Child maintenance, father starts getting pension, CMS says he is on benefits now

[qizaloq]

Hello,
For the last four months, I have been having this issue with the CMS, where they say the father is 'on benefits' and he's been sending 30.33 quid a month.
The father is a full-time employee company director making in the region of 100K per year.
Does state pension qualify as being on benefits?
What recourse do I have against the CMS?

Exasperated mum.

My child starts Uni this September*

So CMS is finishing this month?

Yes, it does finish this Sep

I’m not impressed as a pension is an ‘entitlement’ whereas a benefit can be means tested. So having both paid in for 40 years I can see a time when (maybe in the not too distant future) our state pensions will be reduced or removed just because we had the foresight to (once the mortgage was paid off) also pay into private pensions in order to have a comfortable retirement.

What absolute bs. Either CMS need putting right or your ex is a liar and somehow pulling the wool over their eyes. Or, well, both.
'On benefits' would be solely on benefits. Ie no job, no income from work or private pensions surely.
I hope you get what you and your child deserve.

Ok - I’m sorry I’m a bit late to this post but I might be able to help. Just been dealing with the same problem and have found an answer. You need to tell the CMS you want to “apply for variation for earned income”. Dealing with the CMS has been incredibly frustrating as speaking to agent does not guarantee you get the correct info first time. The situation is similar. Ex informed CMS he was receiving industrial injuries disablement benefit - IIDB - which reduced his payments to the flat rate of £7 which were then reduced to £0 because he has 1 of 4 children to overnight for 52/365 days. He is a company director and earns at least £40k a year. (FYI this had to be established at a tribunal earlier this year because he is only declaring £9k to HMRC.) The legislation you need is found in regulation 70 in chapter5 of The Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012. It can also be found in simplified form on the government fact sheet “Variations explained: a guide for receiving parents”. The relevant bit states:
“You can apply for a variation of
‘earned’ income – this is when the paying parent
is getting benefits (and qualifies to pay Flat rate
child maintenance) but also has gross income
from a pension, employment or self-
employment. This type of income must be at
least £100 a week.“
As long as you can give them some info as to where their other income is coming from so they can verify it and it is over £100 per week, they should recalculate the amount due using the normal calculation based on gross income.
Hope this helps!

Many thanks, Miffypop and all !

After I contacted my MP, the CMS reconsidered my case. I am now due almost 2400.00 pounds of arrears as well as a small compensation. The CMS said it was some mistake, and the father has been on employed income all along. Go figure. But I am not holding my breath yet, because there is no letter to that effect yet in my online account. I believe it when all this money safely received. Thank you and best wishes. x

Well done qizaloc - that’s a great result and clearly worth pursuing. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the outcome is confirmed and that you don’t have to wait too long for the arrears and compensation. It’s maddening how difficult the CMS is to navigate! It really shouldn’t be necessary to have to contact our MPs to make progress. The system seems so heavily dependent on the receiving parent doing all the legwork to get any sort of a fair outcome - that simply can’t be right!

It was, but, since Cameron, a state pension is now classified as a benefit.