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Hello,
I am currently having a nightmare with my CS payments and would like some help.
I basically worked in a management position last year totalling £24993 per year for two children on less than 52 nights a year.
Roll forward a year and due to covid and one thing an another I am now on £21000 per year.
Despite loosing just under £4000 a year they have told me that this figure is not 25% of the original figure so no change in payment is due! I am on a tight budget were I am just about covering bills and falling behind with others.
I have looked on the online calculator and on my current salary i should be paying is £285.66 however they demand I pay £330 a month as per last years figures. How can that be right that I am paying an extra £55ish pound per month when I don't have the same income, is there anything that can be done on this?
Also, i travel from London to the midlands to get the kids which is around 135 miles. My ex partner does not care at all about this and refuses to drop them to me and I have to go collect the children or I simply wouldn't see them.
I have petrol receipts, train receipts and CS have not helped so far? I submitted a variation request via the portal.
Am I entitled to any support towards travel expenses as I have uploaded them to my portal and they haven't responded in over a month, also how much of your expenses are supported in this instance.
Thanks all for any support you can help a struggling dad with!
Hi
Its totally unfair, many have faced the same situation. Unfortunately there is no obvious solution and most just carry on paying.
Some options as below
1, stop working for 2 months, claim UC and then start a new job, the drop to UC will trigger a review to reduce payments and then when you start new job it will be based on new salary. However not everyone can afford to not work for 2 months.
2. Increase payments into your pension so that your gross salary is reduced by 25%, again not everyone can afford to do this but this option does mean at least you get to keep the money for future pension.
In relation to expenses your total monthly expenses will be x 12 and deducted from your annual salary to produce a new gross salary for CMS calculation. Will only lead to a small reduction and no way reflect the actual expenses incurred, however it all helps.
Many dads on this forum give up work for some time due to the unfair nature of CMS...
All the best.
Thank you for your message.
From being in this situation I can understand why people do give up there jobs, it seems that if you find yourself paying CS and working for one employer for more than a year that your payments can become impossible. The 25% rule is an absolute joke. In my example I'd have to drop just under £7000 to qualify which would mean I couldn't actually afford to live anyway and would force me on to benefits.
I am getting a new contract in January and I am currently furloughed to make matters worse.
Do you guys think there is any chance of being employed, claiming that your unemployed to CS and then restarting your current role or are they quite savvy to this sort of thing? (Not even starting yet a UC credit claim or perhaps putting a request for a claim in then stopping it)
Cheers lads and all the best
Hi,
You can just wait for your next annual review, and if your still on the £21k salary, you will be assessed on that. If you don't want to pay more maintenance, you would have to avoid working overtime, bonuses/pay rises.
It would be a bad idea to tell CMS your unemployed while still working. You would be at risk of falling into arrears and making backdated payments. They could also switch to the collect and pay method, where they take money direct from your payslip, and you pay 20% fees on top.
I agree, becoming unemployed for the time it takes you to sort out the payments, and then re-employed will cost you more in lost income, as well as being borderline illegal, plus you lose a lot of employment protection if you are newly employed.
However, as suggested above, you can increase your pension payments to get your drop to that 25% figure and once the recalculation is done, you can reduce that pension payment again - as long as you income doesn't increase by more than 25% as a result (which it obviously won't), you're in the clear.
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