ExH has child benefit & I want it back

[RainbowDashstolemyidentity]

1 year after I left exh (6 years ago) I hadn't received any maintenance so contacted csa. They awarded me maintenance based on 3 DC's living with me 4 days pw & him 3. He wasn't happy & made a claim for the child benefit for all 3 kids, after a 6m investigation they gave him the child benefit for middle child.
This meant he no longer had to pay maintenance for middle child.
Child benefit office told me that I couldn't appeal this unless there was a change in circumstances.
ExH has recently moved in with his gf would this count as a change in circumstances?
It's v hard making ends meet as I obviously still support all 3 kids but only get money for 2.
Anybody have any similar experiences with child benefit?

It sounds fair to me. You only have them 1 day a week more than him, and presumably he's still paying several hundred pounds a month for the other two. If you're struggling with school pickups, you could always ask if he can have them for an extra day and pay him maintenance. Or (since you mention picking up from school 4 days a week) I assume he has them at the weekends, could you shift the days so that one of your days is a weekend -it does seem a little unfair that he gets the downtime while you get the school days?

No, not going without Food or Heat!

I'm not jealous of ExH at all, I'm frustrated that he has the CB/CM and doesn't need it. I understand that the balance is nearly 50/50 but he pays for nothing the DS2 whom he gets benefit for. I am on a low income ( I work in an office so no option for w/e work) I just wanted to know if anybody had similar experiences, did they appeal the CB successfully or do I just roll over and accept it!

So you're not going without essentials, presumably its a few extra treats CB pays for per month.
For the sake of one day you get far more support than he does. I'd say it evens out to be honest with you.
i have sympathy for your situation but with the greatest respects, you should probably just suck it up

You say he pays nothing but surely it balances out because he feeds and cares for all 3 of them 3 out of 7 days.

And he pays for 2/3 so he doesn't 'pay nothing'

I'm not jealous of ExH at all, I'm frustrated that he has the CB/CM and doesn't need it.

Unfortunately, that's not your call to make. He made a successful appeal to the Child Benefit offices and they've decided that he can claim CB, and therefore not need to pay CM, for the third child.

They have advised you that they won't look at your complaint again until there's a change of circumstances. It's unlikely that him moving in with his GF is a valid CoC, they are likely to have meant a change in how much time each child spends with him/you.

Are your childcare arrangements set by the court? Have there been any relevant changes? If not, I think you need to try and accept the 2 x CB and 2 x CM that you are getting as your lot, and he gets to keep 1 x CB and not pay 1 x CM. Is there anything you could do that would increase your income so you felt more comfortable? I'd be a bit concerned that if he and GF are now living together, and they decide to have children, that could affect your CM and you'd be in a bad place. (I'm not sure if that's still true, but I believe it used to be, at least!)

If he is only covering one school pick up, that seems unfair. Could this be changed? May mean that a babysitter picks them up and looks after them till he gets home from work.