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f i give my ex and my daughter the 180 csa money she will have over 400 per month to spend on food etc Welfare pays for everything else ! rent council tax etc it will leave me with £50 per month to eat ?
its not fair wil lshe lose 180per month off her benefits ?
no, as far as I know, benefits are no longer reduced as a result of maintenance payments.
Hello joemichael
Thank you for your post. I am William, a Child Maintenance Options consultant. As actd has said, a receiving parent who is on benefits can keep all of the child maintenance they receive and it will not affect their benefits. In addition, receiving maintenance does not affect Housing Benefit or tax credits regardless of the amount (although a receiving parent will need to consult their Local Authority to find out if they take child maintenance into account when calculating any help with Council Tax that they may be entitled to). Any child maintenance received should still be declared to Jobcentre Plus, even though it should not affect any benefits received. If you require any further information about this you may wish to get in touch with Jobcentre Plus.
With regard to the amount of maintenance that you are paying, if you have concerns over the way in which the Child Support Agency (CSA) has calculated these, you will need to speak to them directly. You can find their contact details on any letter that they have sent to you or on their website, along with information about how they calculate child maintenance at https://www.gov.uk/child-support-agency.
The CSA is not the only option that parents have to put in place a child maintenance arrangement. Some parents choose to put in place a family-based arrangement. A family-based arrangement is where you and your daughter's mother can agree together your own terms, for example it is up to the both of you to decide the amount of your payments. You can also decide to include other kinds of support for example shared care or the provision of things that your daughter needs such as clothing. A family-based arrangement is not legally binding and collaborating to make your own arrangement can be better for your daughter as it can keep you and her mother both focused on her needs.
To find out more about all the options available to put in place a child maintenance arrangement, including online tools and forms to help you make a family-based arrangement, 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.
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