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Can anyone help - my maintenance assessment is relatively high at just under £500 for my 15 year old daugher. My ex Wife left for another man and moved in with him 85 miles away so I have the burden of a 170 mile trip to collect my daughter - for one visit that is 320 miles to pick her up and drop her off. This is a considerable expense, and I mentioned it to the CMS when they first assessed my case, to which they told me I was entitled to a reduction but it would not make much difference - this surprised me. Apparantly, they calculate the number of miles travelled annually, then multiply this by the government set mileage allowance (say 15p per mile). Then this total is deducted from your gross income they use for the assessment. So in my case, it would be 320 miles x 24 trips pa x 0.15p per miles = £1150. This is then deducted from my gross salary against which the assessed amount is calculated, so effectively I would pay 9% less which equates to £90 pa or £7.50 per month!! I cannot believe this is correct - can anyone confirm? I honestly expected that a larger part of the travel cost would be deducted from the monthly assessed amount.
As an aside, my ex wife has refused to help with the travel. I asked if she would put my daugher on the train (at my expense) but she refused. I even tried a solicitors letter which was ignored.
Any help appreciated.
Hi
I don't know the mileage rate, but I can confirm that the final figure is deducted from your gross pay for the purposes of the calculation. In fact, the CSA expect you to cover the first £15 per week (so £780 per year) of travel costs, and it's only the costs above this that can be used - I'm not sure if the CMS do this, though I have a feeling they do - in which case, taking this off your figures, only £370 would be taken off your salary, so a saving of £33 per year.
I really dont know how they can justify that, another example of the system being bias against the "absent parent".
I can see the argument to some extent that it shouldn't be a direct reduction in maintenance, but I do agree that it should be shared more fairly and additional consideration should be made if the parent with care is the one to move away.
Hi guys,
sorry to hijack your thread mate.
I will have to travel 297 miles each way ( 1,188 miles a weekend) I will probably have to do this every other weekend. Maybe the odd one or two where she will bring him.
Which those calculations, that's £4,276.80. I can currently only afford £160 a month in CM.
How much would mine realistically be reduced?
I was told, albeit by a very questionable source, that if you ask cms to do this, they only count miles that the child is in the car. Effectively halving the mileage on which they base the reduction anyway.
The whole system is like Chinese whispers.
I was told, albeit by a very questionable source, that if you ask cms to do this, they only count miles that the child is in the car. Effectively halving the mileage on which they base the reduction anyway.
The whole system is like Chinese whispers.
I'm 99% sure that's incorrect - the idea is that it's a reduction due to the costs of keeping in touch with your children - it's quite feasible that you wouldn't have your children in the case with you at all if you were going to visit them where they lived and stayed there for the whole time.
ejlmc - I reckon 1188 miles 26 times per year, which is 30,888 miles per year, which at 15p per mile (if fleecedbytheex is correct - you'd need to check with t CMS), is £4633, less the £780 per year, leaves £3853 - so take this off your pay and then apply the percentage based on the number of children, and that should give you the correct figure. If you get a figure for mileage from the CMS, would be useful if you could post it on here, and get it in writing from them.
Thanks actd.
Will post on here when/if I hear anything back from CMS.
Update - for 6k miles pa, they reduced my payments by;
£1.20 per week...........[/b]!!!!!
I can't say I'm surprised - if anything it's better than the calculation I had posted. It is ridiculous - even at 15p per mile (which is well below what it costs to run a car) you are getting a £60 pa reduction vs £900 pa costs. It won't affect the outcome, but you could raise it with your MP - it's something that should be addressed more equitabl, especially if the parent with care is the one who moves.
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