Variation calculation in child maintenance

I would be grateful for your advice.

My ex has applied to the CSA and it has decided that I have to pay the 15% of my salary as maintenance. But my son is a full boarder at a boarding school and his boarding component of the total fee come to about £800 a month. I have requested the CSA to consider this payment under "variation of payments" but it is going to take weeks if not months. In the mean time I have to pay both Boarding school fees and maintenance although he is hardly at home.

Can anyone tell me how do they calculate maintenance payments in these circumstances.

2 parts to your question here.

1)maintenance calculation:if a qualifying child is at boarding school, any night spent there will count as a night with the person who would normally provide care at that time. Example, a child who has been living with his mother during the week and spending alternating weekends with his father then goes to boarding school. The time as a boarder would continue to be treated as if he were living with his mother. That is, the nights spent at school will still count as nights spent with his mother.

2)variations (new rules):the maintenance element of boarding school fees incurred or expected to be incurred by the non resident parent may be considered. if the maintenance element cannot be distinguished from other costs the CSA can decide what to include but this should not exceed 35% of the total fees.If the non resident parent receives financial help to pay the fees or only pays part of the fees with someone else a proportion of the costs are included.In all cases, a variation for boarding school fees should not reduce the amount of income to be considered for calculating maintenance by more than 50%.

Hope this helps you!I have no idea how long the variation process may take. best to ask the CSA directly.

Thanks for that reply.
Could you please let me know where I could read to find more information about this?

I am still not very clear about my situation. The school has clearly indicated that boarding component of the fee is £900 a month. This does not include education fees which is charged separately.

In addition ofcourse I have to pay all other extra expenses such as for music, sports, daya away etc. Then I have to drive about 500 miles every 2 weeks to pick him up etc. So do I still have to bare those costs as well?

I can't add much to dadanon's reply, but I can say I managed to get a variation for driving about 540 miles a month, so its certainly worth doing. Took about 3 months to process, but I was with their Bolton office which is pretty bad.

Can I ask, are you under any legal obligation to make the payments to the school and the other stuff? Can you simply stop paying and tell the ex to fund these things from the CSA payment?

No I am not under any obligation to make these school payment. That is ofcourse except the fact that he is my son and he started at this school before we separated. My ex has never worked and no fixed income. So I naturally continued to pay all his bills and all other extras. I do not want my son to feel any difference in his life so he plays every available sport in the school and school send the bill to me for various sports kits, tours etc.
I find it rather irritating to see that I pay for all his needs yet I am asked to pay his mum for having him just 30 days a year at home.

Well, all credit to you. But it seems to me that you applying for a variation to reduce your csa, or, saying to the ex your going to reduce your other financial contributions amounts to the same thing. If you can't afford both then the solution is forced upon on you.

Why not write to the ex, let her know the reality of the situation. see if she wants to negotiate? Would be quicker than applying for a variation and the end result would be the same.

Clearly you are paying twice. Money doesn't grow on trees and unless you can afford it and are happy to continue paying it then it is only reasonable to draw a line somewhere.