THE CSA

Much has been reported on web pages and said in pubs and bars about the horrendous experiences of divorced dads who have been subjected to an investigation by the CSA. A good search of the internet will reveal many tales of how men have been left penniless through the actions of this government body; and if you are interested in the history of it then you can go on a search engine and read about all the tales of woe.

Established with the goal of getting absent parents to pay for their children, the CSA was quickly used by mothers as a way of getting increased contributions from dads who were paying what child maintenance they could afford. Statistics have proved that the CSA has been a worthless exercise, with the costs of the organisation far outstripping the benefit to the tax payer. Any dad who, prior to 2003, had to endure an investigation by the CSA, found himself embroiled in the worst case of government bureaucracy and came out of the process with less money than he needed to live on. This was because the guidelines for assessing child maintenance were so clearly wrong. It resulted (after many headline cases and a great deal of social injustice) in the principle rules for assessing the amount of child maintenance changing dramatically in early 2003.

At this point, in 2003, a new set of rules was applied to new cases that are assessed by the CSA. This makes the CSA a much friendlier and fairer option to divorced dads than prior to 2003, where the only piece of advice to a separated dad would have been to avoid the CSA wherever possible.

The CSA process

Any parent who has residency of the children can ask the CSA for an assessment if the following conditions apply:

• the child or children are under the age of 19;
• there is no court order for periodic payments.

If a couple were not married, but the father’s name is on the birth certificate, then the CSA is also used by the resident parent to make a claim for child maintenance.

Who is entitled to apply for CSA assessment?

Any resident parent (or in the language of the CSA a ‘parent with care’) – normally the mum – who has residency of the children can ask the CSA for an assessment if the child or children are:

• under the age of 16;
• between 16 and 19 and in full-time non-advanced education (this means that the child is doing a course not higher than A level standard).

If the child lives in Scotland the rules are slightly different – if over 12 they can apply for child maintenance and a variation in their own right.

In addition it is not only mums who can apply to the CSA – dads can too. Non-resident parents can also start their applications for a fair assessment through the CSA.

Working mums

Mums who do not get income support or income-based job seekers allowance get to keep every penny of any CSA-assessed child maintenance payments. Also, any CSA-assessed child maintenance has no bearing on their child tax credits – so there is nothing for working mums to lose by applying to the CSA for an assessment.

Mums receiving benefits

Any resident parent who currently claims income support or job seekers allowance is automatically deemed to have made an application to the CSA by means of their state benefits – unless she has opted out. She can only opt out if she feels that there is good cause of a risk of harm either to herself or the children, or undue stress, in which case the father will not be pursued as part of the claim.

In cases like this, as part of the process there is a home visit by a clerk when the case is discussed, and if it is felt that a risk exists, the dad will not be sent the paperwork to be made aware of the claim. This opt out is to protect women who have violent or harmful ex-partners, and is useful for women who fear retribution if their ex-partners are pursued for money to pay for their children.

In cases where the mum refuses to give the name of the dad, and she does not demonstrate good cause, then the penalty for her is that her benefits are reduced by 40 per cent of the income support or job seekers allowance.

If the mum is on state benefits then she doesn’t keep the cash that the CSA collects from the dad. The CSA keeps up to £10 per week, which is known as the child maintenance premium. So in practice, if your ex-partner is on state benefits then she is foolish to go to the CSA if you are giving her more than £10 per week, as she will not directly benefit. However she might feel as if the money is no good in your pocket and make a claim anyway, in which case you will lose and the government will gain as it is the exchequer which keeps any extra cash claimed from you.

When the CSA cannot get involved

In addition to the situation where there is a risk of harm or distress, there are other circumstances where the CSA has no jurisdiction.

The CSA cannot accept an application for child maintenance if there is:

• a written agreement between the parents of the qualifying children, made before 5 April 1993, for the non-resident parent to pay regular child maintenance;
• is a court order for periodic payments made before 3 March 2003, which says that the non-resident parent must pay child maintenance for the qualifying children;
• a court order made on or after 3 March 2003, which says that the non-resident parent must pay regular maintenance for the qualifying children, and the order has been in force for less than a year when the application is made.

In addition, the CSA cannot accept applications if the non-resident parent lives abroad (although there are some exceptions if they work for an employer who is based in UK).

What happens when the mum applies to the CSA

The mum is interviewed by a clerk and completes a form which provides the CSA with the information needed to process the claim. This interview is actually done at their home (where possible). The completed maintenance administration form is passed to the CSA who then contact the non-resident parent and seek child maintenance.

How child maintenance is worked out

In order to calculate how much you might need to pay in child maintenance, it is important to get to grips with the language and terminology that the CSA uses.

NRP	non-resident parent (generally the dad)
PWC	parent with care (generally the mum)
WFTC	working family tax credit
Qualifying children	children for whom the NRP has to pay child maintenance
Relevant other	A child who is living in the same family as the
children	non-resident parent. This could be a child of the NRP or the child of another person living with the NRP.
Voluntary payments	Payments made to the PWC for the benefit of the child prior to an assessment being made.
Shared care formula	A formula to recognise that the NRP has costs of looking after his children during his contact.
IMA	Interim maintenance assessments

The basic formula

There is now a simple formula that the CSA uses to work out how much the NRP will pay. This formula is designed to be relatively simple and based upon a degree of fairness and equality.

The formula is based on four criteria:

• the NRP’s net income (see below);
• the number of qualifying children that maintenance is due to cover;
• the number of nights of shared care;
• the number of relevant children (children in NRP’s household, including step children).

Net income

The net income starts as your gross income, including any bonus payments or other benefits that you get in your wage package. Then all income tax, national insurance and contributions to pension schemes are subtracted. This new figure is then used as your net income. The formula ignores all net income above £2,000 per week, so if you are in one of the four per cent of divorced dads who earn in excess of £100,000 per year your maintenance is capped. But for the rest of us, all net income is taken into effect.

If the household claims a tax credit such as WFTC, then the amount of the tax credit that is treated as net income is:

• if the NRP is alone or earns most, 100 per cent;
• if the NRP’s partner earns most, 0 per cent;
• if they earn the same, 50 per cent.

The CSA can find this tax credit information from the Inland Revenue directly, and in fact the CSA rules talk about ‘who earns most at the time of the tax credit claim’ to ensure this.

Number of qualifying children

This part of the formula is obvious, as it is based on payments according to the number of children that need maintenance. Quite logically, it is a sliding scale:

Number of qualifying children	Basic payment for maintenance
1	15 per cent of net income
2	20 per cent of net income
3 or more	25 per cent of net income

If you have one child that you need to pay maintenance for then your payment is 15 per cent of your net income less any allowance for shared care and other qualifying children. The most you have to pay – if you have three children or more – is 25 per cent of your net income, as CSA payments are capped at 25 per cent of your wage.

If you earn under £200 per week, there is a separate calculation which means that you pay less than the above amounts. This is an attempt by the CSA to recognise that divorced dads need a basic amount to pay for their bills and living expenses, so as to not put you in the poverty trap. For dads who are themselves on income support or job seekers allowance, the minimum payment currently stands at £5 per week.