There’s no point working

I don't work and I have a family of six. If I was to go and find a job I would be out of pocket big time. Now why do I want to do that?

That my friend, is the way the cookie crumbles.

I was interested to read your gripe - I agree with your comment as I have just come to the same conclusion .I am a working mother not on income support and my ex husband has just applied to the csa for a reassessment and successfully reduced his payment by over 40% because his partner has two children.The latter are allowed more of my ex husband's salary than his natural children and receive maintenance from their father too ...which the csa do not take into account , just as they are not interested in the cost I have of childcare which I need to pay in order to work.....If I was on income support the decrease in maintenance would mean my benefits would increase and the loss of income would be replaced.As I am not I am just expected to find the shortfal myself - so not only am I left with the responsibility of looking after my children with little help from my husband , have the stress of juggling a full time job but use the majority of my income on my children in contrast to the fraction my ex husband contributes from his.Yes after doing my sums I would be better off not working so I have no idea how the government are going to get people like yourself off the benefit system.

What a great idea, lets all stop working and bring this gov to its knees.........oh no my mistake its already on its a*r*s*e!

It's not rocket science, but it will be tough. But life's like that for most people.

1. Get some self respect.

2. Don't have any more kids until you are sure you can financially support them.

3. Be slightly more choosy about who you partner up with.

4. Get a decent education so you aren't trapped in minimum wage jobs for the rest of your life. And by decent, I mean choose your studies carefully to avoid having worthless qualifications like media studies GCSE (if such a thing exists).

5. Work your way up the career ladder.

Ideally you'd have made more use of the contraceptive pill, but we all make mistakes (although 5 times is stretching it a bit).

I have two great kids 14 and 16, my EX wife has remarried and they have a 4 yr old kid together

her husband earns 30,000 per yr she earns 10,000 + WFT they earn 40,000 and more +CSA between them.

I live alone, rent a place, earn 16,000 a year pay £270 per month csa under the old system, they recieve WFT so they cannot be included towards the assessment.????

I can no-longer see my kids weeekly she chose to move 80 miles away I cannot afford to see them this month Any they wonder why I from this week refuse to pay CSA Im giving up my job sod it !!!!
Under the new system it would be £100 less

I had an arrangement with my exwife to pay a monthly sum. Then two years ago I got a letter from Solicitors acting for the a bank demanding £49k within 7 days due to " Mortgage Shortfall" which was the house my exwife and I lived in.
I negotiated to pay my settlement after a nervous breakdown but my exwife was pregnat with two other kids too and not working so I kept her address away from the Lawyers as a favour . Upshot was that I couldnt pay her and the loan for the settlement and I wrote to the CSA some 18 months ago. I never got a reply so I assumed things had ceased . Then two weeks ago I got a demand to pay £600 a month !!!
I did my exwife this favour to save her grief and this is what I get ...
I have to pay all costs to see my son which works out £100 a month in petrol so now I have no money and I cant see my son......what a cow !

Yes Its great to support yourself and find a job, I went back to wrok full time and got working tax credit, and this year when I go into college to get into University, I get a bill saying I owe £3.000 . they gave me too much tax credits last year. so what is the point??? you work and then they take it back off you, Its a complete sham !

There's always a point in working the main one being that it gives you a sense of self respect.I am 62 this year which logically gives me another three years before I retire.But if I am physically able I will work past that age as I will feel that I am still contributing both to the country and society.This will help my feeling of self worth and respect no end.

I think lone parents should get more help.I Also I think their shouLd be more jobs which will benefit lone parent so they wont fall in the poverty trap. I am a child who comes from a lone parent family

I agree totally Pink Lady.

This is especially ludicrous where the PWC and NRP were never in a steady relationship - in these cases it's farcical that he should be supporting, but as you point out this is exactly what happens if she's on benefits.

Point proven that it's not the child's welfare that CSA has at heart, I think.

What I find disturbing, is that if the resident parent receives child maintenance through the CSA, and works, family tax credits do not take the maintenance into account as an income when working out the amount of tax credits due (good thing, which makes working pay), but if the mother receives child maintenance through the CSA, and is on income support, the child maintenance is taken into account as an income, and therefore, her personal allowance of income support is reduced by how much child maintenance is received.
For example : If the resident parent works 16 hrs a week, earning £100 pw, she will receive about £100 tax credits, plus any maintenance (regardless of the amount of maintenance), therefore better off working. If the working parent does not receive maintenance, she will still receive £100 tax credits, plus her wages of £100 pw.
If the resident parent is on income support, with no maintenance, she will receive approx £35 pw child tax credit, and approx £60 pw income support to support herself.
If the resident parent does receive child maintenance and is on income support, she will still receive the £35 pw child tax credits (approx), but her personal allowance of income support is reduced by the amount the absent father is paying in CHILD maintenance, and is then topped up by £10.
eg: no maintenance, £60 income support. Maintenance of £50 reduces her income support for herself to £10 pw, with a £10 top up.
This means an absent father will be paying to keep his ex partner, and supporting her, rather than his child if she is on income support, or another means tested benefit.
Sorry to go on, but it has to be said.

had to giggle at the reply "steal" gave to morgane... go to night school and get an education "behined" you he says ...lol think you should of gone yourself steal... to learn how to spell behind!! oops :0)