CSA

A question about : CSA

***Long Post Alert...sorry ****

I'm beside myself as I have no clue about the CSA.

My other half has 2 kids from his previous marriage. It would be an under statement to say that his Ex wants to destroy him (eg I've seen catalogue bills etc which she continued running up against his address, even some 2 years after she walked out on my hubby with the kids. His credit is totally wrecked as she kept on sabataging their previous home when he found buyers so in the end, the house was reposssessed)

My other half received a letter this morning from the CSA asking for not only his payslips from May 2005 (he is now out of work) but also MY wage slips.

My hubby is fully committed to supporting his kids but the fact is he is not working. He is on the old scheme and the questions seem to be geared to the old scheme (I don't really understand the rules)

I just do not understand why they want MY wage slips.
I love them to bits but want to stay out of the financial arrangements / support of his children.

Can someone please explain what is going on? Are you in the same situation as me? Or heard of someone else? What happened to you / them?

So what will happen if I don't give them my wage slips? Will he have to pay more when he starts working again?

What happens if I do give them my wage slip?

It just seems so unfair - as well as the emotional trama of dealing with a vindictive Ex-wife, I now have to deal with the CSA. Why? cos I fell in love with a man with children.

The other thing is we want to move house and buy another house (can only be in my name cos he can't get credit. Have a look at this post --> https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=125393). So now I am wondering........When my other half starts working again, will CSA treat him as having no housing costs as the mortgage would be in my name?

If anyone can help me, I would really appreciate it.

***apologies if I am rambling in parts or have typos ***

Best answers:

• As I understand it, the household income is taken into account as it would be if a court order was to be made for maintenance.
• Yes I'm in a similar situation to you. They ask for our wageslips to assess who's helping pay the living expenses for the ex-husband; you personally won't pay maintenance for the kids but the CSA want to make sure the ex-husband has a way of keeping a roof over his head. I'd send them if I were you.
  Jules
• I'm still confused Bossyboots and Wigginsmum...
  Bossyboots - really? but there are not my kids!
  Wigginsmum - but why do they need my wage slip to prove that? surely all he has to do is declare his wages and his housing costs and that would give them their figures.
  I just don't get it... :-(
• When we were assessed by the CSA I flatly refused to send my payslips. If I were you I wouldn't let them near them. And I would also send them your hubby's P45 to show he is not working. They can deduce what they want, but his assessment will be on his earnings at time of assessment.
  If you do send your payslips they will take your income into consideration as 'household income' but you won't get to see what the ex-wifes new partner (if she has one) earns, as that doesn't count! Fair system. I don't think so.
• I can only tell you what we were told; at the time we were assessed, we were living in a house we rented together but which came out of my bank account, so maybe that had a bearing on it.
  The only thing I can suggest is phone the CSA and ask why they need them, if it's not clear from the paperwork.
  Jules
• Unfortunately a lot of people are stuck on the old rules system which is what was in place before the government bought the big white elephant which is the new computer system (the same company, EDS, supplied the Tax Credit Office computer system). The CSA is currently in the process of transfering people over to the new system but as you can appreciate there are thousands of cases so it is taking some time, although it's currently 2 years since the new computer system was brought online and they still haven't finished the transfer. Unfortunately the old system requires the new partner to provide their wage slips too but the new system doesn't. The new system calculation is based solely on the net income of the parent paying the maintenance.
  I would suggest your husband gets in contact with the CSA and advises them that although he was working in May he is now unemployed indeed he should have told them he was unemployed as soon as he lost his job.
  I think though that the reason for the request for May payslips is probably to check his income and whether the assessment in place at that time was correct.
  I think normally this type of review is prompted by contact by either of the parents. If his income had increased since his last assessment and he hadn't told the CSA then the amount he was paying would have been too little and he would owe more money and there would now be arrears.
  Since your husband is now unemployed his liability would be vastly reduced and the arrears would have to wait to be collected until he was back in employment.
• From what i can remember from working there several years ago they should only ask you for your wage slips if you have a child together? This may be wrong but it rings a bell. I'll try and check for you.
• orchid, i have been in exactly the same situation and you do not need to give them details of your income although they will send all sorts of correspondence to you and your husband stating that you do. I felt at the time i was being intimidated by the csa as they even sent me recorded delivery letters asking for the information. My advice to you would be to research your rights, my partner and i did and we knew that my income was not relevant at that time. I am sure that the csa had information relating to partners income on their website - but it was well hidden. Don't bother phoning them as you will not have any record/proof of advice, always get everything in writing. Although they often loose that too!
  This was under the old rules and we didn't have any children living with us at the time.
  good luck
• I would like to echo what the others have said. I would also like to say that the ex wife may not be as bad as your partner makes out. My ex partner told his new girlfriend that I had ordered stuff from the catalogue in his name and left him in deep debt. I wasnt true and since them me and her have become good friends. People want to make their ex's look like the bf/gf from hell and new bf's/gf's are too willing to believe it because it makes them feel safer.
• Quite right Black Saturn. I made friends a few years ago with an ex g/f of my ex husband as when he left I knew he'd left her in a mess, emotionally. We became good friends to this day and she didn't loose the 'step children' she bonded with for 5 years. He had told her many stories and 'fairy tales' about me, our marriage and even the children to boost his limp ego.
  She had to prove her income to the csa as he went umemployed soon after they moved in together and did so to help.
• I absolutly thought it was ridiculous to see what each others partners earnt. They used the he's unemployed bit to gain access to her salary.
  She and I never spoke till 3 weeks after he had left (while she was out shopping and in secret). I phoned her as I knew she would have been drip fed wrong information.
  Incidently she had the house in her name and that was safe but they 'bought a holiday' home in Portugal while together and he wanted half that, whilst unemployed!
• Can someone tell me what happens if the ex husband stops working and is supported by his new wife who has a very high income. I fear that one day this situation will happen to a friend of mine. Her ex-husband is very resentful of the maintainance he pays, and this isn't just heresay from my friend. He's said things to me before about it. His new wife earns a lot and could afford to support them all.New wife has a child from her 1st marriage but no children together. One day I think friends ex will pack in his job/get fired/take redundancy to avoid paying maintainance.
• I think that if you don't give your wage details the csa assume you can contribute to half of the household bills etc. I think this is what I was told when they wanted my details, although I also think that what I earn should not come into it. I also agree that I should not have to support my partners children from his previous relationship especially when the money clearly does not get spent on them.
• My situation with the CSA is this.....
  I live with my partner and our son.
  He has a child with an ex partner.
  The CSA recently got in touch after the ex decided she might get more money than he was already paying her.
  They based their decision on my partners wages and MY Child Tax Credits.
  I receive extra Tax Credits as my son is disabled and we have worked out that the ex now gets 9.00 a week of money that is supposedly for my son.
  They also sent the ex a complete breakdown of our earnings which we were not happy about.
• I have a friend who is getting married next year. He has a child from a previous relationship that he pays maintenance for. The mother left him when pregnant with their child, and the child has been told the other man is their father. My friend never fought for access at the time as he couldn't afford the legal costs. Now he thinks too much time has passed and it would be really cruel for the child to find out through courts that "Dad" isn't Dad after all.
  My friend is getting married and he will become stepDad to his new wife's children. She has been on her own for a long time, and has her own house with equity in it, which he is moving into. She is keeping the house etc., in her name only, but he will pay her board money to cover household expenses. He'd rather do that as he knows she came through a messy divorce where she had to really fight to keep her home and he doesn't want her to think he is only after her money. Also he thinks it is only right that eventually her house will pass to her children, and he doesn't want anyone from his family to have a claim on it.
  My friend thought that his maintenance payments would reduce as he'll have extra dependants when he becomes step-Dad to her children. Does this ruling mean that he'll now have to tell the CSA about his new wife's income and her housing details, and her circumstances will be taken into account? I know the woman too and she'll go crackers if this is the case!
• An NRPP does not have to supply their income details.This will result in an Cat B MA,but does not generally alter the assessment figure.
  Never deal with a case officer.Always ask to be put through to a CRO-Complaints Resolution Officer.Take their name and direct phone number and thereon only deal with them.
  Always ask for everything to be put in writing then you have a record.
  Do a google on NACSA.This organisation can help everyone with CSA problems.
  Child Support Analysis is also a useful site too.
  It is worth genning up on the legislation,compliants procedure and so forth because the CSA is a bureaucratic nightmare.
  I have been to the Parliamentary Ombudsman twice and had the pleasure of dealing with this crowd for over 10 years.