I have been having "fun" for 18 months now with the Child Maintenance Service trying to get my head round there rules and "computer says no" mentality. Thankfully I am making progress and wanted to pass on some information and also had a question on legislation.
Solicitors seems to have very little understanding of the CM rules and wanted up front payment for a consultation which was not cheap. I came across an organisation called NACSA (.co.uk) who helped me out over the phone - £30 charge for months access to phone help. They helped me with filling in an appeal form and other guidance as my case was not a simple one - I would definitely recommend them
OK now for my query...
Just recently I found the government legislation on how Child Maintenance is calculated (Google "The Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012").
In chapter 2 it talks about asking for a revision of a decision i.e. asking for them to revise a decision about maintenance calculation. Part (a) mentions the 30 day requirement. Part b is the interesting bit where it states:
(b) if the Secretary of State is satisfied that the decision was wrong due to a misrepresentation of, or failure to disclose, a material fact and that decision was more advantageous to the person who misrepresented or failed to disclose that fact than it would have been but for the wrongness of the decision;
Does anyone know if both points (a) and (b) have to apply?
I'm thinking that if NRP ignores CMS at annual review time and does not disclose that there income has increased then the RP will not be aware of this until a year later at the next annual review when they get visibility of this through HMRC earnings for the previous year. Could the RP request a revision on the basis that the NRP failed to disclose a material fact and that decision was more advantageous to them i.e. the point raised in part (b)?
I will probably need NACSA's advice again soon so if I get no feedback on here I will update once I find out from the legal people there.
Good luck with dealing with CMS!!!