Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

I have been paying child support for 16 years for 2 children, 1 now since my eldest is almost 19.
I will ask you a question -

Why should it cost anyone except me and my ex wife because our marriage did not work?

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

under this new reform they want people to come to an amicable agreement, which is good if you can, but if your in a position like myself that was left with no choice but to use the CSA why should I be penalised, surely penalise in my case the father of the child he is the one refusing to pay, he has had warning letters time after time about non payment, why not charge him for this? But I have worked for the last 22 years & paid a lot in taxes already, but under this new system I will be paying twice, once still in my taxes & two by paying them to collect money.

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

Like any other system in this country the law is too soft on those who don't stick to it and penalises the victim

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

exactly LancsDave my case has been ongoing since March 2010 Ive had a grand total of £220 off my sons "father" in 13 months of his life, he owes my son now £6,000 in unpaid maintenance, and the CSA cannot do owt at the moment as he is appealing the maintenance amount, and no doubt he will appeal against the tribunals decision, then appeal to the house of lords, then tell the CSA about a change in his circumstances and it all starts again, and still my son receives no maintenance, but under the new reform it doesnt say what action they will take against someone for not paying, under current CSA law they can deduct money direct from your bank account, put a charging order on your house, take your driving licence off you, make you get assets back you have sold or given away, even imprisonment, I hope they can do this and more, especially as I will be paying them to use the service in the first place!

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

I wouldn't hold your breath, they will do nowt.

I get £11 per week, the same amount I have had since 2002 :mad:

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

I take it you have CSA involvment Lancsdave, if so read the green paper it will throw up a lot of questions for you I think

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

Unfortunatley not, I gave it up as a waste of my time.

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

I'll take it up. I don't like the Child Support Agency as it causes distress all round. Some men living in poverty, women left the victim of uncaring fathers.

The new charges look like the government is making savings on the backs of ordinary people. The country isn't in a mess. We have had 5 consecutive quarters of growth and the debts were twice current levels in 1946 and by the 1950's "we had never had it so good".

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

Come on Graham in 1946 we had just come out of one of the most costliest wars every and comparing that era to the financial fiasco which this country found itself in last May, is well, quite laughable, or it would be if it wasn't so serious, but of course that's always been Labours approach "crisis, what crisis"

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

Graham's right National Debt was much higher after the war. Yet the Labour Government created the Welfare State The Health Service and a embarked on a massive programme of house building.

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

Head Ostrich and Sand seem to be the order of the day me thinks;)

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

I was appauled when heard and it will make child poverty worse, make absent parents more absent and penalise resident parent and child. The CSA were and are still useless victims of severe domestic violence are excempt from claiming they won't touch the violent x as they could not guarentee confidentiality details and safety so would put them at considerable risk of harm to claim anything so they won't peruse a claim and the courts failed too so there's a good preportion of separated parents losing out and get nothing. This new proposal will make matters worse another example of politicians not living in the real world !! All parents should be responsible for their kids and all absent or non residential parents should pay not just those that want to or have a conscious to.

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

My partners ex is supposed to pay something silly like £5 per week (maybe fortnight), in 8 years he has paid maybe £20, every time they pursue him he says he is not working, but then when he went to court for access (which was for his stepmother rather than him, because she has them at weekend and he hardly sees them), he told the court that he had been in regular, steady employment for at least 2 years?? His foster parents in fairness have paid for the last 2 sets of school uniform, but as far as I am aware, he has paid nothing.

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

That's pure example of what is wrong with the system is that it's played with no deterrent or responsibilty and tax payers are still footing the bill one way or another :rolleyes:

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

In my civil service career I was involved in the administration of the system which operated before the CSA was devised.

That system had its flaws too, but at least it was more flexible than a point scoring, form filling based calculation that the CSA produced.

Maintenance was decided in courts -
..County courts decided maintenance awards when divorce was granted
..Magistrates courts decided maintenance in other cases, and when a divorce followed a magistrates decision, that magistrates maintence order still applied.

Often a County Court maintenance was 'registered' in the Magistrates court, because magistrates courts had 'collection' facilities which County Courts didn't, so official records would show whether or not payments were in arrears. The court collection office forwarded the payments to the parent who had the child custody. It was the preferred way of administering maintenance between couples because the absent parent could get tax relief on payments, and the recieving parent was taxed, (if employed).

Using courts involved the legal fees of solicitors, but the legal aid system was more lenient then, so that the vast majority of such legal actions were free to most people.

Often no court action was taken and the maintenance was decided by 'voluntary arrangement'.

I dealt with maintenance for parents who were on benefits and part of my duties involved negotiating such voluntary arrangements. (This often involved finding the absent parent in the first place!).

In such negiotiations, absent parents were interviewed and discretion was allowed, ie - I was allowed to accept an offer of less than the parent could afford to pay if it was evident that such an offer was likely not to be defaulted on. The parent having custody would not lose out because the benefit payments stayed the same - it was just a way of trying to get back some of what the government was paying out.

From what I learnt of CSA practices (I wasn't involved with them) there was fixed amount calculated and demanded, without much regard to individual circumstances, and was the reason why so many parents defaulted on payments.

I consider that payment default happened less often on the old system.

The old system of court payments and voluntary arrangements was complex too, but I regard it as a more humane way of dealing with stressful relationship breakdowns than the CSA methods which replaced it.

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

The new charges look like the government is making savings on the backs of ordinary people. Graham I will be coming to see you as I have a lot of questions after reading the green paper thanks

Re: Government reform on Child Maintenance
 

Also found a group on facebook earlier today Campaign against Tory child maintenance proposals, dont know if it'll make any difference joining it, but the more people kick up a fuss, the more chance there is of making changes to the new proposal (I hope)