Shared Residence and ex giving up work voluntarily

Hi all, in January of this year the court granted a Shared Residence Order at our 12 year old's request. The split over a 28 day period is that he sleep 16 nights with me and 12 nights with his Dad. I am still in receipt of the Child Benefit.

The ex also has Shared Residence of his younger child aged 6 (to a different Mother), which is a straight forward week on, week off arrangement. Not sure who holds the Child Benefit in that arrangement.

From doing my own research, and speaking to various agencies today it appears that the ex cannot claim Income Support for our son due to a) him being over the age of 12 and b) me receiving the Child Benefit.

The ex is voluntarily giving up work and has told our son that he will claim as a lone parent and top up his income with jobs on the side. I'm not sure whether the job he is about to give up was cash in hand (which he has a history of) or whether he paid tax on his earnings. He is a sub-contractor builder. I guess this may or may not be relevant to whether he gets anything at all??

My real question is in two parts, firstly will there still be a CSA trigger if the ex is awarded JSA? And if so, would I be expected to pay him maintenance?

Secondly, if he is awarded Income Support on the basis of the younger child - would this trigger anything with the CSA regarding our child?

For info, I work part-time and earn £175 per week.

Many thanks in advance. Tried to be impartial but as you can probably guess, loads of history on this one

He would be entitled to Income Support if he holds the Child Benefit for the child of 6 but not for your son because you hold the Child Benefit and he is aged 12 or more. Equally as you would still be deemed the Parent With Care there will be no trigger for CSA action. You are not expected to maintain another parent's child.
If he gives up work voluntarily from a PAYE job then he will be liable to a sanction on his claim for JSA but not if he was self employed or claims Income Support.

Hope that helps

Thanks Emma, that's really helpful.

So just to clarify, am I deemed to be PWC (despite SRO) due to holding the Child Benefit or the number of nights (or both) and that this also applies to JSA as well as Income Support?

Also, what checks are in place for benefit claimants? I would not put it past him to lie to them re: CB or the detail of the SRO.

As I mentioned, a long, long history and being forewarned is forearmed or whatever the saying is

Thanks for your help.

x

For benefit purposes the PWC is deemed to be the holder of the Child Benefit and they will check the records held By HMRC to ensure it is in payment before paying Income Support to him as a lone parent.