Ex applied to deduct travel costs from child maintenance

Based on a cap of 45p per mile, and 2 journeys EOW, £300 pcm equates to him living around 140 miles away. Is that right?

You can estimate what a reasonable claim by using the 45p cap, the distance, and toll charges. Is this close to £300 pcm?

this is frustrating but I used to work for CMS and I managed the team that completed variations, he is going to get a very very small reduction, if it qualifies at all, so don’t worry, they will take the cost of his travel expenses off his salary before the calculation and honestly in most cases it’s a few pounds difference which will be negligible if you get a decent amount.

If he has your child every other weekend then why is his claim for every week?

I’d bet the farm it hasn’t !!

Stay calm. Challenge it.

If he has rental income from investment properties has this been taken into account by CMS?

That sounds more like him actually. Imagine being a high earner and taking money from your child to pay for your travel because YOU decided to move away? Disgusting behaviour for a parent.

It’s just another tactic in his financial abuse. My ex did the same, moved 55 miles away to be nearer to his new GF’s workplace then took me to court for more access (already had Eow & 1 day a week) he wanted at least 1 more mid week, the court pretty much laughed at him & said no he lived too far away & it would disrupt our sons school. So for payback he applied to CMS for transport costs and got his maintenance dropped by £80 a month. I wouldn't mind but a year later my son was old enough that he started not going as often. My ex also made himself unemployed or self employed several times and the last time he didn’t even claim benefits as he had too much in savings, but that meant £0 CMS for over a year, as 1 final kicker he finally got a new job starting in the August after my son left college and got an apprenticeship so I got a notification from CMS to say this is your new amount but then another to say your son is in full time work so your award is now £0! Of course he had to have the last laugh in my face! That man financially abused me throughout our 6 year relationship & for 16years after. My advice - don’t roll over and take it because at some point he may stop the money all together & you’ll wish you fought for what your children are entitled to now.

That was my understanding too.

I'm fairly sure if his application is accepted then his costs are deducted from his salary, and then maintenance calculated from that. So you'd be losing something like £30, not £300.

I had this. It's just another way of them exerting control.
You can appeal it. I did and won as my ex stated he had them every other weekend and I sent extensive proof of how sporadic the contact actually was and they overturned it.
Also, even if it is upheld, the £300 doesn't come directly off of what he gives you, it comes off the amount of his income that's assessed on what he pays you. I'm not sure I've explained that right but it won't be if he paid you £1000 before you only get £700 now so even though it's ridiculous, it's not as bad as it immediately seems

OP I've got nothing to add concerning possible ways to challenge this, sorry - I hope some of the advice given up-thread works out.

Just wanted to say what a bellend your ex is and as pp said you're a saint for putting up with all this w/out trying to wring his neck. I know I'd be tempted.

Daughter ? Maybe she just wants him to pay what he is ordered for HIS child.

It’s £300 a month that he’s effectively charging his daughter for. And he has his daughter EOW. OP pays for the rest of the time, including childcare fees. This is his child !!

I’ve got no knowledge of how it all works but how on earth can it be reasonable that it’s court ordered he has to collect but you’d have to pay for it 🙈

From what OP says he’s driving a penis extension 😂

That’s a stretch. OP’s earnings are nothing to do with it. He’s effectively charging his daughter for his travel costs - and it sounds as though that’s because he can, rather than needing to.

How far away is he? My inexpensive car uses about £0.15 per mile with fuel prices as they are. So a 100 mile drive is £15 of fuel. If he's only doing it every other week, surely he's claiming £70 each way, which even if it was at £0.35 per mile would still be 200 miles each way?

What are you reading? 👀

OP ask for a copy of the breakdown that’s not included.

make sure it’s only for when he travels EOW and point out past DV.

unfortunately you can’t control the outcome but you can control what info you provide to the decision maker.

So he’s saying £70 a week but only does fortnightly which means it costs him £140 per visit so £70 each way? Seems ridiculously steep.

I'm kinda on the fence, I mean you're also now not spending money on child those weekends, for me it would deoend how much he is paying. Like if that's the majority of his payment totally unreasonable, if he's paying like £1k a month, not so much.

How is he able to claim £70 p/w when he has your child every other week?

If you can challenge to somehow, do. Surely they can see how this is just an extension of his financially abusive behaviour, no doubt he wanted and fight for the contact in the first place! X

My abusive and adulterous ex who kept moving around the country to pursue their stunning and brave new trans identity took me to court to force our 7yo DD to see them, even though she was utterly traumatised (court and CAFCASS sided with DD) - eventually DD agreed to 2 hour contact locally so she could come home if she wanted to, once a fortnight. The CF applied for travel costs to come to see her. The child maintenance service refused it because it wasn’t every week. And of course they repeatedly cancelled coming to see her anyway!

it’s all part of the abuse. I was told by CMS that unless it was every single week and more than a certain distance or amount, they can’t claim.