To wonder why there is no will to make parents pay

[Sadoldbag]

Just wondering why there is such lack of will by political classes of all types


To make absent parents pair there fair share my ds is 14 and I have had now over the years I was once offered £5 a week by the CSA but I was told that I would have to provide NI details, bank details ECt for ex how would I get that from a ex


if I didn't feed or my child warm ss would class this as neglect but this is pretty much tolerated from a absent parent


There seems to be no real sanctions and if you are lucky to get them to pay the amount is tiny which makes me laugh

i think a lot of welfare issues could be sorted if absent parent was made to pay there share
Many rely on welfare because the absent parent is not doing there share.



My auntie lives in the states and her ex was jailed for 3 months until he paid his child supported he still refused so a order was made his home and car was sold what was owed was given to her and the change to him

He now pays his child support on time every month


Sorry just having a rant

[JohnFarleysRuskin]

If they pay and everyone is happy then there's no problem, is there?

If they are not paying then why shouldnt their household income should be taken into account?

[Sadoldbag]

Also I think al NRP SHOUD pay 50% of the cost of raisng the child including childcare

[Standinginline]

Ok then ,but are you willing to accept that NRP is accountable for children in his home that aren't his? I just ask because if you believe ALL household income should be taken into allowance for CSA for your child(ren) including his partners ,then surely NRP's income should be calculated to include those children in his household. NRP's partner paying for children that isn't theirs is the same as nrp paying for children that isn't his.

I don't agree with this but it goes both ways.

[SaucyJack]

Sorry ,why should new partners wages be taken into consideration when it comes Child Support ?

To avoid the pathetic but sadly very common situation where a NRP would prefer to give up work altogether and live off of his/her new partner's wages than pay child maintenance.

[Standinginline]

In which case I believe you have bigger problems when it comes to your child's father than Child Support. Well maybe take into account the breadwinner of the households income ? Not both.

[Standinginline]

Or the one has the highest income.

[CremeEggThief]

He has no interest in seeing DS more than EOW, nickymanchester, and in fact moved a three hour train journey away.

[theoldtrout01876]

Im in the USA

My ex stopped paying a few years ago. Child support is taken from his wages directly but he changed jobs and just stopped paying. He decided to take me back to court for a reduction. It took 3 months to get a court date. In that 3 months the CSA had fcked up his credit by reporting him as delinquent to all the credit agencies,every month. Shut off his professional license and threatened to remove his drivers license and passport.

When we got to court,before we even saw a judge he was informed that if he didnt pay the arrears in full that day he was going to jail. Judge not only refused to reduce his payment he upped it :o and told him to get another job if he couldnt pay.

They guy in front of us in the court,looked like a banker type,was also looking for a reduction. This was right around the financial crash. Judge told him no. Told him it wasnt the kids fault and to go get a job selling Christmas trees or in Macdonalds.

My ndn used to vanish regularly off to jail for non payment,at least once a year. He had no drivers license for the same reason.

They take it very seriously here because they dont want the resident parent and kids collecting welfare. Its too costly for the state.

Also you cant quit a job to avoid payment either,they look at your earnings in the preceding years and your life style etc, you cant dodge for that reason either

[Chippednailvarnish]

Wish we were more like that here...

[CouthyMow]

Once again, for the benefit of the hard of thinking.

It's only been recently that maintenance has been discounted for benefits purposes.

The CSA were NO BETTER at getting maintenance from absent parents when it WAS taken out of the benefits.

So what would happen is this : Absent parent told to pay £30 a week maintenance. Resident parent loses £30 a week from their benefits. Absent parent doesn't pay. Resident parent lives every fucking week £30 BELOW the poverty line...and so did the DC's.

Those days weren't that long ago, FFS.

I had this myself. The DWP didn't give a toss whether you were actually RECEIVING the maintenance - because you WERE STILL ENTITLED TO THAT MAINTENANCE IF THE ABSENT PARENT EVER PAID THE ARREARS. So they would NOT give you that £30 in your benefits, under any circumstances, because even if you have to wait until your child is 50 to receive that money from the estate of your dead ex partner, you would still POSSIBLY receive it in the future.

And it would actually be prohibitively expensive to develop software that could cope with fluctuating ACTUAL payments of maintenance and required deductions from benefits - so much so that it would cost MORE than just ignoring maintenance for the purpose of benefits.

Why would you rather have thousands of families pushed into poverty than just discount maintenance for benefits purposes?

The real crux of it is that the CSA is not, and never has been, fit for purpose.

THE CSA IN BRITAIN HAS ALL THE SAME RULES AT THEIR DISPOSAL AS THEY DO IN AMERICA. THEY JUST CHOOSE NOT TO APPLY THEM.

[BlueSkySunnyDay]

It is bloody ridiculous - the government can manage to collect taxes just fine can't they. The csa should be run in the same way "this is your child. .. this is what you are legally obliged to pay."

I can't count how many nrp manageto go drinking, clubbing and on holiday abroad but don't support their children.

I was due to see someone in concert some time ago and he had to cancel as he was not permitted to leave the US due to "non payment of child support" so it CAN be done if a government has the backbone for it.

[CouthyMow]

I only know this from the 12 years when I didn't get any maintenance for DD, and spent many an evening reading CSA rules and regs available to them. Her dad was about to get his driving license taken away for non-payment (IN THE UK) when he started paying. Miraculous, that one...

The CSA can place charging orders on houses, impound and auction cars, rescind driving licences, send out bailiffs, and even (in Scotland only unfortunately...) imprison non-payers.

[CouthyMow]

What angers me the most is how SE absent parents avoid payment. FFS the HMRC has every bit of the information, just join up the fucking systems FFS!

[fryingpantoface]

My father had to pay my mom 1p a year for maintenance. That was per child, so then 4p. Fucking stupid.

that was just one of the reasons he was an arse

[MsAspreyDiamonds]

It is mad that the government can fine parents for taking a term time holiday but not penalise lack of financial support from absent parents.

[WanderingAway]

I think household income should be taken into account when calculating csa. My ex chooses not to work but his wife works so my ex doesnt have to pay maintenance. It is ridiculous.

Non paying parents need to be named and shamed.

The csa do nothing and it is going to get worse when they bring in the charges for RPs.

[nickymanchester]

theoldtrout01876

Great, so they send the guy to prison in which time he's not earning any money and costing the state more.

Then, when he comes out he's even less likely to be able to get a job being an ex-convict and so stays on welfare even longer meaning, once again, that it costs the state more and the mother still doesn't get anything.

Also, have a look at the statistics of who is actually being jailed for the most part for non-payment, it is overwhelmingly the very poorest African-Americans. The system in the US is deeply flawed and racist.

[DontGiveAwayTheHomeworld]

I think they should take partners earnings into account too. EXP doesn't pay anything because he keeps quitting jobs when the CSA catch up to him, but his GF has been working the whole time. They were able to move in together, they have regular holidays and nights out. DH and I scrape by on his wages, we hate living hand-to-mouth but there's not much we can do about it. We can't afford for me to work because of the cost of childcare, we can't afford to do anything fun, but because EXP is unemployed and doesn't claim benefits, he doesn't have to pay anything.

The worst part is the GF used to be a friend, she knows about me and DS, but does nothing to give him a kick up the arse. A very nasty part of me can't wait til she gets pregnant and he leaves her (literally) holding the baby.

[bongobaby]

Nicky, if the guy in the first place paid maintanance he wouldn't find himself in prison for not paying it. A no brainer really!! Pay and you stay out of jail.
The system is the US is deeply flawed and racist. That is not helpful, children need feeding and clothing regardless.

[Chippednailvarnish]

nicki you seem very concerned about the "plight" of the non-paying parent, but not of the children they have chosen to have and not support...

[Callani]

What really frustrates me is how many people take the absent father's side in everything.

I recently put straight my cousin who was saying about how a friend of hers "pays money to the mother of his child and she spends it all going out and on clothes"

Some rather serious questioning later revealed that the mother worked so was earning her own money and the father was paying about £30 a month towards his child so clearly not even paying half the food bill, let alone subsidising a lavish lifestyle!

But people seem to just swallow any old bull if you're talking about evil single mothers!

[jacks365]

Imagine this scenario man a has child with woman a then leaves. Man a is working so csa takes money from wages. Man a then meets woman b who has young children, man a has a low paid job woman b is highly paid so man a quits work to be a sahd because it is more cost effective than child care. Man a and woman b are ok loss of wages cancelled out by loss of childcare costs but woman a just loses as she no longer gets any maintenance at all. Is that a fair situation?

[MeepMeepVrooooom]

Jacks I think you have put it pretty perfectly there.

I know one man and one woman who has done this. In turn it means that their children from their first marriage don't ever see a penny and their ex's bare 100% of the financial responsibility.

I honestly do think that there needs to be a crackdown on NRP who don't pay towards their children. It should be a compulsory payment for all NRP. It seems to often be viewed as if I can afford it after all my other expenses then OK. Maybe a threat of legal action would in fact force NRP who don't pay to step up and include it in their essential outgoings like rent, bills, food.

[grumpyoldbat]

YANBU, XH has decided he's now only paying 40 pound per month. He says he's being generous because the CSA calculation based on his salary is 36. It is, I've checked but 36 per week not month. Fucking bastard.

His reasoning is that they (his new 'proper' family) are struggling. Definition of this is he can't change his car to the one he wants til next year. His partner has a good job too so if a family income of over 50k means they're struggling wtf does he think we're doing on 13k. The bastard also had the cheek to complain I don't spend enough on dd and wants a breakdown of my spending.

[Doasbedoneby]

I've never met a SAHD, are they becoming more common?

I don't know any SAHMs either though.