To question child maintenance payments?

[Amy214]

Currently dds dad is paying £31.99 a week (£11 being towards his £1000 arrears) so it would be something like £21 if he had no arrears. I got my annual review at the end of march and it said his weekly income was £191 approx. Things he has said has got me questioning how much he really earns for example buying a new bumper for his car (could have saved up but he is not the type of person to do this) he recently slipped up and told me he worked 6 days a week and that he finished at 6pm (he was asking if he could pop in and see dd, i said no because he is covered in crap and oil) am i unreasonable in thinking £191 for 6 days work is ridiculous? When i calculated it all out (minimum wage is £6.70 for his age) he works roughly 10 hours a day, 6 days a week so he really should be getting £402 before tax. So using the csa calculator online we should be getting £48 a week not including arrears. Would it be unreasonable to ask him to be honest and to ask if the csa could do a recalculation with the new information from hmrc?

Not unreasonable to ask but if your calculations are right, he's already lied so he'll likely just lie again.

It would probably be best to call CMS and inform them that you believe he's provided false information and ask them to calculate based on HMRC figures.

No idea about the processes involved and the right way to go about it, but YANBU to be suspicious. Many people lie about their income to hide assets/income in order not to pay the required amount of CSA. I'm not sure there is much point in speaking to him about it as if he has been lying, he's been lying to you, your daughter, and the CSA agency and ultimately depriving his own child of money that is rightfully theirs, so there's no reason that I can see that he would suddenly own up to you about it. I would look into who the appropriate person is to contact about asking for a recalculation but also tell them your concerns about his honesty with regards to his income. I hope either way your daughter gets what she is entitled to.

I'll look into contacting the correct people for a recalculation, i asked him around 2 weeks ago (before i found out how much he was working) if he could possibly increase his payments by £10 to help pay for her playgroup fees as by the time ive paid them i hardly have enough left to pay for her food never mind nappies, wipes and clothes but he said no because he couldnt afford it. Now ive found out hes possibly earning more and i now feel guilty about all the times ive asked my parents for some money to get food and nappies (they would never see us go without) i do have my own money but thats used for my car/insurance, tax, bills etc. So we are struggling but getting by.

Yes agree with the others. No point asking him.