Yes I did declare the amounts and they did reduce the amount of income support that I was getting however I attemted to tell them on numerous occasions that he was paying cash to me but they took no notice.

His solicitor even asked for an acknowledgement that I was getting the £80 but it seemed to be that once the decision had to be made by the CSA that was that.

Clearly his accounts were not as accurate as they should have been and I was always told that I should take the matter to the tax man as it could have been fraud.

I was never informed that I should not have taken payment from him…as far as I was aware if I did I had the obligation to inform the benefit office so they could adjust the payments accordingly..even then some of the people that I spoke to at the benefit agency couldn’t quite grasp the fact that he could still pay me that amount.

Did you declare the amounts you recived from your ex to the Benefits agency?
I assume they would have decreased your benefit £ for £ after a certain amount…

Prior to last year when the rules changed, a PWC in receipt of benefit was not in a position to accept a private payment agreement with their NRP.

I did declare the £80 and insisted that he was still paying this amount plus the £5 but the CSA did not listen to me.

The CSA/CMEC has a lot of failings…

However, and depending on which CS system (CS1 or CS2) your case was on, would depend whether or not you would personally receive any of the money your ex was liable to pay, whilst you claimed Income support.

As a benefit claimant, you should have been declaring the £80 pw you were receiving from your ex.