How's he done this

[Lucyintheskyw]

Just got a CMS email through saying new annual calculation is £130 per month less due to a drop in income of about 17k a year. I know this isn't the case as ex has PAYE employment and recently took a new job with significant pay increase. He has multiple directorships and is a private landlord which aren't included in CMS assessment. How can his PAYE income suddenly drop by this much? Is it hiding through an accountant or something and how can I challenge / expose?

Really sent me in a spin receiving this email this morning and I just felt sheer panic and burst in to tears and had to leave the office.

He's probably made large increases in his pension contributions.

Will that count as diversion of income?

The name of it is just a technicality.

I'm not 100% sure but I think you can put as much as you want into a pension fund and the your CM is then assessed on whats left.

So he'll get a great big fat pension, and you'll get less CM. It's not fair I know. Did you do OK in the divorce settlement?

Thanks for this but wondering if anyone else in Lone Parents has had any success in challenging this through the Tribunal.

My ex is listed as a director on several companies and most of these with 100% of shares. I have raised this with CMS. They said there is no reason to investigate. I raised a Mandatory Reconsideration and they still said no.

My only option at the moment is to consider Tribunal route to enable full transparency. But what evidence do I need? Has anyone had success?

Being a director of a company and owning shares in those companies per se isn't relevant to CMS calculation. Only if he receives income through the directorships or as dividends from shares is that assessed as income for CMS purposes.

If you know and can prove that he has had a pay increase in his new role then that is grounds for a mandatory assessment. Just saying "he's got a new job with a pay rise" isn't.

At the end of this tax year, his HMRC declared income will be taken into consideration again so you might get an increase then.

I'm sorry, it's tough. Been through something similar myself. CMS are shit and the system is set up to accommodate those who want to avoid paying.

Thanks for your response. Yep, it's just really hard and the CMS just seem to lack teeth as well as the willingness to investigate. Yet take at face value the paying parent's claims.

I know he owns several properties and rents these out which is one of the companies listed on Companies House. This income isn't declared for CMS calculations. He also has a management consultancy business which again is not declared.

The CMS feels so impenetrable for resident parents yet he can advocate in court for more access, move 25 miles away and then ask for a reduction due to travel costs. He knew where our son's school was when he moved and I'm not sure why this is then built into my costs, rather than his. It just feels stacked against me at the moment.