Any good CSA experiences?

[Breastfeedingworries]

Hi all I’m trying to decide whether I should start a CSA claim. Currently receiving £31 pounds per week if it’s a 5 week month, and £40 if it’s a 4 week month. He’s sending me 160 every month basically.

According to their website as i (think) he earns 1600 basic he should be paying £44 something each week.

I’m worried it could back fire I could get less I’m not sure how it works and have just heard negative stories. He’s also threatened me that I’d get less as it happened when his brothers ex went through Csa.

A big factor is he’s not on the birth certificate. We did a dna test, he was happy with the results, and hasn’t ever really brought up the certificate. Obviously I will put him on, but we haven’t sorted it yet.

Positive stories please.

Hi as a previous CSA/CMS employee for 13yrs the new system from 2012 has an application fee of £25 if I remember correctly. Gov.UK will give all the info you need. If he fails to pay and you request a collection service this will cost 4% of your maintenance so you may want to consider continuing in your private agreement to save this hassle. It can rock the boat and destroy good relationships in my experience. If he then has overnight stays of at least once a week when your child is older this will also reduce your payments by 1/7th. As long as he accepts parentage when contacted being listed on the B/C is irrelevant. If he disputes paternity your test will need to have been done by a company recognised by CMS or would have to be done again at a cost to your ex. Hope this helps.

My daughter is 20 I went to the CSA when she was 2 - I got nothing not one pence and he was on the birth certificate. He changed jobs and homes regularly to avoid paying - he is scum

The old CSA was awful however I have had nothing but good experiences with the new one. Initial phone call they give you information about the 3 available options. I paid the one off £25 admin fee (completely fair as I'm paying for a service). I opted for the middle option so every year they calculate how much I should receive (old CSA never did this, you had to ask them to do it which relyed on you knowing that the Ex had had a payrise), Dds dad amends his SO and we get on with life. I like having the 'middleman' in place and we never talk money which keeps things more amicable.

If he decided to stop paying though I can go straight back to the CMS and they will upgrade us to the option where you pay for collection and we could then go to court and use it as evidence if he continued to refuse to pay.

I think it could be different if they are self employed as they can hide assets but for someone in a normal PAYE job it's a good service.

The fact that you don’t actually know what he earns, plus he’s threatened you that you ‘could end up with less’, says to me he’s a lying fucker and he knows he’s underpaying you.

I’d make the application.

Yeah this is the thing, he’s always paid on time but he’s very shady with what he earns ect. Otherwise he’s good though. Never lets me down, only has her two over nights because of his work patten. Has her every Wednesday day. On Csa it just asks for nights and as it’s less than 1 a week he’s expected to pay more, but not sure if that’s fair as he does have her every Wednesday.

I don’t want to rock the boat but at the same time I do want what I’m entitled to.
Thanks all I’m still thinking on this. I’ve just heard stories ect. He works full time and does over time, he’s hard worker and I don’t think he’d be the sort to change jobs ect as he’s saving for a house.

Makes me think it’s worth me looking into.

Bump incase anyone else is online now who wasn’t earlier