Bumblebee Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Hi, does anyone have any advice or experience getting child support assessment from UK to Australia, I know they are reciprocal and I contact UK CSA who will then work with Australia CSA. Wondering how quickly an assessment is made. Is the process pretty straightforward? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 The website just says that it can be complicated and take a long time - no estimation of what that is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip1 Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Why not contact the CSA (not that anymore but another agency) and ask them. They will know more than people on this site. It is complicated as there are many things they take into account. For example, the parent who lives in the other country to the kids has a right to see the kids and that’s going to cost a lot of money whether that parent comes to the kids or the kids go to them. I believe they can offset costs like this against the maintenance. I’d speak to the authorities direct to get a better understanding. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BacktoDemocracy Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 7 hours ago, Bumblebee said: Hi, does anyone have any advice or experience getting child support assessment from UK to Australia, I know they are reciprocal and I contact UK CSA who will then work with Australia CSA. Wondering how quickly an assessment is made. Is the process pretty straightforward? Thanks This may be useful, note the charges for getting payments, welcome to the UK where even the innocent have to pay. My guess is that recovering payments from Australia via the UK service might be difficult https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/children-and-young-people/child-maintenance/child-maintenance-2012-scheme/child-maintenance-enforcement/child-maintenance-enforcement-where-to-start/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Just a thought also, depending on exchange rate and possible bank charges - you may find that you lose money - any payment from here will be ordered in Aus $ I would imagine and not to provide the equivalent of x amount GBP (because it's the Australian office who will be making the assessment). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip1 Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 Remember the CSA is only used if the parents cannot agree between themselves. Most parents can and a regular payment plan is set up, going through these bodies is for when all else fails Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 7 hours ago, Tulip1 said: Remember the CSA is only used if the parents cannot agree between themselves. Most parents can and a regular payment plan is set up, going through these bodies is for when all else fails I wouldn't say that. Agreements are supposed to be lodged with CSA regardless. It formalises the arrangement and ensures the government knows about income and obligations of each party. Normally the actual payment is done between the parties themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip1 Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 (edited) 36 minutes ago, Parley said: I wouldn't say that. Agreements are supposed to be lodged with CSA regardless. It formalises the arrangement and ensures the government knows about income and obligations of each party. Normally the actual payment is done between the parties themselves. That may be the case in Australia or if between two countries, that im not sure about but 100% in the uk parents are always encouraged to have an agreement between themselves and only when an agreement/payment is not made does the CSA step in. They have no involvement or knowledge of it otherwise. They even charge a percentage to the parents which is hoped will discourage the parents from going down that route. Edited January 6, 2019 by Tulip1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip1 Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 (edited) 35 minutes ago, Parley said: I wouldn't say that. Agreements are supposed to be lodged with CSA regardless. It formalises the arrangement and ensures the government knows about income and obligations of each party. Normally the actual payment is done between the parties themselves. I’ve just checked this online and what I said was correct (in the UK, no idea about Oz). It’s called a family arrangement and no one else has any involvement. I know many people who have just this in place, only ever known one person who contacted the authorities as the other parent wouldn’t pay. Edited January 6, 2019 by Tulip1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 On 07/01/2019 at 08:08, Tulip1 said: I’ve just checked this online and what I said was correct (in the UK, no idea about Oz). It’s called a family arrangement and no one else has any involvement. I know many people who have just this in place, only ever known one person who contacted the authorities as the other parent wouldn’t pay. In Australia, and I am surprised if it is different in UK, the government needs to know the income a mother is receiving from the father for child support. Because this income determines the amount of government support that is also paid by the government. The government wants to ensure the father is paying the right amount of child support. If an arrangement is done separately it is not known whther the amounts paid are correct or not either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip1 Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 2 hours ago, Parley said: In Australia, and I am surprised if it is different in UK, the government needs to know the income a mother is receiving from the father for child support. Because this income determines the amount of government support that is also paid by the government. The government wants to ensure the father is paying the right amount of child support. If an arrangement is done separately it is not known whther the amounts paid are correct or not either. Sorry that’s wrong. It may be the case in Oz but not in the uk. Child support is not taken into consideration when things like child tax credits/income support is awarded, it is 100% disregarded when assessing benefits. As for the government needing to know if the absent parent is paying the right amount, there is no defined thing as the right or correct amount. There is a calculator which is used by the CSA if they need to get involved and that is set by whst the government sees as being reasonable but a great many parents decide on an amount between them. Some may check the online calculator and use that as a benchmark, others will agree an amount completely separate to that. So the government will not want to ensure the correct amount is paid, it does not exist. I’m sure if you spend a few minutes googling this you will see it’s correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip1 Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 (edited) 3 hours ago, Parley said: In Australia, and I am surprised if it is different in UK, the government needs to know the income a mother is receiving from the father for child support. Because this income determines the amount of government support that is also paid by the government. The government wants to ensure the father is paying the right amount of child support. If an arrangement is done separately it is not known whther the amounts paid are correct or not either. This is on the government website Arranging child maintenance yourself You can arrange child maintenance yourself if both parents agree. A ‘family-based arrangement’ is a private way to sort out child maintenance. Parents arrange everything themselves and no one else has to be involved. It’s flexible and can be changed if circumstances change. You agree how much the payments should be and when they should be made. There’s no official paperwork but you can write down your agreement in case of future disagreement. For example, you could both agree that the paying parent pays: a proportion of their income for things like school clothes instead of giving money a regular set amount directly to the parent with care and this re it not effecting benefits Child maintenance is not counted as income for means-tested benefits such as Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) and Housing Benefit. This means if you're getting maintenance you won't get less money in these benefits. Other benefits which aren't means-tested won't be affected either. Edited January 9, 2019 by Tulip1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip1 Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 (edited) And this just taken from the Australian government website - Decide how to manage your child support Once you’ve considered your circumstances, decide how you want to manage your child support. One of our options should suit your situation. Self management Self management means you and the other person manage your child support. You don’t have to go through us. You decide: how much to pay when to pay how to pay. If you self manage, you won’t have a child support assessment. You don’t need to register with us. You can still call us for information and help. If you self manage, you can only get the base rate of Family Tax Benefit Part A. It’s exactly the same. The government only get involved when the parties don’t play ball. The only difference is the Oz one states if you self manage you only get the base rate of family tax benefit. Edited January 9, 2019 by Tulip1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.