[Solved] CSA liability should it end?

I am not sure how the letter of the law works but you would think that if you are liable for anything then you could be able to pay your daughter directly

That would make more sense

Thanks super mario,
If she has moved out does that not mean her mother can longer claim child benefit, thus removing my liability? I pay the agreed amount into a saving account set up as the CSA weren't passing on payments to the mother!

yes, if no child benefit is being paid, then no maintenance is due. I'm curious why the CSA weren't passing on payments.

Hello Toffo

Thank you for your posts. I am William, a Child Maintenance Options consultant. You do not mention in your post what type of child maintenance arrangement you have in place.

If you have a family-based arrangement, which you and your daughter's mother have agreed the terms of together, it is up to the both of you to decide when your payments will stop and if the fact that your daughter has her own flat will affect your payments in any way. A family-based arrangement is not legally binding but it is flexible to meet the needs the children, if their circumstances change. However, when parents can not reach an agreement some choose to follow the guidelines set out by the Child Support Agency (CSA), which is the Government's statutory maintenance service.

Generally under the CSA's rules child maintenance is paid to the parent with the main day-to-day care of the child by the other parent. I have included their guidelines on when maintenance payments end for you below. However, their can be exceptions to these rules and as your daughter no longer lives with her mother you may wish to clarify your situation with the CSA directly. If you still have a case with the CSA, you can find their contact details on any letter that they have sent to you or on their website, along with further information about when child maintenance ends at https://www.gov.uk/child-support-agency.

The CSA state that child maintenance must be paid by the paying parent to the receiving parent until the child turns 16 or until they reach 20 if they are in full-time, non-advanced education (not higher than A-level equivalent), or for as long as Child Benefit is being paid. When a child leaves full-time education in the summer, Child Benefit generally continues until the first week of September. Also, anyone aged 16 or 17 who is not in education, is not working and does not receive employment related benefits, is also defined as a child.

The definition of full-time education is more than 12 hours a week of study, on a course up to and including A level standard. Some examples of non-advanced education are:

GCSEs
A levels
iGCSEs
Pre-U
International Baccalaureate
NVQ/SVQ level 1, 2 or 3
BTEC National Diploma, National Certificate and First Diploma
SCE higher grade or similar

If the child were in advanced or higher education, they would no longer qualify for child maintenance. Some examples of advanced and higher education are:

a degree
Diploma of Higher Education
NVQ level 4 or above
BTEC Higher National Certificate (HNC)
teacher training

Therefore, under the Government's statutory service's guidelines, your payments stop when Child Benefit payments for her have stopped, your daughter finishes full-time non-advanced education, or she becomes 20 years old.

You can find further information about Child Benefit and entitlement, including information about when a child does not live with either parent, on Gov.uk using the following link https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit.

If you have a Consent Order in place, which is an arrangement made through the courts, you will need to seek legal advice. You may like to contact a solicitor or use the following link to the Gov.uk website which will help you to find a legal advisor in your local area.

To find out more about how Child Maintenance Options can help, or for information on all the options available to put in place a child maintenance arrangement, including online tools and forms to help with family-based arrangements, you can visit our website at http://cmoptions.org. If you would prefer a friendly and confidential chat, please call us on 0800 988 0988 (free from a landline).

We also have a sorting out separation web-app, it aims to make it much easier for separated parents to find the support they need, when and where they need it, and encourages parents to collaborate on a range of issues. The link is: http://www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation

Hope this helps.

Many thanks to you all for your help, after digging a bit deeper I have resigned myself to the fact that I have to pay until my daughter turns 20 as I am left to assume (due to no contact for several years) she is studying a BTEC level 3 on her mothers say-so and she is claiming benefit until she reaches that age, as for why the CSA didn't pass on payments I have no idea I had proof of payment (AEO) but had to put up with the constant grief that it wasn't being paid for months so decided to sit down and arrange a plan between us which has worked fine.

What I have found difficult is the lack of information on how the BTEC system works and that the payee of maintenance isn't informed that they should continue to or stop paying when the child reaches the age of 19 due to their educational choices, regardless of the set up?

Once again many thanks for your help
Toffo