CSA Advice

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Child Support Agency Advice

  Mike Kelley

Children deserve to be loved and cared for in all ways. Parents have a duty to love their children and to support them financially. It is necessary to provide children with education and other necessities to ensure their overall development, especially in the case of non-resident parents. Non-resident parents are those who do not live with their children, but still have the moral and legal responsibility to contribute to their welfare and development. This can be overseen by the Child Support Agency. The Child Support Agency (CSA) is a UK government executive agency that calculates CSA payments (i.e. how much child maintenance is due). The CSA has the power to collect and transfer payments from a non-resident parent to the person charged with the care of the child. Child maintenance, or child support, is provided by a non-resident parent to help cover the cost of raising his / her child. It is paid to the person with whom the child lives (usually the other parent). The recipient is referred to as the "person/parent with care."

It is immensely important to seek advice before filling out any CSA forms in order to be aware of any rights and to know exactly what to include in any documents. Good advice provides all the details you need to keep in mind when dealing with the CSA. For example, you should not give the CSA your home, work or mobile telephone numbers, since you need written evidence of any correspondence. Insist on dealing via letters or recorded meetings.

Use a CSA Calculator to determine how much child maintenance will likely be due. Take care not to provide the CSA with your bank details. Don't make any payments directly to your ex; always pay the CSA. Make payments with Giro slips. I know in difficult time we all need more money but please also, make sure that you send letters to the CSA with recorded delivery and keep copies of all correspondence as evidence. Instruct your employers not to provide any information to the CSA via telephone. Information should always be requested and delivered via legal letters.

If you have problems with your CSA case, don't ring them yourself as this will likely bear no fruit. Make an in-person visit to your local MP, who can deal with the CSA on your behalf using special powers. If your ex-partner starts working, you can ask him/her to withdraw from the CSA system and adopt the new working families tax credits. Also, try to find out how the CSA system works and learn about rules that you can use for your own good.

It is the responsibility of the CSA to ensure that parents who live apart from their children continue to provide child support. Help with child support is essential to getting a fair and good deal.

Mike Kelley provides information on the Child Support Agency and CSA Calculators, along with career planning topics, such as CV Writing and affordable CV Templates.  If you have any questions regarding my CV (Curriculum Vitae) writing service, need any help finding CV examples or CV templates, or need any advice on how to write a CV  please email me.