JSA and maintenance?

[Xalla]

My DH has a private arrangement with his ex for maintenance. He pays over what he would have to via the CSA and several extras for DSD in addition to the regular maintenance payments.

His ex has emailed asking for him to provide a signed document stating what maintenance he pays and when. He's confused why she needs this as maintenance was agreed during his application for an SRO last year and the agreement is attached to the SRO documentation along with a parenting plan. There have been no changes to the agreement and he's always paid in full and on time.

Ex's maternity leave is about to run out and she has decided not to return to work. She says she needs DH to provide the document in order to claim JSA. Is this true? I was of the understanding that maintenance doesn't affect JSA claims. Does anyone know why maintenance has to be declared on the Income Support application form?

His ex had made several veiled pleas for money recently including telling DH she could no longer take DSD to school as her car had broken down and she couldn't afford to fix it. DH was never married to her and is reluctant to get into paying for anything other than things directly related to his DD because frankly, once he goes down the route, where does it end? Ex has several loans out at any one time and is generally, very bad with money!

I admit, I'm a bit suspicious.

As long as your dh has written proof of payments it doesnt really matter what she needs it for.nothing can really come back on him.sometimes with benefits you do have to declare what maintenance you reeive even tho its disregarded.

Well JSA and income support are two different things but you mention both. Which is she applying for?

I receive income support and i have never had yo prove what exp pays- they ask me at each review how much he pays and i tell them, they write it down but thats it.

Is it possible she is applying for a budgetting loan or similar? I know for those you have to have evidence for every single penny you spend so perhaps this is why she meeds proof of child support.

She'll be applying for JSA if her children are all school age. Income support if any are younger.

No I don't think she needs it - she might be confused and think she does as it maintenance did used to affect benefits some years back.

Or she might need it if she was trying to get a mortgage or other loan dependent on the income. That's probably more likely from what you say.

I can't see he's anything to lose by providing a statement though - it wouldn't force him to keep it the same in the future, just be a statement of what he's currently paying. He could even state in it that future payments are dependent on his future income so could change.

If shes just about to come off mat leave then im guessing income support.

It would be income support she'd be applying for then I guess.

I can't see he's got anything to lose by giving it to her either. He pays by standing order using 'X's maintenance' as a reference so he can prove what he's paying etc.

Thank you.

Only danger would be she's using it to take out unafforable loans, but I guess that's her problem not your DP's really.

If he's at all worried it might be better to go through the CSA (or whatever the new name of it is) and then he would know she was getting exactly the right amount and he could then top up/buy things as and when needed. That way everyone knows where they stand

He used to go through the CSA and got well and truly fed up with their incompetence. They screwed up monumentally. I don't think much would convince him to use them again. Having watched him deal with them then, I don't blame him.

The unaffordable loan thing has happened before more than once. Technically not his problem, in reality of course though, if it affects DSD, it is his problem. Hoping it is just for an Income Support application.

She could possibly need it for a loan,especially if her car needs sortin.thats up to her.it wouldnt affect whst your dh pays tho.

It won't be for an income support application. They don't ask about maintanence. Unless she's just confused about it.

She'll need it for housing benefit.

That does count maintenance as earnings and if she's on JSA she'll probably claim housing benefit too if she rents.

No, that's not right - Housing benefit doesn't count maintenance as earnings.

In some places the new council tax benefit rules do though. Could be that.

Yes, that's right - they do ask to see bank statements sometimes, so she might need to prove that the money she has coming in regularly is maintenance (and not, say, earnings from a job she's not told them about).

A friend of mine has recently claimed and had to have a signed letter from her ex stating what he pays via their private agreement.