can csa reduce payments to cover travel expenses

A question about : can csa reduce payments to cover travel expenses

does anyone know if the csa can reduce payments to the resident parent because the non resident parent travels 18 miles to collect his daughter for weekend visits??

Best answers:

• I don't know the answer, but why should the child lose out on maintenence money for THE CHILD because of where the NR Parent lives? If only resident parents got tax breaks for travelling costs to and from school, nursery etc...
• If you are a non-resident parent, we might look at the amount of child maintenance again if you have special expenses of more than Ј10 a week, or Ј15 if your income is Ј200 or more, for:
  keeping in contact with your children (for example, if the parent with care has moved a long way away).
  18 miles isn't really a long way! But i guess with the prices of petrol going up, the NRP might raise the issue.
• The NRP could apply for a variation on the grounds of travel expenses but I wouldn't think that an 18 mile trip would be deemed as excessive enough to warrant it.
  If successful though then the maintenance assessment would be reduced.
• As said above a variation can be looked but my opinion is that morally the NRP wanting to reduce maintenance payments that ensure your child can eat is morally wrong.
• the first Ј15 per week is disregarded anyway, so for 18 miles there wouldn't be any award.
• well lucky you to have you have had IS support and being well enough to get jobs
  If you produce the sperm or the eggs, pay for the produce!
• You're correct. I was lucky I was able to get IS for 4 years but am sure the tax I paid previous to having my child and the tax I will pay for the next 30 years will more than cover what I claimed during those years.
  I do pay for my 'produce'. Classy
• On the occasions I managed to persuade ex hubby to have the children, we have split the travel costs....he would travel down from where he was (he was the one who moved, I am still in our old house), I would travel up from where I am and we would meet in the middle (literally, the middle of the country!).
  It seemed the fairest way to do it.
  Edit - we each paid our own travel costs, not small bearing in mind he moved 400 miles away!
• If the PWC decides to move here there and everywhere then and the NRP wants to maintain contact then I don't think the NRP should pay for all the travel costs.
  For all the CSA give anyway...it's hardly a huge amount. I have seen NRP's on here that cost hundreds of Ј's to maintain contact and they get a piddling Ј10 or whatever to help with costs.
  I suppose it's how a PWC looks at it - what's more important, a small reduction for contact or no contact and full CS?
  Like you Sue, if I had the chance I would do a half way thing. Or offer to pay towards petrol.
• Goodness yes....unfortunately, he won't go for it now and hasn't had them overnight for 2 years (and he only had them that last time because he wanted them there for his wedding).
  In fact, if you add up the hours he has had them in the last two years, it wouldn't even come to half a day! He is missing out on so much with his boys..they grow up so fast.
• I thought that that was what the 1/7 reduction per average number of overnight stays was for? So that the nrp isn't paying for when the QC is with them? I do realize that some pwc (the ones speedy calls wimmin) lie to the csa regarding overnight stays (no worries on that one with our pwc she just refused any contact) but surely for the majority of the population lying to an official organization is simply not an option.