AIBU to think that the government are trying to rob our children?

[ShirleyKnot]

AIBU for believe that the single parent's in our society are under attack - yet again?

Despite the statistics that show that 3/5 of us residential parents are in receipt of zero child maintenance.

Those who choose to use the CSA to chase non paying parents are now in the firing line..

From 2013
Parents using the CSA will pay £100 as an upfront fee (or £50 for parents on benefit) for those who want to use the future CSA. Only ?Victims of domestic violence? will be exempt (although there is no detail on how this will be proved or checked).

An on-going charge of between 7% and 12% on any maintenance paid to parents who rely on the future CSA to collect their child maintenance, as well as an extra 15-20% charge added to the non-resident parent?s payment.

Isn't this taking food out of my child's mouth?

It was just an example to show where the children's money would be contributing towards.

HuntyCat's Chat thread with figures here

Here's the link with decent figures

olakel a couple of million saved isn't worth denying children thousands upon thousands in support.

They could maybe save it instead by keeping the current system and ditching the 2million wellbeing programme instead, for example, or x that by 20 if they closed a tax loophole here and there.

What it will save is pocket change compared to the national debt. It's not worth it for the sake of frittering it away on insignificant crap, which is what they will do.

#frothers

Don't give Herbie a hard time - she had to suffer the vagaries of CS1. The old system was, frankly, even crapper than the one we currently have! (Though not as crappy as the new system ShirleyKnot is frothing about).

Herbie - I get where you are coming from, I see BOTH sides of the coin, AM an RP, have also been an NRPP in the past. I was on CS1, as an RP - and even as an RP, I asked to be transferred over to CS2 as it was a much clearer system.

Dd's father's name is not on the birth certificate. He walked away when I was three months pregnant, refused any contact and changed his number. Through mutual friends I asked that he put his name on, he refused and as we were not married there was nothing I could do.

It doesn't make any difference to the csa if there is a father on the birth certificate or not, as far as they are concerned its up to him to prove otherwise by requesting a dna test, which he will then have to pay for if he is the father.

Its ridiculous that they could charge a rp to open a case when there's no guarantee they will ever be able to get results. It took them 3 years to get any maintenance at all from my exp, despite the fact I supplied his address and workplace details and eventually borrowed money to pay for a private investigator to prove he was living where i'd said he was living all along! (Interesting fact, PI told me he often did work for clients having trouble with the csa ).

I am not a mum but i just wanted to say how shocking and disgusting i find this news. Its the victims of abuse side of it which concerns me too,especially financial abuse. Very very worrying.

It is a rubbish system herbie, have no experience from your side but have heard a lot about the old rules.

I wonder how much money is wasted on tracing nrp because by the time the csa have pulled their finger out, the nrp has often moved/changed workplace etc...or how much money is wasted on dna tests that the mother does not have to pay for whatever the outcome (father has to pay obviously if he is the father).

Not to forget compensation that can be claimed from csa by a rp when the case has been opened but noone bothered to contact nrp for months (maintenance can only be backdated to first contact).

ah, now it makes sense....we will be paying to cover their fuck ups!

YANBU OP! They are a right bunch of bastards.

The Frogs I totally feel your pain. I, too, provided the CSA with all my ex's details including workplace, address, bank account details, his parent's details and even emailed them a photo of him when they requested one. I did this almost every fortnight because they didn't write anything down. Like you, I didn't get a penny for 3 years and it was only after writing to my MP three times that I started getting £12.50 per month, which is all I received for two years. About six months ago I started getting £12.50 per fortnight, so effectively I've had a 100% pay rise . I was only saying to a friend the other day that I'd love to hire a PI to find my ex but I just can't afford it.

Herbie Your experience sounds horrific. No child should suffer financial hardship because of the CSA. I have a friend whose DH is on CSA1 and they are really struggling financially. The CSA take into account the tax credits they receive to help care for their two kids.

The CSA seem to hound those who are already paying but cba to chase those who aren't. There needs to be a middle ground.The whole system needs to be overhauled imo.

YABU

Not wasting sympathy on NRPs because if they paid what they should regularly then no need to get the CSA involved & ALL the money would go to their kids.

Totally agree redhelenb - please see this petition and pass on in anyway you can!!

epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/24749

epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/24749

Herbie that sounds just awful. The one thing that seems to be wrong whether you're a nrp being squeezed to the extent your resident dc go without or a rp who's DC get nothing from nrp, is that it is not fair. There is no justice.

I keep thinking this should not be about the parents but the children. These paltry sums being mentioned do NOT support children. There should be a minimum amount that must be paid by a nrp and if they earn more than that (as evidenced by HRMC and with the feckless traced via NI number) then they should pay a proportion ON TOP.

It seems ludicrous to look at what people are willing to pay instead of what a child needs. If the dc need something the rp has to find the money and sometimes that means going without themselves. Why shouldn't those who shirk responsibility also have to go without too?

Equally the CSA must not be an instrument for the bitter and the vengeful.

Hunty i think you should delete the posts with incorrect calculations.

Should I report them and ask MNHQ to delete them?

Are this government trying to rob our children?

Yes and no. The last few governments, since Thatcher, have progressively been robbing my generation, and now they are also robbing the next generation.

So yes they are robbing your kids, not for the reasons you mention, and they are also robbing pretty much everyone under the age of 32.

There is a brilliant book called Jilted Generation which I have been reading. I'd recommend it to all mumsnetters if you want to know what sort of a society your children are to inherit.

www.jiltedgeneration.net/

Ed Miliband has hijacked the term jilted generation but the book is largely a-political, so don't be put off by that if you are not a labour supporter.

The US system is crap as well, for those who have brought it up. It's run on a state level, so the NRP just has to move to another state, and it's right back to square one. It literally took us seven years to get a court to order exDH to pay child support, and as soon as he was served with it, he quit his job, moved just over the state border, and we had to start all over again going through a completely different court system. It is no better than over here. The only reason we even got a court order after the seven years was because we paid for a private attorney as we could not get the child support agency to follow it up - basically they told us "it's your job to find him, then we'll go from there." And if they were given any information on where he might be, they couldn't tell us whether or not they'd verified anything as it went against "confidentiality" however they could tell him our details and then he went into stalker mode. Charming.

The grass is not greener in the states.