To think that not paying child maintaince should be a criminal offence like tax evasion

[ReallyTired]

One of ds's friends has a father who is extremely well off, but has been terrible about paying maintaince. The man has taken no interest in his child, and the mother has found getting maintaince out of her ex is like getting blood out of a stone. The little girl is living in adject poverty because her father owes thousands. The man is able to afford a whole host of foreign holidays and can easily afford to support his daughter.

I feel that men who hide their income for maintaince purposes should be jailed. Even if they have second families.

[FestiveElement]

As the other thread has already been mentioned, I will say I posted on that thread and thought the OP had a point. The circumstances were very different to a situation where a child has been willingly conceived and the parents have then gone on to split up, with the absent parent paying nothing.

In cases like that, I agree the NRP should be forced into making appropriate payments, not just the pittance that the CSA often decides is enough. I don't see why they don't make an attachment to earnings, and particularly deadbeat NRPs could be put off leaving their jobs if they were made to pay back pay when they found a new job.

If NRPs were forced into paying, then single parent benefits could be reduced accordingly.

[corlan]

There are no single parent benefits FestiveElement!

This is part of the mythology that builds up around single parents having it easy.

[Booyhoo]

reallytired. i wasn't asking you to prove that poverty exists in the uk. i am well aware of it's presence, believe me. i was asking if you knew what abject poverty means. is this child not being fed? is she going without adequate clothing? does she have a room/bed to sleep in? is she receiving adequate health care?

[SantasHoHoHo]

I don't see why they don't make an attachment to earnings, and particularly deadbeat NRPs could be put off leaving their jobs if they were made to pay back pay when they found a new job.

Totally agree

If NRPs were forced into paying, then single parent benefits could be reduced accordingly.

....and therefore addressing the benefits issue. It totally makes sense.

[Booyhoo]

what is a single parent benefit? i have been a single parent for 7 years and have never received such a thing!

[corlan]

Me neither!

[FestiveElement]

I know there aren't specific single parent benefits, but the way the system works a single mum will get more in benefits than a family with one parent working.

[foreverondiet]

Easy solution to someone leaving job when CSA catch up with them: liasion with hmrc to change tax code so maintenance is deducted in new job just like it would be if old job had under deducted under paye.

OP: totally agree with you but think attempt should paid to collect via tax system before imprisoning someone. But yes should be treated just like unpaid income tax.

[corlan]

I did get a goat though

[izzyhasanewchangeling]

Why men? Female nrps dont pay either.

We are in a situation where we are now paying csa to a woman who owes us thousands in assessed csa arrears.

Apparently because we didnt enforce collection those arrears dont count.

Bloke around the corner raised 2 daughters without a penny maintenance from their mother only for her to chase the equity in the house when they both hit 18

[scrumpkin]

Quite, dsd's bio mum pays nothing because she lives abroad, mortgage free whilst I and dh scrimp to cloth them

[scrumpkin]

*clothe

[Booyhoo]

i never got a goat!

i have 2 dcs, is that 2 goats i'm owed?

[WildWorld2004]

My ex when working has the csa taken straight from his earnings, will make maybe one payment & then leave that job & when he gets a new job the csa work out arrears, he makes maybe one payment & then leave that job. And the cycle goes on & on. He owes hundreds or thousands in arrears which my dd will never get.

I think a better solution would be to send the baliffs around to his house.

[Booyhoo]

i agree that should be an option. it's a non-payment of debt!

[izzyhasanewchangeling]

Prob we had was the non res SC begging us not to take money off their mother -so we never enforced collection - only to b.s. hit with a csa claim for youngest once oldest 2 were no longer entitled to maintenance.

I have no problem paying what we should- but I cannot tell you how much it sickens me to be paying money to a woman who didn't so much as cook her own children tea for 7 years while we are trying to clear the debts we incurred raising them.

[FestiveElement]

I also don't think CSA payments should be reduced when new children come along into a new family. The older children don't start costing less just because they have had a half sibling, if anything children cost more as they get older.

[Amazoniancracker]

hollyberry thanks for policing that. Perhaps you can also summon up the wherewithall to police his non-payments to my little boy.

Cameron did say to shame these men.

I just did that

[ChristmasIsForPlutocrats]

Not paying, or paying at a low level, whether maintenance or wages from employment, is just defrwuding the state sector. Cf. tax credits and various benefits making up for insufficient hours in a NMW job, or, in the US, people needing food stamps and other social assistance despite being employed (I don't know whether Wal-Mart and the like provide health insurance, but doubt it, so there's another example of social assistance...)

[SoftKittyWarmKitty]

YANBU. DS was planned and much-wanted but my ex fucked off with someone else when I was pregnant. He then chose not to be involved with DS and is also completely non-compliant with regards to child support. I've spent the last 6.5 years chasing the CSA and practically doing their job for them, while my ex has played every trick in the book to avoid paying. Earlier this year they finally caught up with him and issued a deduction of earnings order. I received one half-decent payment and then he purposely left his job so he doesn't have to pay . I currently get jack shit. I don't know how much longer I can carry on chasing the CSA - it's so stressful, depressing and frustrating .

It fucks me off no end how these utter, utter wankers get away with it, while the single parent left bringing up the child(ren) on their own are vilified left, right and centre. It should be the other way around - absent, feckless parents should be the ones vilified, and yes, they should be punished in law too.

[Booyhoo]

i dont think it should be a choice not to claim CS either. it should be arranged on behalf of the child by the government when the child's birth is registered that both parents pay X amount towards raising him/her. we need to let go of this idea that it is an option to either claim it or pay it. it shouldn't be optional. it should be paid automatically.

[Amazoniancracker]

Am I also allowed to report your policing of my post?

Very rum.

I have not defamed him.

[niceguy2]

The whole system is hideously and unnecessarily complicated. Factor this in with a CSA dept which for over a decade has been as effective as a chocolate teapot and you see the results today.

They should have set up the CSA as an offshoot of the HMRC. With roughly the same legal powers. An organisation designed from the ground up to extract money from people. Most people pay taxes because they don't have a choice, not because they want to. If I work, my tax code is given and my employers deduct the tax directly. The same should apply here. CSA adds to the tax code and as soon as they work, the tax gets taken at source. If they move jobs, it doesn't matter. I then either lump it or spend my entire working life on the dole.

The flat £5 deduction for those on benefits is a joke. In my opinion the same formula should apply. Ie. 15% for one child, 20% for two etc. If that formula is fair when they are in work, then it should stand if they are out of work. Why should they shoulder less responsibility if they are out of work?

Most people know that if you evade taxes for too long or too aggressively then HMRC will come at you hard and crawl up your anus with a microscope. The same fear should apply to a CSA audit. People should shit bricks at the thought of having a visit from the CSA. Right now people just laugh and bin the letters.

Once you do that I reckon most people will fall into line leaving only the hardcore few to be dealt with. Right now there's just far too many people playing the system because they know they can. How many of you would pay tax if you knew that there's a good chance you can get away with not paying it?

[Amazoniancracker]

softkitty you should leave your child on his doorstep with a note, ring the doorbell, leave a message on his mobile and his home number, tell any other member of his family that you are going on holiday and that ds is where he is.....
then catch the plane.

I wonder what the law would say about neglect in such circumstances?

.

[WildWorld2004]

All this discussing is pointless really because when the new csa comes into force no one will make a claim and all the non payers will be laughing.

Why should i pay the csa to get money for my dd from her DAD?