Does anyone know when CSA liability ends?

March 25, 2012

I’ll make it quick.

Summary : DOES ANY ONE KNOW WHEN A CSA LIABILITY ENDS ?????

My Story:-

With an ex-wife who has offered NO encouragement for the Kids to visit over the years (hopefully not actively discouraged)I’ve sadly drifted away form my kids, but now that my youngest has reached 19 I’ve requested a “Closure Order” be instigated to finally stop the CSA payments.

I believe my son has, after finishing sixth year has went to university (but for the purposes of a Question I submitted to the CSA I assumes he WAS NOT in advanced education…

Question went like this

Once my son reaches 19 and may still be in non-advanced education AND is still receiving Child Benefit (apparently til June 2012 at the last request to the Child Benefit Agency) when does my CSA liability END.

This was their response :-

*****************************************
Dear Sir
Thank you for your e-mail to the Child Support Agency.
Child Support Agency guidelines relevant to age and child support maintenance liability.
If you have a case with the Child Support Agency the maintenance liability generally continues until the child reaches the age of sixteen.

This next paragraph was in BOLD

The maintenance liability remains after this date if the child continues into further full time (twelve hours a week or more), non-advanced education. In these circumstances the liability to pay child support maintenance can remain until the child reaches the age of nineteen.

Then it continues …..

If the qualifying child is doing any of the below for twelve hours a week or more, then the maintenance liability would remain. As long as the parent with care is still receiving Child Benefit for the child, the Child Support Agency would generally deem that the child still qualifies for child support maintenance until this benefit ceases.
A child in full time education can be in paid employment and still be eligible for child maintenance. They are allowed to work no more than 24 hours a week.

When a child leaves full time education in the summer, Child Benefit generally continues until the first week of September (for Scotland it can be from June onwards). If you have a case with the Agency, we would advise you to make contact nearer the time so we can investigate if the child is carrying on in full time education.

Non – Advanced Education:
GCE / GCSE – A level / AS level / O level SCE Higher Grade or equivalent

etc….

So does the use of BOLD writing in their response suggest no matter what the childs situation is the liability ENDS at 19 !!!!!!

Comments

  • annonomour says:

    my huband has 590.00 per mnth deducted from his wages csa started 3 yr ago his son left school 2 yr ago at 16 signed for colledge and never bother really attending last year he did the same maybe went 3 to 4 weeks contacted csa and they said while mother claims family allowance they will take it we now no he aint been to colledge since october however we still have to pay each mnth where can we get help with this he will be 18 in april

  • Yaseen says:

    I have a really big issue with the CSA on how they work out how much my ex should get. My son normally stays with me after he finishes school till 10pm then goes home only to come back the next day at 7am so he only sleeps at his mums house. I buy his clothes feed him and look after him. I informed the CSA of this an they told me that the only way they can work out how much people should get paid is by the number of nights the child stops over, so woman have a loop hoole that they can use just to get there own way. The system is not right and needs to change.

  • wilf says:

    Annonomour:-If the child is not in full time employment or in receipt of benefits then the child benefit (family allowance) is probably still in place.
    If you feel the PWC should not be receiving this, because the child is not in full time non advanced education, you need to call the child benefit agency with your evidence.
    The CSA will do nothing as long as child benefit is in payment.

  • Mark says:

    I’ve just been told by the CSA that I must pay until my son is 20. When were the government going to tell people and since when was someone at 20 a child? Talk about making your own rules up.

  • mab1067 says:

    As with many of the comments above I have been paying and looking after my kids when home and over the last 5 years there was period where I had my kids living with me for 3 weeks out of 5weeks for over 2 years. CSA told me that the Ex was the PWC due to my rota etc. I have moved on and now with new partnet follwoing this my kids were encourage not to stay after I wnet and bought big house for us all to live in. However I now have my 17 year old working away Sunday to Friday get all his Hotels and meals paid for and gettinag an allowance of £80 per week. CSA have told me that I still hav eto pay the full amount even though my son only stays at his mum a max of 2 night per week. Did suggest to CSA that i stop the payments and give my son the money. However I was informed that surley thats what his Mother must be doing. How naive are the CSA and how unfair is this system. Unfortunately for fathers that are working and willing to contribute and bring up thier children it is all to easy for the CSA and Ex wife to continue to rip us off.

  • Alice says:

    @ Mark – 10/12/12 the govt raised the age for which Child Benefit could be claimed for a child who remained in full time non advanced education from 19 to 20. As such the age for which a PWC could claim child maintenance increased in line with CHB rules.

    @ Mab1067 – when you had your children living with you for 3 weeks out of 5 CHB should have been paid to you and as such this would have classed you as the PWC. If you ex partner was claiming this then she would be entitled to claim child maintenance. Unfortunately if you did not make a claim at the time this cannot be changed now as CXSA will only take on a change of circumstances such as this if it notified at the time. With regards to your current situation, you need to establish if your son’s situation meets the current criteria for CHB – generally this means he should be in full time non-advanced education but there are some training courses that will mean a person still qualifies. I would suggest you contact the CHB office and provide the details of his work/training. If he still qualifies for CHB then your ex will still be entitled to claim child support for him. If your ex wishes the CM to be paid to her then the CSA are obliged to collect it and pay it to her. If your son is the only child she is claiming CM for on the case then it would be possible, if the PWC, for the money to be collected by the agency and paid direct to your son. If there are other children also being claimed for then the agency cannot split the payments between the PWC and the QC.

  • John (original) says:

    Theiveing polilicticians are at again. No doubt to pay for the illegally gained expenses!

    Whatever, happens in my case one way or another I will be seeking retribution. legally of course!

    What comes around goes around and there will be a time when they want something from me. I am looking forward to seeing those who implemented this sham, squirm!

  • Kevin says:

    Got told by csassoles that I had to pay until my daughter is 20 Dec ’14.

    Her CAR has failed MOT, now ist my problem (£138), I was working at 16, when do people become adults? vote 18, get married, drink and don’t need to ask my permission, but still wants my £320 per month.
    Role on end of college. csa robbers.

  • Viv says:

    Stepson 17 went into the army in April, 2 years ago. Csa told my husband that he had to pay maintenance till September that year. He paid and they still looking for him to pay another month. He did tell them about his son joining the army but they told him he was liable till Sept. Earning and not living at home but still having to pay. Makes no sense. Fighting it still but very frustrating as they don’t appear to be listening.

  • Dan says:

    My daughter left school may 2012. She started collage that year. I was prepared to pay cm until she finished collage.But she only went a couple of times. So now she is doing nothing. So I contacted the c.s.a and told them that my daughter wasn’t in full-time education anymore and could I now stop paying my ex cm. The C.S.A informed me that I still have to pay as CB still gets paid. So that’s brill I’m paying my kid to sit at home all day long.

  • AE says:

    Help needed:

    My daughter who was 18 last October is re-taking her 2nd year in college. Now does this mean that because she underperformed in college I have another 12 months of payments? i.e. instead of payments stopping when she is 19 it will now be 20?

  • mark says:

    makes me laugh how a child is deemed to be 17-18-19 its a joke

  • Chris says:

    Please understand that the CSA (which is just an executive for the government) has nothing to do with fairness. If you are a father divorced or otherwise, you have only one role and that is to pay. We pay taxes so that the politicians can party. We pay business rates so that local politicians can maintain their double chins rather than the roads. We get ripped off by the utility companies because they are protected by the politicians in their pockets, and we get ripped off at the petrol pumps and by the bankers for the same reason, and in our hospitals our loved ones are dying as a direct consequence of government policies – and I make no distinction between political parties when I say this. We pay the CSA not to support our kids .My 18 year old son, a grown man, with whom I have no relationship thanks to the combined actions of my ex wife and the CSA, doesn’t get to see any of the money I pay. We pay to support our ex-wives/partners who gladly welcome the handout . It’s another stealth tax – in fact it should be termed ‘Divorce Tax’ – and we are easy targets for it. Being men we are guilty by definition and therefore must pay.
    You’ll probably find next year they’ll change the rules again so that we have to pay until our kids are 21 and so on. And meanwhile there are moves to reduce the voting age to 16!
    This is all symptomatic of a corrupt, bankrupt society led by politicians who care nothing for the man in the street, see us as nothing more than a resource to be exploited, and no doubt laugh at us behind closed doors for being so weak – for allowing them to milk us like cattle.
    And therein lies the point. We ARE cattle. We deserve what we get because we ARE weak. We LET them do this to us. We roll over and the more we do so, the more liberties – OUR liberties they will take from us. We cannot expect from them any fairness, honour (Has anyone resigned over the Stafford Hospital scandal?) or decency, nor any willingness to act upon the expression of our grievances. They do not want to listen, and in their arrogance and hypocrisy they think that our voices are irrelevant, that we do not matter.
    But I am filled with a simmering sense of affront, of fury and rage over the way we are exploited, the way we are treated with contempt. This has built up slowly over many years and I am at the end of my tether. I believe there are very many hard working, honest people, struggling to make their way in life, who feel exactly the same as I do. I believe it is time for us to do more than just complain on websites because doing so will not bring about change.It is time for us to take action against these thieves and parasites. It is time to take back what belongs to us.

  • Phil says:

    My daughter due to start uni in september, turns 19 in November, when should my csa payments stop ?

  • John says:

    Phil ~ If your daughter turns 19 in November 2013 and is heading to University, then your liability should cease around September 4th (start of new school year).

    There are some non advanced educational courses where maintenance is payable until 20. We all know that the CSA make the rules up to suit their own needs, and the change to 20 is probably due to a lot of parents making private agreements, and the CSA are losing work.

    Make sure that you inform the Child Benefit office that Child Benefit should no longer be payable from September, as the mother may not notify them of this change in circumstances, and therefore the CSA will continue to take maintenance from you.

  • emte says:

    hi all,

    daughter has turned 18 and finished her a-levels (eagerly awaiting results!).

    she is due to start a college course in September so if “Child maintenance payments usually stop when the child reaches 16 (or 20 if they’re in full-time education not higher than A-level equivalent)” how do i find out if the course she is doing in September is not higher than A-level?

  • Paul says:

    Hello

    my ex-wife as milked the CSA system to the max, my only son [who’s 18, 19 in Jan] has been doing the MINIUM 12 hour college course for 2 years, he’s doing courses he’s do interested in at all

    he’s now got a job, and I’m trying to find out how many hours a week he’s working

    I’ve just wrote to the CSA demanding they find out…

    1. what’s he’s studying for the 2013-14 college year
    2. how many hours a week he’s working

    I’m said i won’t pay any more until this is given to me, if it’a ll above board then I’ll pay all the money owed

    what upsets me is it appears the colleges are in on the act too, his second year was a wall and floor tiling course, 12 hrs/week over 36 weeks, that’s something your could learn over 6 weeks if it was full-time

    is there a limit to the number of years you can keep going back to college? he’s already done 2 years

    paul

  • george says:

    Ok im a little confused regarding a couple of comments and the csa reopening old cases to get another year out of NRPs.

    In my case myself and the PWC decided to make a private arrangement and she wrote to the CSA stating that she no longer wished them to handle the case, that was 5 years ago.

    My daughter is now 18 and on an apprenticeship whish is employer based, and even though she hasnt been doing anything from 16 until now i continued with the arrangement. I have spoken to her mother about reducing the payments and giving them directly to my daughter and she has said that she will get the CSA on me if i did. originally this didnt concern me as i was under the impression that once a child had reached 18 then the CSA wouldnt take a new case but reading here it seems it wouldnt be a new case and they could simply reopen the old one??

    any thoughts on that?

  • Paul says:

    Hi, I have a daughter who has just started college, She is 19 and left school because of low results on last exams was unable to contuinue at school. So in effect took a 2yr gap in which she has been on retail courses and calimed Jobseekers. Only thing is she moved away to live with boyfriends family in Scotland at the beginning of the two year period so she hasn’t lived with either parent or still living with natural parents. What would be my liabities to CSA ?

    Paul 🙂

  • Paul says:

    Hello.

    Are you still liable to pay csa if child has moved out from home to live with boyfriend that she is engaged too. So she is not living with any parents at all. She has just started college at the age of 19 after spending a two year gap period. She left school at 16 after she was 1 grade off from being allowed to continue on. so in that period has been doing retail course’s (Volutary at oxfam through the Jobcentre) and signing on. The reason I ask is she is being asked loads of questions from the college Bursary. Like I said she is living away from home. She has moved upto scotland from norwich to be with boyfriend who’m she is engaged too. Does she still qualify for csa.

    I hope you can answer or give a little guidance here? 😉

    Sincerely
    Paul 🙂

  • Tony says:

    1 child is 19 and is living on campus in University studying for a Medical pharmacology degree, I am of the opinion my payments to the CSA for him are now at an end. However child 2 who is 17 has managed to land himself a paid apprenticeship with 1 paid day release doing an NVQ level 2-3 and another paid day release doing a HNC course in engineering. Child 2 gets approximately £120 per week. £4.20 per hour (£700+per month) he still lives with the parent with care, Do I still pay?

  • Tony says:

    1 child is 19 and is living on campus in University studying for a Medical pharmacology degree, I am of the opinion my payments to the CSA for him are now at an end. However child 2 who is 17 has managed to land himself a paid apprenticeship with 1 paid day release doing an NVQ level 2-3 and another paid day release doing a HNC course in engineering. Child 2 gets approximately £120 per week. £4.20 per hour (£700+per month) he still lives with the parent with care, Do I still pay?.

  • neil says:

    My daughter was 19 on 4th jan 2014 I was told by csa that payments would stop then and I would only have to pay any arrears but when I contacted them on the 23 jan 2014 having left them a couple of weeks to sort themselves out I was told that my ex wife was still getting cb and that I was liable to pay until she’s 20 ive had very little contact with my daughter as her mother made this impossible .I wouldnt trust her not to be lying to cb about what hours my daughter works and actually spends in education .how can I find out whether my daughter does actually spend enough hours in education because her mother wont tell me

  • Kevin says:

    Hi, my son left school at 15, 16 in Feb. He and his leech of a mother thought this was no good for him????? He also has a child. I have very little contact with him and he has now started college for 2 days a week. College is from 09:00 – 1:00 in the afternoon (I am led to believe) When I was at school this does not add up to the minimum of 12 hours of supervised tuition that is required for benefit payments.
    How do I find out if I still have to pay the parasitic CSA and mother and how do I find out if the hours of the course is correct, after reading all of the above articles I take it the college will not tell me.

    Thanks in advance.

  • CSAareapain says:

    The rules are quite celar regardless of the CSA version on rules for chidren leaving school.

    Chils leaves school to do non-advanced education or part time education or an apprenriceship then you continue to pay to up to 20 this is the new age rule.

    non advanced education is NVQ low level courses up to 5 i believe or A levels or O levels etc, this also includes low level apprenticeships.

    However any courses which need A levels england or H level Scotland which will be college HNC, HND or Degree qualfies as advanced education and therefore excempt from payments to the CSA if full time.

    I have done much research into this myself and the key is the education level and the number of hours. It maybe that the receviers of the payments are clued up to this and will drive the child in the most economical route which as ususal is not in the best interest of the child which is always the downside to all this crap with the CSA.

    Kevin to answer you , you will have to pay due to the level of the course and the part time.

    The rest once the child is 20 its over.

    My kid will be 18 in Jan but will attend college full time if he gets his grades becuase its a full time HND course it all ends i have been paying since he was 1.

    Hope this helps

  • Jill stone says:

    My partner financial circumstances changed when his daughter was about 15.he informed the CSa because he was self employed and his business was doing badly it took case nearly 2 years to sort this out which resulted in a small amount of arrears. His daughter now lives with her partner and two children yet the CSa are still chasing arrears for his ex wife who has no dependant children. I am angry as I constantly rang the case all those years ago to find out how much money we would have to pay after the change of circumstances. Still paying for 22 year old because the csa took so long to do their job. Can anyone tell me if there is an age or time limit for the csa to collect arrears

  • michelle says:

    REALLY !!! i cannot believe my ears to some of these questions, if you have a child it is your responsibility to support them, your not supporting them each hour of the day/night when their ill playing up, you don’t attend meetings at the school if the child has misbehaved or even to support them throughout their life… so having to pay a little of cash per month to the Mother/Father of the child to contribute towards their life i feel this is a spit in the ocean, god get real do you think £180.00 per month really is enough to pay for the trainers that everyone has, the best clothes clubs school trips, hair cuts, food transport i could go on but unlike most i don’t sit down and write how much my child is costing me i decided to have a child so did my husband just because people split up doesn’t mean the children should go with out, i think most of you feel the money isn’t going to the child, no probably not directly but after really thinking about where the money is going perhaps you won’t mind contributing, after all this is for YOUR children not for the parent that looks after them.
    My son is in full time education, he has now got a part time job 7.5hrs week, all my ex does is question him on how many hours his working (i think my ex thinks we are silly because i no his not interested in my sons achievements his looking for an excuse not to support him!! come on lighten up and stop trying to make or look for excuses not to pay.

  • david says:

    Michelle
    i am a dad of 3 children aged 20,17 and 11 and have been paying approx £600/month for the past 10 years and still get asked for more for school uniforms,trips, driving lessons, car insurance and if i refuse i get threatened with court action. Of course us dads want the best for our children and want to support them but the amount of money some of us pay is ridiculous. it is supposed to be shared care meaning the mother should also contribute an amount and withe the amount of benefits she gets is well capable. Are you seriously saying that £600-700 pounds per month is not enough for food,heating, electric etc for what i snow 2 children. children dont have to be bought designer clothes and trainers etc its called budgeting. i am remarried and have another family – are saying my new family are worth less and should do without ?? i love and value all my children

  • tony says:

    hi all just had a letter from the csa saying that my case was closed 2yrs a go. they never bothered to tell me,i dont see my son at all so i did not have a clue that it had been closed. the funny thing is they have still been taking 68 pounds per week out of my wages FOR THE LAST 2 YEARS great eh and now they dont want to pay it back.this stinks to high heaven of big mistake they are useless unless you owe then they are very good, somebody really needs to look at this shambles

  • tracy says:

    MICHELLE grow up!!!!!!!!!!!!! you have know idea how women like you ruin familys.

  • tracy says:

    at a predicament

    we have been child (18) or not so much a child anymore

    we have been told he has left collage and is working.

    Contacted CSA looked into to see if she is still claiming child benefits.

    My problem is we cant find out how many hours he works? and his collage/sixth form wont confirm if he has defiantly left because my husband is not on his next of kin.

    My husband was a good father traveld for hours to colect him at weekends all of his childhood. AS SOON AS HE REACHED 15 she contacted Csa fully knowing that she did not need a glorified babysitter anymore.

    My husband could not pay to see him and pay her so relationship broke down and now is unfixable.

    reading comments elswarwe all the mother has to do is say hes going back in September even though he probably is not and my husband has to carry on paying. He could be working 40 hours a week for all we know.

    but that’s right husband misses 1 payment he get thretand with court she lies nothing happens a JOKE BEYOND JOKES. shes had 3 holidays this year makes me sick.

  • Simom says:

    CSA are biased to mothers.

    The reality is mother’s live off the CSA payments. A father has to pay and can not demand an enquiry because the CSA administrators are women who have a complex towards paying fathers.

    The resident parent always 99% a mother, a female can play politics with the non resident parent – 99% a father or male.

    Agreed there are many absent fathers who refuse to pay but why should paying fathers face the brunt.

    My ex has sponged me for money for 18 years and had denied me access to a child I maintained and has grown up hating me. 19 year on the ex still uses he CSA to remain vindictive to me and has purposely denied access to me.

    My son turned 19 in December and “purposely” continued college a couple of months to continue receiving maintenance. He has now left college confirmed by his peers and friends.

    When I requested the CSA to make an enquiry they have instructed me their enquiry involves ringing up the deceitful ex and asking her about the status of the child. I then contact the child benefit agency and again the extend of their enquiry is to call the deceitful ex and ask about the status of the child. On both cases she has said he is in college.

    Yet if I stop my payments and demand an enquiry, I am threatened with court and all sorts. In my case the CSA can enforce my employer to pay directly from my wages but they can not enforce the mother to request accurate information about my child. Secondly why can the CSA and Child Benefits Agency simply ring the college to confirm his status.

    The law is biased and many deceitful ex’s have used this as a source of income and a way to continue punishing the father which is criminal. In my case she left me and when she learnt her errors I no longer wanted her back.

    This has to stop and the law has to respect paying parents.

    I totally understand why many paying fathers have committed suicide over this.

    PLEASE STOP THE INJUSTICE

  • Simon says:

    Tracy,

    I concur, the CSA funds the ex wife’s lifestyle and refuses to support paying fathers.

    I have 3 children from my second wife but my first child receives more through maintenance in comparison to the 3 put together.

    To top it off the ex wife has denied me access for 18 years and even tried removing my name from the birth certificate. When I had supervised contact when he was a child, she would lie and accuse me of harming the child and threatening her, missing contact dates forcing me to go to court. This was part of her plan to make my life a misery. With constant accusations, court summons on trump up accusations, constantly refusing me to see my son – I had to painfully come to terms that I had to focus on my new life. She then spent the remaining 18 years spreading malicious rumours about me and filling my son’s head with hate. When I tried reaching out to him when he was older he had noting but contempt towards me.

    UK law is totally biased towards mothers, CSA is nothing more than criminal in the way they deal with law abiding respectful paying fathers and incapable of enforcing payment on absent fathers.

    It is a JOKE.

    I totally feel for you tracy. I am a professional and pay £900 in maintenance and she always opts for reviews and at times has taken me to court to request additional support above and beyond CSA.

    My Ex, goes on 2 holidays abroad a year as a norm, where as barely can take my 3 other children on holiday within the UK. My wife really has to scrimp and save in order for us to go on holiday abroad every 2 or 3 years.

    MY ex wife’s 2nd husband is in and out of work but they both own cars and wear trendy clothes. She has 2 more children with him but they are always better dressed than I am. It is obvious what is going on here?

    Thankfully unlike the CSA the judge recognised it as a joke considering I pay £900 and dismissed the case against me.

  • Marie says:

    I am of social work background and have worked with parents and children for many years. Firstly I must point out that child poverty is increasing in the UK. I believe non-resident parents should financially support their children until 20 or until they leave education fully which includes children/young people doing a university course. What is the difference in a child/young person doing an advanced/ non advanced course, they still have to be supported financially. My daughter started university. She attend 3 days per week and relies on me financially. Her dad has stopped financiallly supporting her. There are so many children who cannot attend universty due to the financial burden and couldn’t manage without other financial support of parents unfortunately not all parents can do this. I think the paying parent should be forced by the csa to continue with support for a child at university.

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