Child Maintenance and Benefits

[Blupi]

I have recently opened a claim against my ex, it has come back as £7 a week as he is in receipt of ‘certain benefits.’ However, I know he works (self-employed) and is actually charging £100 per hour for his services. He has also posted bragging social media posts about his tax return and how much tax he’s had to pay, alluding to the fact he must have earned a fair amount of income.

I’ve gone back onto the calculator and had a play around with it, and whatever income you put in, if you tick the benefits box it will come up as £7 per week. I even entered in £30k earnings but receiving benefits and it still said £7 per week.

Surely this cannot be correct?? Clearly he is also committing benefit fraud as well.

Anyone been in this situation?

Are you absolutely sure? I don’t want to cause additional stress to my life or our co-parenting if it is true and he should really only be paying £7.

@Blupi Yes I'm absolutely 💯
From experience when paying parent was on PIP and part-time low earnings being topped up by UC (including rent element) they still had to pay CMS based on those low earnings. It only reverted to £7 a week when they gave up work completely due to ill health.
Your issue is your ex is self-employed and likely not declaring earnings.

I see. So the evidence I have - probably the best one being the Cafcass document where he admits to working - should be submitted to the CMS? Along with screenshots of his social media posts, and his work website where he advertises services for £100 an hour?

And sorry, you got more than £7 when they were on PIP, receiving UC and working part-time?

you need to bear in mind that he’s £100 ph is before allowable tax deductions for the business. He can write off a whole load of stuff before you get to his income. His ‘brag’ about low tax could simply be that a clever bookkeeper/accountant managed to claim a whole pile of stuff as tax deductible expenses from (depending on the type of self employed work) ;
vehicle
vehicle tax/Mot/insurance
tools
phone
office costs/% of home used for office including mortgage or rent/heating /maintenance etc .

Also his ‘allowable income’ before he is knocked out of it will increase by ;
ofher kids
dependents
disability if in receipt of pip.
a joint claim with a partner who gets the carer element for him (again claimable if he gets daily living component) .

The only way to know for sure is to know what his net income is.

On the letter I received it says, ‘the other parent receives all of their income from benefits.’ And then in another section it states they have ‘no other income from employment.’

Surely the only way you'd receive a letter saying that he receives all his income from benefits would be if he'd told HMRC exactly that? So he's lying somewhere along the line. It sounds like he's committing tax and benefit fraud if he's saying he's not making any money and claiming benefits. He could also have set up his own company, claim he's not paying himself a salary (while doing everything through 'expenses') and be claiming some cursory benefit. He may also be paying his partner rather than himself, to make it seem as if he has no income.

Sounds like you need to get a forensic accountant onto him. I've no idea how much that would cost though.

This is what it says…

Yes, it wasn't me, but I know the case well. The receiving parent was getting more maintenance whilst their ex was working part-time and on PIP (and I believe ESA). It reduced to £7 when they stopped working.
Looking at what CMS have sent you it's quite clear your ex is saying they have no earned income and are solely on benefits. I would ask them to look at this stating you believe he is working, presumably cash in hand. You must also log your suspensions and evidence with HMRC. They will be the ones who are most interested.

@Blupi the corrected information is correct, the child maintenance is calculated from income. BUT for someone self employed the income is calculated on the last tax return. So now it would be the tax return submitted in January 2025 for the Financial year April 23 -24. CMS won't take account of his current self employed profits until after April 2026. So if he was on benefits that year it might explain it. Have you spoken to CMS, they can advise if there's anything you can do at this point, but self employed can be quite sheltered as far as CMS is concerned.

HMRC could not be less interested. I have phoned them repeatedly to highlight the fact that my ex-husband earns at least 25 grand a year tax-free on top of his £80,000 salary which would push him into a new tax band.
They’re not even so much has raised an eyebrow

I will call the CMS tomorrow morning and see what they say. It’s confusing as some people have said that any income from benefits is only £7 but then you are saying it should be more if he’s earning.

I went on the calculator and ticked UC and earning £30k and it came out as £7, which doesn’t seem right but it is what the calculator says.

You're unlikely to get any sense from CMS. They have told me numerous untrue things over the years. Better to ask someone like citizens advice.

If he is getting UC
and is in the support group for illness / health
if he is registered as SE then he gets a work allowance of around 100 a week /400 a month before they reduce his UC amount

it’s a bit higher if you have no rent I think around 160 /625 a month

so he can earn this amount and it won’t affect his benefits from UC
but he has got to register as SE

I don’t know how if works if he’s got a partner / kids
and if he is doing this and in the Support group of ESA then I think the 7 a week thing is correct

This has come from a CMS advisor. They said the £7 was only where there was no earned income at all. The calculator isn't always helpful. However this was employed income which is easier for CMS to see and harder for the paying parent to hide. Self-employed sounds a minefield.

Check on companies house in case he's set up as a ltd company. If he's just taking dividends that won't automatically show as income. You have to specifically ask for it to be added. Which is farcical to me... they have promised to change this sometime.

I think the confusion here may be because if they earn under £100 a week they also only pay £7 a week. So I guess in @ChrisMartinsKisskam instance this could be the case?
If you suspect that your ex is earning more than £5200/year you'd still be entitled to more than £7.

He definitely is. The children have told me of weeks when he’s told them he’s busy as he has 10-20 clients, just in those weeks alone he’d be making £1k - £2k. Whether he’s declaring it or getting cash is another thing altogether.

you need to bear in mind that he’s £100 ph is before allowable tax deductions for the business. He can write off a whole load of stuff before you get to his income. His ‘brag’ about low tax could simply be that a clever bookkeeper/accountant managed to claim a whole pile of stuff as tax deductible expenses from (depending on the type of self employed work) ;
vehicle
vehicle tax/Mot/insurance
tools
phone
office costs/% of home used for office including mortgage or rent/heating /maintenance etc .

Also his ‘allowable income’ before he is knocked out of it will increase by ;
ofher kids
dependents
disability if in receipt of pip.
a joint claim with a partner who gets the carer element for him (again claimable if he gets daily living component) .

The only way to know for sure is to know what his net income is.

So definitely speak to CMS and if they say nothing can be done as HMRC think he's not working then your focus should be on reporting his tax fraud to HMRC.
@slimagain CMS have confirmed to OP that their ex's income is solely from state benefits. If they were offsetting their self-employed income against tax deductibles there would still be an earned income figure, even if very low.

Probably something to do with the fact there are only about 5 people working there. I'm amazed HMRC ever manage to catch anyone doing anything dodgy tbh. Every time I've had to ring them, I've got the impression I'm speaking to a bored teenager working from their own bedroom.

Yes. Disability benefits are non means tested.