Child maintenance during lockdown

[Idratherbeasleep]

So I got a text from the cms today saying payments are going down to £6.87 a week of something down from £50, DC's dad is self employed I think, has been fiddling his earnings for years. I've been furloughed so am 20% down already, luckily we can still get by, it will be tight though. I get people aren't working to earn money but I feel a bit annoyed that it seems to be the resident parents who are left in the shit in a sense. And yes before you jump on me I get he has Bills to pay too and isn't earning anything, but. I am paying more having DC at home constantly in food, bills etc. Still need clothes and shoes. He's had years of working FT all the hours he can (literally) only declaring a small amount now has a mortgage while I've only been able to work minimum wage/flexible jobs because I cant afford childcare. Like I said luckily we will get by but aibu to think they need to come up with a plan for this? I mean I know people who do rely on maintenance to feed/clothe their kids and if the nrp is able to just call up cms and say I'm not working I cant pay with no questions surely lots of kids are really going to suffer?

[TheDailyCarbuncle]

I'm really surprised at the responses on this thread, especially the ones that say 'if he's not earning he can't pay.' What if the OP decided that because her income has gone down she can't support her children and she let them starve??

It absolutely boggles my mind that people just accept men deciding to abandon and neglect their children without any consequences at all.

[Idratherbeasleep]

I'm more than aware people will lose their jobs, I could be one of them. Not sure I'm moaning, I was having a debate about whether or not a nrp being able to call up and just say I cant pay is wrong with no one even checking it, if I lose my job tomorrow I cant just call up UC and say I've no money I need benefits and expect them to take me at my word?

[opticaldelusion]

Try being a widow. Luckily I have a proportion of my late husband's occupational pensions helping me. Unluckily it's taken off any benefits entitlement in its entirety. Unlike maintenance which isn't. If he'd left my I'd be ok. But because he died I'm not.

There are always people in a worse position.

[PumpkinP]

But what can be done about it? Cms won’t do anything about my ex not paying, it’s only now that other people are experiencing it that they realise what it’s like, but this hasn’t been a few weeks, it’s been years. If you’ve always had child maintenance up until now then I would say you’ve been quite lucky!

[opticaldelusion]

I don't think this a lockdown issue. Since the beginning of time, NRPs have been under-declaring income so as to reduce CMS payments. It's what millions of parents, mostly women, live with all the time.

[Idratherbeasleep]

@opticaldelusion. That's a bit much, sorry you're in that position but I'm not saying there aren't people worse. I had years with 0 maintenance so I went to work all the hours I could to support my family. Never have I said I'm worse off than anyone

[Coquohvan]

@Idratherbeasleep

That’s the thing he’ll be short/no money because you say he’s under reported his income to HMRC. He will only receive self employed money from the government income he’s paid tax on, not the cash he’s received and hidden for jobs.
Think of it that he’s getting payback for being dishonest, any money he is due is coming in June.
Glad you can cope for the time being, I’d get back to CMS when he receives government money in June. He won’t be able to hide what they gave him.

[MarieQueenofScots]

I’m assuming as his earnings have gone down and he’s not working as much he’s offered to have the child/ren more?

[Idratherbeasleep]

@pumpkinP i havent always received maintenance and i did say in a pp i think it's wrong men aren't forced to pay for their kids. I've always been aware people don't pay and get away with it I've been there and its shit

[Waveysnail]

So he not even have DC more? Think that shows kinda man he is

[Idratherbeasleep]

@waveysnail no, he sees dc twice a month for a total of about 16 hours, no overnights and no desire for more. Wont do homeschooling/homework and all the time is spent with other people like friends kids or family no 1on1 time but like I said that's for another thread

[sweeneytoddsrazor]

I dont think its a case of saying its acceptable but the difference between the RP and the NRP is the RP can claim tax credits/UC and the children will be included in anything they are entitled to. This isnt the same for the NRP so therefore they may not have anything left after essential bills whilst their wages are cut.

[IceCreamAndCandyfloss]

think it should be compulsory to pay for your kids and followed through by the government

I’d vote for any party that made that law. So much better for the children and all the money saved from not paying benefits could be used for schools, hospitals etc. It would have positive environmental factors too as less would be born.

[funinthesun19]

sweeney people conveniently forget all that.

[Idratherbeasleep]

I'm not entitled to uc/tax credits. I dont know how much people get in those benefits so cant comment on that, I thought that was for topping up wages of people that worked part time so they earned closed to a full time wage?

[HugeAckmansWife]

I would think given all the other emergency schemes that have been put in place it wouldn't be too hard for another one whereby if a nrp notifies cms of a drop in income due to CV then the difference is made up by the gov. Wouldn't help those with fsmil based arrangements but would be a start. Would be open to abuse for sure but maybe if the gov were the ones being ripped off by shifty NRPs instead of children, they'd make more effort down the line to investigate false income reports.

[funinthesun19]

They do top up wages yes, but an nrp will only get a very small amount, if not zero, if they are working and there are no children to take in to account. The rp would get more because their entitlement goes up due to having children living with them.

If the nrp is not working they get a very small amount from universal credit. If an rp is not working they get a lot more than nrp from universal credit.

[lyralalala]

The ridiculous thing about maintenance dodging is that CMS have wide powers. There's just no political will to use them

[lyralalala]

maybe if the gov were the ones being ripped off by shifty NRPs instead of children, they'd make more effort down the line to investigate false income reports.

Even then they wouldn't. It used to be that the RP, if they were on benefits, was only allowed to keep the fist £20 a week of maintenance. The rest was owed to the Secretary of State to go toward the benefits paid out.

So much money ended up being owed to the SoS they scrapped the system, allowed RP's to keep all of the money. Eventually they had to discount if for benefits purposes because people like my Grandparents (they ended up with us because my parents were abusive and neglected) were fucked twice over because they didn't get the maintenance money, but then had the maintenance amount removed from their benefits because they should get it.

[Idratherbeasleep]

@funinthesun do you mean if a nrp is not working in general or just at the moment? I mean a nrp when working can do full time and not have to pay childcare and the rp either works part time or usually pays childcare I thought that was why theirs got topped up but please correct me if I'm wrong because I have no idea. And the self employed are entitled to uc at the moment?

[HugeAckmansWife]

I know. The idea tha RPs shouldn't rely on it as income is a sad indictment of our society's tolerant view of non payers. No-one says the gov shouldn't rely on taxes to pay for the NHS and not chase tax dodgers. If HMRC can do it, so could the cms.. In fact they ought to be the same organisation.

[Idratherbeasleep]

@hugeAckmansWife as I raised earlier it seems alot of people could take advantage of not paying at all saying they aren't working/cant afford it right now as no one is checking apparently

[MarieQueenofScots]

The idea that RPs shouldn't rely on it as income is a sad indictment of our society's tolerant view of non payers

This

[PumpkinP]

You can’t rely on something that you don’t get. Cms told me to not even bother claiming 🤷‍♀️

[otterturk]

The responses on this thread are really disappointed.

Yes, some people get nothing. That doesn't make it ok that so many men NRPs shirk their responsibilities, especially when many of the same will have savings.