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I have been in a family based agreement with my ex for the last 2.5 years having my 2 children every fortnight for 2 nights. I also have them in half term holiday and summer holidays etc.
I have been paying my ex £60 every fortnight + i also help pay towards school trips, uniforms, school shoes etc.
To get my kids its a 150 mile round trip on the Friday then another 150 round trip to take them back on the Sunday. This is costing me around £50 in petrol.
As you can see this is costing me around £200 a month +.
Until recently i could afford this but a fire at a place i worked made everyone redundant. My boss has been understanding to me and is trying to hold on to me offering me office based/home work as and when which means around 8-10 hours a week earning around 70-80 pound a week.
I currently live with my new partner and her child who is 12. We live in a Council property and she only works 16 hours a week herself.
Has any one got any ideas on where i would stand with the CSA in light of all this.
My ex seems to think that even the £120 a month is not enough but i physically cannot maintain the amount I am paying now never mind anymore.
I help supporting my partners child now too with school trips, clothes etc so I feel like I am in a hopeless position.
I am having to borrow money off my parents just to put petrol in the car but this cant carry on indefinately.
How will the CSA look at my case, do they take into account what I already pay her, how much it costs me just to get the kids (she is not willing to bring them to me or even meet half way) and also how much i spend on clothes and schooling for them?
Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading. Any advice greatfully recieived
It's worth looking at the csa calculator, but from what you have said so far, firstly, the CSA will take your current pay - they may ask for past payslips, but your employer should be able to confirm that your circumstances have changed since then.As you are earning less than 100 per week, you will pay the flat rate of 5 per week, and you do not have to pay an additional amount to your ex for uniforms etc. On that basis, if you are prepared to pay any more, I'd try to negotiate a new agreement with your ex, but if you can't then you can ask the CSA to take your case.
Hello there. I'm new here too but I've been reading what people have posted for a while and decided to reply to you.
I'm in a similar situation myself but I have a full time job and a part-time evening job in a pub now I'm with someone else and finding it hard to pay for my 2 boys as well as my new family.
Have you thought about finding extra work seeing as you say you only work 8 to 10 hours a week?
I feel that my children are primarily my responsibility so I do my best to make sure I pay for them, even if it means working long hours.
Another thing I wanted to ask you is how much you were earning before your hours were reduced. If you bring home £80 a week for 8 hours work I assume you earned about £400 for a 40 hour week and if that's the case shouldn't you have been paying more than £30 a week to your ex? I earn about that much and I pay £64 a week which is the figure I got from the CSA calculator and my ex is happy with that because she also checked with the calculator and knows that's what I should be paying.
By the way, I've read that the minimum you have to pay is going up to £10 a week in the future even if you're unemployed.
Since this poster hasn't responded to my post I thought I'd ask you a question.
As a hard-working father and step-father I can't help but wonder why this man is content to work only one day per week but aside from that, I fear that if he goes to the CSA and they look into his past earnings he may find he owes his ex a lot of money.
He says he paid her £30 a week for two children when he appears to have been earning enough for double that amount.
I wonder if your advice to go through the CSA could backfire on him.
Hi there 🙂
I didn't think the CSA could backdate payments and it only starts from the time the parent asks them to take maintenance on their behalf. I dont know a great deal about CSA though!
Perhaps the poster cant get another job, some areas of the country are far worse than others employment wise. 🙂
Hi,
Thanks for replying.
I tried to find out if the CSA would look into past payments and found this which seems to say they do.....I'm glad I used their calculator and paid what it said now.
Here's the link
http://boards.fool.co.uk/csa-threatening-bailiffs-12517405.aspx?sort=postdate
"A friend has a 7 year old son who lives with his mother most of the week but normally sleeps with my friend, his dad, for 2 or 3 nights each week.
Friend has been paying his son's mother a weekly amount towards the upkeep of his son which they agreed between themselves shortly after his son was born. Now the Child Support Agency are telling friend (mostly by telephone so far but details in writing requested by friend) that he should have been paying an amount which is £3 more than he's been paying for 7 years, but that as far as they're concerned he's not paid a penny so they're demanding friend pays the amount originally agreed between friend and his son's mother + £3 backdated to when his son was born, threatening the bailiffs if he doesn't pay up."
...There are two stickys concerning CSA payments at the top of this section. Click on the second and it will take you to a Dad info page about the CSA, if you scroll down you will see a paragraph concerning your question. Effectively it says that payment only starts once tthe CSA open a case.
The sticky at the top was a very helpful leaflet but its "been moved" however if you google CSA and go to their website you will find it in section 2 I think and it can be dowwnloaded.
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