Child Support and dealing with the Child Support Agency (Urgh!)
The Child Support Agency (CSA) are notoriously difficult to deal with, you need to set aside a day on the phone if you intend to try and get any information out of them that way.
What does help is doing your homework, knowing the process and what you need to do to get some action out of the CSA. The government provides a wealth of resources on their website Parent’s guide to child support. For a very detailed guide see this link Child Support Guide.
You will discover that the CSA applies a formula based on each parents income and the number of nights the children spend with them to determine how much child support is payable. The formula isn’t always fair (for example where there are private school fees) and some parents go to great lengths to reduce their payments. If you fall into this category then you need to complete an application for a ‘departure’, this cannot be done over the phone.
In order to make a departure application you must meet one of the 8 categories available. The categories can be found here : Acceptable reasons for applying for a departure from an assessment.
Please note that if neither parent is in receipt of government benefits then you don’t need to involve the CSA at all and can reach your own private arrangement which can be formalised if you desire.
