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Evening everyone,
I currently pay CSA payments to my children's Nan as they live with her. She is the mothers mother.
Currently I have paid money straight from my salary to the CSA up to January. This is in the region of £450 every month. I am now switching to Direct Debit payments. Because the CSA took so long to calculate the payments they have missed one of the payment dates. I have a direct debit set up and an agreement to pay from the end of March. The Nan has contacted me advising that she has not had the payment this month and can I pay her some money direct for school clubs etc I want to say no as I know she spends the csa money on cigarettes and iTunes cards to play games with. But feel guilty as I don't want my daughter to miss out. Also the mother doesn't pay a penny and rarely sees the children.
What should I do?
Hi there
Unfortunately the paying parent has no influence on what payments are spent on.
£450 is quite a sizeable chunk out of her monthly income and so it's hardly surprising she is asking for help.
Have you spoken to the CSA about this?
Its worth pointing out that she can reopen the case with the CSA if she is unhappy, so it might be as well to bite the bullet and pay the shortfall.
Mojo,
I think what the OP is saying is that the CSA still has a case open, but he is switching payment methods to direct pay via direct debit.
I would suggest that you pay up now, as you will have to pay up later anyway.
The CSA do a reconciliation report at some-point on payments to date. They will simply add on whatever arrears you have to the next calculation if necessary.
I would pay up, move on and not worry about what she spends it on.
You can't influence that.
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