benefit of the vouchers.
Hi Balby.
Thank you for your post. I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant.
Here at Child Maintenance Options we provide free impartial information and support to parents and anyone else with an interest in child maintenance.
We are a different organisation to the Child Support Agency (CSA), but I will try and point you in the right direction.
The CSA will work out child maintenance using only your income, which includes earnings and money from an occupational or personal pension. They use the amount of income left after deductions such as Income Tax, National Insurance and any money paid into a personal pension scheme.
They also take in to account any Child and Working Tax Credits that you, or your wife, may receive. This is because it is classed as a household income.
The only time Working Tax Credits would not be taken into account is if your wife is the main earner in your household. However, Child Tax Credits are always taken into account.
But, as actd has said you will need to speak to the CSA directly to discuss your case. Their contact details can be found on any letter they have sent you, or this website http://www.gov.uk/child-support-agency provides their contact details.
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