CSA Assessments
Children are our future and they need to be kept safe and developed in the best way so as to ensure the development of our society and nation. They should be brought up well and developed under all circumstances. Especially when a relationship breaks up, it becomes most important to safeguard children's futures. Part of this is done can be by deciding and agreeing child maintenance payments.

Child maintenance payments also termed as CSA Payments are the contributions which the non-resident parent makes toward the child. This payment is made to the "person/parent with care", who is the person with whom the child lives, (usually the other parent). The two parties involved can mutually agree on level and conditions of payment. If not it is then decided by legal means.

Governments of UK have an executive agency named Child Support Agency (CSA), which is part of Department of Work and Pensions and solely aims at implementing the Child Support Act and subsequent legislation. The CSA performs two fold function of determining the amount for the child support to be paid and collecting and transversal of the payment from the non-resident parent to the person with care.

Prior to march 3, 2003 old method of child maintenance calculation was used but now CSA assessments are made via new method. Old method of the CSA assessment used a "complex formula of up to 108 pieces of information". In it firstly total child maintenance was calculated based on the child's age then after subtracting various allowances, the net income of non-resident is estimated and at last based on the collected data, it is determined what segment of the designed maintenance was to be paid by the non-resident parent, based on their income. The new method for CSA assessment is simplified and does not take into consideration complex calculations as before.

According to it the amount of the child maintenance or child support payments to be made is a fixed percentage of the non-resident parent income. It is fixed as 15% for one child, 20% for two, and 25% for three or more. If non-resident parent has children in their current family, then reduction in the amount payable as child maintenance is made. Payments are reduced by 15% if they have one child if they had one, 20% if they had two, and 25% for three or more. While the old method used computer system called Child Support Computer System (CSCS), the Child Support 2(CS2) was introduced for the new CSA Assessment.

This CSA Assessment article provides you with the information about how much child maintenance you might be asked to pay or receive based on the rules for the current scheme. For up-to-date information on Child Support Payments, CSA Assessments, a CSA Calculator, Child Support Help, CSA Complaints, CSA Delays etc log on to http://www.cv-service.org/csa.htm

CSA Advice
All children deserve to be loved and cared in all ways and parents hold the duty to love them and support their children financially to cover their living and medical expenses. It is therefore necessary to provide the child with the life style and education so as to ensure their overall development, especially in case of non-resident parents. A non-resident parent is the one who does not live with their child / children and holds social, ethical as well as legal responsibilities 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 deals with two fold functions of calculating CSA Payments i.e. how much child maintenance is due, as they have with powers to collect and transfer it from a non-resident parent to the person charged with the care of the child. Child Maintenance or Child Support payments is made from a non-resident parent towards the monetary cost of raising their children, paid to the person with whom the child lives, (usually the other parent), and referred to as "person/parent with care".

It is immensely important to seek CSA advice before filling any CSA forms to be aware of any rights and to have exact knowledge of what to and what not to write on any documents the CSA ask you to complete. Good CSA advice provides you with all the necessary details you need to know and keep in mind when the CSA is involved in the case, such as not giving the CSA your home, work or mobile number or else you would need written evidence for any correspondence. Insist to deal via letters or recorded meetings.

Use a CSA Calculator to know how much child maintenance is likely to 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 it through Giro paying in slips. Also, make sure that you send the CSA letters through recorded delivery and keep copies of all letters to / from the CSA as evidence. Also inform and instruct your employers not to pass any information via phone to the CSA if they contact them and information should always be requested and passed by legal letters.

In case you have problems with your CSA case, don't ring them yourself as it will be likely to bear no fruit. You can visit your local MP in person who can deal with the CSA on your behalf using his special powers. In the case that your ex-partner starts working, you can ask him / her to withdraw from the CSA system and adopt for 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 responsibility of the CSA to ensure that parents who live apart from their children contribute financially to them by providing child support. Child Support help is essential for getting a fair and good deal.