Is It Easy to Avoid Child Support in Uk
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) system is forcing many parents with care into poverty. Parents who don't wish to contribute fairly to supporting their child, can legally avoid doing so under current rules.
It was 2017 when my ex decided to stop paying child maintenance. Suddenly, and without notice. I think it was after another court case, when he was pissed that he didn't get the exact custody he was seeking from the courts to 'protect' the girls from my 'mental instability'.
I thought long and hard about applying to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS -formally CSA). The body is overseen by the Department for Work and Pensions and is used in the UK by separated parents to organise how much a non-resident parent will pay towards their child.
I had heard many horror stories about its inadequacy; failure to follow up on information, swapping case workers and conflicting information, to name a few.
When I weighed up my options, I decided it was a battle I was prepared to fight. My children deserved support from their father, and I was at his whim with a family-based arrangement.
The CMS system is flawed
Three years on, and a tribunal appeal later, I receive the grand sum of £20:00 per week in support for each child. He has ducked, dodged, hidden money, paid off or mislead accountants, rendering it impossible to see a clear picture of his substantial income.
I know I am one of the lucky ones to receive any support at all. I also am privileged to have a decent job, and can work to support my children reasonably well. I don't believe this should negate the other parent's responsibility to support children equally, thinking 'chipping in' a few pounds here and there is adequate.
My kids, like all children, deserve the best chance at living a comfortable childhood– and it shouldn't just be up to the parent with care to provide everything they need.
I'm not alone. Other resident parents and charities say the way the CMS manages the collection of payment and arrears, coupled with a lack of enforcement, is allowing non-resident parents to avoid payment – in some cases forcing families into poverty.
How can child maintenance payments be evaded?
As well as lying about their income to reduce their liability, there are several other tricks some parents use to avoid paying the amount they really should.
These include, setting up fake companies, paying their new partner a salary from their legitimate business to reduce its profits, and giving themselves benefits in kind or large pension contributions.
The child maintenance calculation, being based on gross taxable earnings or profits as reported to the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), has widespread repercussions.
Non-resident parents, in my case, their dad, (with substantial assets and unearned rental income from property) can end up paying a bare minimum, since other sources of income are not taken into consideration. In other cases, self-employed parents can get away with under-reporting their income to reduce their payments.
What is the issue?
The main problem is this reliance solely on declared, taxable income, and therefore the honesty of the paying parent.
Technically any 'unearned income' and assets the non-resident/paying parent (PP) has over £65,000 can be counted, in a notional income calculation (of 8%).
However, a 'variation' needs to be submitted by the parent with care (PWC) in an onerous (soul destroying) process and can only happen if the PWC knows about such assets and/or other income, which isn't always the case.
The other kicker here is evidencing these assets or additional income, often held in the sole name of the PP. If an application for a variation is accepted, both the PWC and the PP get to submit valuations for said assets. Cue the creative 'valuations' from the PP, which inevitably show the assets have no value. In my experience, this is accepted by the CMS, and there's no leeway for common sense.
Non-resident parents can also artificially deflate earnings from income for properties they let/dividends/ and/ or other money they receive on top of their salary.
In my case, my ex apparently makes a loss from the three properties he owns outright, and rents out. In fact, he didn't even have to submit full accounts, just a two-line letter from his mate accountant saying that he is making a loss on all of the properties and would do so for the foreseeable future. The CMS also accepted he didn't have to file tax returns to HMRC to report his income from the properties, which is just plain, factually wrong.
Non-payment, penalties and the reality
In 2012, the CMS replaced the Child Support Agency (CSA). It has apparently been granted powers to enforce tougher penalties, such as removing the right to a passport for parents who don't pay. Despite a staggering 34% of parents not complying with CMS payment orders, passport removal has taken place just a handful of times.
On CSA and CMS collectively, around £4bn of maintenance payments have gone unpaid. Despite this, if a PP has contributes a nominal amount when non-payment is reported, they are perceived to be compliant by the CMS, regardless of how little or when they pay. It's madness.
The charity Gingerbread, which supports the UK's single parents, has been campaigning for improvement, as payment is often not being enforced. It believes the inefficiency of this service is one of the key contributors to 49 per cent of single parent families living in poverty, even though 69 per cent of single parents' work.
The CMS must up its game, to get fair support for parents, and to send a clear signal that avoiding responsibility for your children is unacceptable.
It's just not morally wrong. There are also implications for wider society, as the evasion of child support under the guise of "self-employment" or the likes, is also an evasion of tax.
The system should be fixed so that families can count on all real income being considered in calculating the payments, and that proper enforcement powers exist so any and all outstanding dues can be pursued.
Payment avoidance and these legal loopholes have plagued the child maintenance system for years and it's time the Government took serious action.
References:
https://www.dad.info/forum/child-maintenance/51510-how-ex-partners-avoid-paying-child-maintenance
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/child-maintenance-system-economic-abuse-410613
https://www.hertsad.co.uk/news/single-parents-losing-out-to-child-maintenance-loophole-5206554
https://www.crispandco.com/site/library/legalnews/absent-parents-finding-loopholes-to-avoid-child-maintenance
Source: https://toxic-ex.org/2020/12/20/how-to-avoid-paying-child-maintenance-with-legal-loopholes/
0 Response to "Is It Easy to Avoid Child Support in Uk"
Post a Comment