New system

C. J. wrote:

Again, another system that will cause greater upset when it commences. If both parents need to use this system for whatever reason why does the NRP get charged 15-20% but the PWC will only get deducted a maximum of 12%?

it''s an interesting question and I''m sure not one they''ll have an answer to!

Regardless, it''s an admin charge levied on both. So if the maintenance due is £100 (to make it easy!), the NRP would pay £100 + charge and the PWC would receive £100 - charge. So NRP pays £115 and the PWC receives £88 which means the CSA have their admin costs of £27 which is a gobsmacking amount for setting something up and letting it run...

Logically, the majority of people will then turn away from the CSA which is what they want. Presumably, they will then have more time/staff/resources to deal with the NRPs who won''t pay. The reality is that parents will agree to drop the CSA, the NRP will pay a few times, will be late a few times then miss a payment and the PWC will see no other option than to hotfoot it back to the CSA and pay the admin charge. £88 if better than £0.

I have no issue with paying as a PWC who has an NRP who won''t pay as it takes the hassle out of it for me. They have told me that to get an Order of Sale (which is where we''re at now), it''ll cost between £15-20k in legal fees so for me to lose 12% of whatever they recover and not have the hassle of doing it myself seems like a good deal. But for the majority, it''s a bit ''money for all rope''....

Hi mumtoboys,

Thanks for that info.

My fiance is just a tad worried as he asked his ex last year for a private agreement but she said no.

It''s kinda come back to haunt her now though as back in 2009 my fiance put in to the CSA for a variation when he was paying towards the mortgage of the property he and his ex we trying sell whilst he was paying full CM.

3 years later they have now contacted him and told him that whilst they owned the house together up until it sold he was overpaying by £10 per week so the ex is now paying back nearly £370 spread over 3 months. She wasn''t happy but had to accept that it was an error on the CSA''s part for taking so long, not my fiance''s.

They have had a brief chat about coming off the system and having a private agreement that is still in line with the usual CSA percentages but we are still not entirely sure if she''ll go with it.

I thought I read somewhere that with the new system contributions to pensions were taken off the gross pay before the CSA make their calculations.

So there might be a lot of NRP making large contributions to their pensions!

I never get which is net and which is gross....

at the moment, the calculation is after deductions (so you can reduce your payments by offloading into your pension); the new system will be based on salary before any deductions are made which closes that pension loophole.

Under the new child maintenance Calculation Regulations amounts paid as contributions to an approved occupational or personal pension scheme are the only thing that will be deducted from income. However, where the contributions are offset against earnings by an employer, the information the CSA receives from HMRC will not include any details of those contributions so they won''t be taken into account.

IF the PWC believes the contributions to a pension are excessive they will be able to apply for a variation and the CSA will look at the particular circumstances to determine whether income is being diverted to avoid CM liability.

So sorry Mumtoboys that ''loophole'' wont be closed.

What happens if one parent is keen to come off the new CSA system but the other parent isnt?