You must pay us the amount of child maintenance you have taken from your employee’s wages. This must be done as soon as possible, but no later than the 19th day of the month after the month in which you have taken it. So if you take the money on 30 September, we need it by 19 October; if you take the money on 1 October, we need it by 19 November.
Once you have made the first deduction you should establish a regular pattern of payment to us. This will mean we don’t have to contact you or your employee.
If this is not done you could be prosecuted under section 32(8) of the Child Support Act 1991.
How do I pay money to the CSA?
The easiest and quickest way for you to pay money to us is by sending us an individual BACS (Bank Automated Clearing System) payment for each separate employee from whom you make a DEO deduction. This can be done by one of the automated payment methods shown below:
- individual BACS payments (sometimes known as Detailed Automated Credit Transfer DACT), is suitable if your payroll system can make BACS payments.
- multiple BACS - one combined payment for more than one employee
- internet banking via your online banking facility
- telephone banking via your bank.
Each of these methods is explained below.
These automated payment methods help us give a better service to parents and children because payments are made automatically, on time and reduce the risk of human error.
There are also benefits to you from paying this way. Automated payments are fast and secure.
Setting up individual BACS payments
If your payroll system can make BACS payments, you can set up individual BACS payments for each employee. This will ensure money is transferred accurately and on time to us and, in turn, to the parent with care.
If you pay by our preferred method, which is individual BACS payment, you will not have to prepare and send us a payment schedule. To do this, in the relevant BACS field for each employee, you need to include the following information. Please note that field 10, your employee's reference number, must be completed.
| Field number | BACS description of field |
|---|---|
| 1 | Child Support Agency bank sort code: 40-34-18 |
| 2 | Child Support Agency account number: 41775448 |
| 3 | Account code: 0 |
| 4 | Transaction code: 99 |
| 5 | The company's bank sort code |
| 6 | The company's bank account number |
| 7 | Leave blank |
| 8 | Amount of deduction (in pence) |
| 9 | The company's name |
| 10 | Employee's reference number (see below) |
| 11 | Child Support Agency account name: CSA CLIENT FUNDS |
What is the employee's reference number?
The employee's reference number quoted in field 10 is the one shown on the last letter we sent you about making deductions from earnings. You can find the number in the top right-hand corner of the letter. Examples of valid reference numbers are shown in the table below.
| Reference number | Description of field | Number of characters | Field type |
|---|---|---|---|
| NINO | Employee's National Insurance number | 9 | Letters and numbers (e.g. NA123456A) |
| RFA | Employee's request for assessment number | 12 | Numbers only (e.g. 100123456701) |
| Blank | Only to be used when sending a single payment for more than one employee | 0 | None |
| PID | Employee's personal identifier | 12 | Numbers only (e.g. 001234567800) |
| NST Ref | Employee's clerical reference number | 13 | Letters and numbers (e.g. NST1NA123456A) |
If any of the information is missing or if it is at all different from the number in the letter (for example if you add any spaces, commas, full stops, hyphens or anything else to the number), then our computer system will not be able to process the payment or pay the parent with care.
Paying by internet or telephone banking
If you are only paying for a small number of employees, or your payroll system cannot make BACS payments, you could make your payment by internet or telephone banking.
If you pay by our preferred method, which is individual BACS payment, you will not have to prepare and send us a payment schedule. To pay this way, you must set up the CSA as a new payee. You will need to set up a payee record for each of the employees you are administering a DEO for. If you are paying by internet banking, you can do this yourself. If you are paying by telephone banking, you must ask your bank to do this.
The information you will need to set up the CSA as a payee is:
- payee account number: 41775448
- payee sort code: 40-34-18
- payee account name: CSA Client Funds
- payee reference number: employee's reference number (see What is the employee's reference number?).
Once you have set up a payee record for each employee, you will then need to make a single transfer for each employee for every payment period on the agreed payment date.
Making a multiple BACS payment
A multiple BACS payment combines payment for more than one employee in a single BACS transfer.
If you pay by this method. you must send a single BACS transfer, per pay period, which includes the deduction for all your employees who pay by DEO.
You should complete BACS fields as for individual BACS payments but you must leave field 10 blank.
Because you are making a combined payment, you must also prepare and send us a payment schedule. A copy of the deduction
from earnings order payments schedule is included in the back of the leaflet
What
is my role in helping my employees pay child maintenance?
[PDF 318Kb]
You can get a copy of the new scheme schedule here [PDF - 25KB]
The amount you pay must match the total amount of deductions on the payment schedule. If the two don't match, we'll be unable to make payments to any of the parents with care until this is corrected. If this happens, we'll contact you to correct the schedule.
Payment schedules should be posted to:
Banking & Payment Assignment TeamChild Support Agency
Room BP6102
Alnwick House
Benton Park View
Longbenton
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE98 1YX.
Cheque payments
We prefer to receive payment by an automated method. However, if you are paying by cheque, your cheques should be made payable to 'Child Support Agency'.
You must also prepare and send us a payment schedule - even if the cheque payment is for a single employee. A copy of the deduction
from earnings order payments schedule is included in the back of the leaflet
What
is my role in helping my employees pay child maintenance? [PDF 318Kb]
You can get a copy of the new scheme schedule here [PDF - 25KB]
The amount on the cheque must match the total amount of deductions on the payment schedule. If the two don't match, we'll be unable to make payments to any of the parents with care until this is corrected. If this happens, we'll contact you to correct the schedule.
You should send the payment schedule with the cheque to your nearest CSA office. If you are sending cheque payments to more than one CSA office, you should contact one of them and arrange to send all cheques to them.
Overpayments
Do not use the deduction from earnings order payments schedule to recover or deduct previous overpayments. If an overpayment has happened, you should contact the Banking and Payment Assignment Team for advice.
Underpayments
If the payment we receive is not the same as the total shown on the schedule of payments, a member of the Banking and Payment Assignment Team will contact you.
Cancellation of a deduction from earnings order
If we decide to end a deduction from earnings order, we will write to you and your employee. The letter will tell you we have cancelled the order and to stop taking deductions from the date of the letter. You should not stop taking deductions unless we have written to you.
Page topRelated information
For child maintenance worked out on or after 3 March 2003
For child maintenance worked out before 3 March 2003
- Read our leaflet
"Advice to employers" [PDF 261Kb]
