My latest letter to the CSA
July 30, 2008
After years of hell from the CSA this is my latest letter to them as I fight to stay out of prison. My case has been ajourned twice now as the CSA have agreed to give me more time to appeal and also wait for information I have requested under the Data Protection Act. Why I don’t know as you will see from my letter they are adamant they want the money.
I have hidden all names involved.
RE: Liability Order and request for a re-examination of my case
Dear Mrs ***
I am replying to your letter dated 18th July 2008 that I received today from my Local MP Mr ***** ******. I am still far from happy of the way my case has been dealt and would like to address the issues you raised in the above-mentioned letter.
Firstly you state in this letter that you first received an application from Ms ****** on the 8 February 1996. Can I point out that this date was 2 years before my daughter ******* was even born?
You say that you were advised on 29th November 2000 that shared care was no longer in place and that due to there being no change in the nil assessment, I was not informed of this. In my opinion this was gross negligence as it had serious consequences on my assessment from 2005 on. If I had been informed of this at the time I could of informed the CSA of the change and I would not be in the situation I am now.
You then go on to say that when I started work in 2005 you worked my maintenance out on a basic wage of £214.92 a week. This is certainly not the case as when I was first assessed it was based on a calculation of £440 net each week. You also state that I did not advise you at the time that shared care was in place. As I have said above if I had known of the change in the first place I would have done so.
When I lost overtime I informed you that I was in difficulty as my wages had dropped to less than half. This is when I sent you a wage slip for £214.92 and you just blatantly refused to re-calculate my maintenance. Only after several letters to my Local MP ***** ****** did you agree to waver the arrears payment of £5.70 for 3 months. Read more
please help - csa say my partner owes £43,000
July 23, 2008
My partner had a good relationship with his two children from his ex wife, when he first split from her 2001 (she was having an affair),he had a very well paid job and was paying her £150 per week for about a year, until he lost his job, which then intern he had some sort of mental breakdown. He was unable to return to work until 2005, when he got with me. (His ex also started another new relationship after another affair).
In the four years that he was`nt working he continued to see the children every weekend, she was happy not receiving any moneys as she was in a new relationship in which she had another child, (she failed to mention that she had put in a claim to the CSA when they first split,(when he earnt good money) which she never cancelled, and he knew nothing about) He then moved in with me and my 2children from a previous, things were great, all the children got on really well and formed good relationships (step brothers and sisters) (did I mention that we were all friends, and that’s how I met my partner, she was fine with this).
Then my partner and I decided to have a baby together to complete our family unit, things were great whilst I was pregnant, but as soon as our daughter was born, god how she changed, stopped our contact with the kids, filled the children’s heads with all sorts of rubbish, anyway we moved to a bigger house after I fell pregnant again, then the letter came from the CSA in 2007, which was the first my partner heard, saying they wanted £15,000 in arrears, and £120 per week, we filled in the forms stating the moneys we get, and that we just couldn’t afford to pay that sort of money, we heard nothing back until march this year, shortly after the birth of our son, stating that his ex had put in a new claim (she is now married), they don`t take her husbands income into account but they take mine “child tax credit and child benefit,” which is what the government has assessed us in needing to live off.
Her husband earns over a thousand pound a week, my partner bearly gets 600 a month. So they assessed us on our moneys and decided that he has to pay 25% of his (our) earnings working out at £66 per week, which unfortunately we still cant afford that. The CSA doesn`t care about the fact we have 4 children to support on a low income, that’s NOT there problem I was told in a phone conversation.(Also I discovered that if I went back to work to cover the moneys taken by the CSA, then they would take even more off of us, so basically this has stuffed up my plans into returning to work).
I then contacted our local MP, they contacted the CSA on our behalf, stating that they must be able to reduce the payments as we just cant AFFORD it, we then received the letter, saying they`ve been contacted by the houses of parlement, and this is there new result, we still have too pay £66 which they are now going to take direct from his wages and we NOW owe £43,000, (we obviously upset the CSA by trying to go above there heads) which if we don`t pay he faces prison, losing his liecence, and the bailifs coming to take MY things (as he had nothing when he moved in with me), this is having such a negative affect on our family, I`m not saying he shouldn`t pay anything, but how can the CSA legally put our children into poverty, to benefit the other 2, when there family unit is well benefitted already, please is there someone out there that can help, my parnter has talked about ending it all……I don`t know if he means litrally, he is now depressed as am I, please can someone offer some advise……….
CSA want to father to pay £900 for child he lives with
July 12, 2008
This is another of those classic CSA mistakes. Now they’re trying to force a father to pay them £900 for his child, so they can give it to the mother. That seems fine, but he lives with them, they’re still together! So the CSA want this guy to take out his money, hand it over to them, so they can give back to her, and subsequently him.
In true CSA style they’ve refused to accept any mistakes have been made on their part, and have even lied about letters they’ve sent. They’re threatening to seize the father’s bank account, passport, driving license and even send him to prison, if he doesn’t pay what effectively amounts to himself.
You can read the story of this latest child support agency cock-up in our CSA advice forum.
CSA force infertile man to pay for kid that isn’t his
July 10, 2008
In a story indicative of the child support agency and their myriad of mistakes, they’ve forced a 54-year old man to pay over £8,000 in maintenance for a child that isn’t his. Not only is the girl not his daughter, he’s infertile and cannot have children. Despite having a doctor’s letter and a DNA test showing the girl is not his daughter, the CSA threatened him with bailiffs and county court judgments, pressurising the man into paying.
The man was forced to take medication for epilepsy in 1986, which has left him sterile. His wife fell pregnant in 1992 with a baby girl, that he believes was due to her having an affair. They soon separated after she fell pregnant.
He claims the CSA have been out to get him for the last four years, despite it being impossible that he is the father.
I was married for 25 years and when my wife fell pregnant it was a real shock. She said I must have done it in my sleep, which is ridiculous.
Although I knew I was not the baby’s father I brought her up as my own.
When my wife and I split in 2002 I wanted to stop the CSA payments.
I started an appeal in 2004 but despite me telling the CSA of my health problems, offering them doctors’ letters and sending them a DNA test proving I was not the father, they still made me pay.
It is £41 a week and I have already paid over £8,000.
The Department for Work and Pensions gave their usual response to the complaint:
We cannot comment on individual cases.
This is one of the worst stories I’ve heard to date from the CSA.
fraud by csa
June 30, 2008
I started paying child support to the C.S.A. in Jan 2008 and accidentally put the wrong year on the date of my first cheque that i sent them. They where very quick to inform me of this error and stated that they had returned the cheque to me and asked if i had received it. i informed them i had not and was asked if i could sent a replacement which i did in good faith, this was promptly cashed and I thought no more of it.
Then in march i noticed my account had a lot less in it than it should have had, in fact i was now overdrawn. on investigation i discovered that a cheque had been cashed to the same value as the one the C.S.A. had told me was being returned. i checked the cheque numbers and found them to be the same so i then visited the bank to find out where the money had gone. The bank also obtained a copy of the cheque for me which clearly shows that the cheque was altered so it could be cashed. Now i new where the money had gone i confronted the case worker who had told me the cheque had been returned to inform him of there error and that i wanted them to refund the money plus my bank charge for them making me go over drawn. His responce was that the money had already been payed to my ex wife and that i should try and recover this from her. i told him that this was unacceptable and there fault and that they should not go committing fraud and that if they did not return the money i would go to the police. after telling him i wanted to make a formal complaint i was told he would sort things out and 2 weeks later i received a cheque for £30 by way of a good will gesture. i then phoned him to find out what was going on and that this wasnt good enough, i wanted to know who at his department had the nerve to alter someone else’s cheque and thought that this was acceptable or even legal. he said he didnt know and still couldnt issue a refund, i replied that untill the matter was resolved to my satisfaction i would be sending no more money to them as they could not be trusted. the following month they issued a deduction of earnings which i found out about through the pay office at work, not from the csa, i recived the letter to me from the csa nearly a month after the pay office informed me which was dated after the letter that was sent to them, the csa are suposed to notify the me before going to my pay office so clearly this shows the csa dont follow there own laid down procedures, at this point there intention was to take nearly £800 from my wages that month. i then phoned them to be told that it was payment plus arrears but would not discuss the matter further. at this point i felt i could cope no longer and spoke to my partner saying i would have to give up contact with my daughter as i could no longer afford the 1000 mile round trip to see her, a variation has been refused to me from the start for travel costs because altho i had proof of travel my ex wife said i didn’t visit as often as i had been.
my partner then phoned the csa and finally got to speak to someone and told them that i was considering suicide due to the csa`s actions and demands. the csa then phoned her back and told her that arrears had to be paid back with in 2 years, she told them that it was a guideline and not a law, after 4 repeats of this statement the csa worker agreed it was a guideline and not a law and removed the deo and said i had to pay £310 per month, altho we got the deo removed and payments cut my partner and i are devastated that i had to get so depressed and seriously consider suicide in order to achieve this.
regarding the fraudulently changed cheque, i reported it to the police but when i phoned to see if any progress was being made i was told they had refunded the stolen money the day before (which they had done by putting directly in to my bank) and that the case was closed, i asked for the name of the person responsible for altering my cheque but was told that was not possible due to the data protection act, i stated that it was my data that had been abused and i was owed an explanation but instead the police officer stated he would not discuss this matter any further, this policeman was rude and arrogant and clearly not the least bit interested, if however it was i who stole from the csa by means of fraud i would be in court and facing a heavy fine or even prison, this is no way to treat a father and some one who has given up his life to serve in the British armed forces!
this is the shortened version of events and believe me the csa are quite happy to leave fathers with no money and no way of seeing there children, its a disgrace that children should be made to suffer because of the csa, luckily i can now continue to see my daughter as my payments were dropped, but the thought of when i was going to have to tell her i would not be seeing her anymore is still very much in my head and upsets me greatly.
we all need to stick together to change the unfair csa system, if everyone stands together surley it should make a difference.
CSA can’t even track down film and TV actor Craig Conway
June 14, 2008
You’d think even the CSA would be able to track down an actor who’s married to a star of Eastenders and is appearing a major film with Bob Hoskins. It’s not very hard, there he is on the TV. However the CSA had failed to track down actor Craig Conway, husband of Jill Halfpenny.
With his wife appearing on Strictly Come Dancing and his wedding photos appearing in a national newspaper he should be quite easy to find. The Child Support Agency have now found him (well done guys) but he has yet to pay any money for his ten year old daughter. The girl’s mother, Debbie Jones, hasn’t received a penny from him.
Debbie said in interview with the People:
Jill should really have a think about things. While I know Bronwen is not her responsibility, I would like to appeal to her as one mother to another.
Please encourage Craig to be a part of his little girl’s life. It breaks my heart because Bronwen doesn’t deserve to grow up thinking that her dad doesn’t care about her.
Craig is currently starring in the movie Doomsday alongside British acting legend Bob Hoskins. He met Debbie when she was 16 and left her pregnant when she was just 18. She did meet Craig just after the child was born when he was performing in a play in Newcastle.
We met up. I showed him pictures of Bronwen and he seemed very excited.
He said he definitely wanted to be in her life. But he was going to Paris for three weeks so he said I had to wait for him to get in touch. He never did.
Unfortunately for Debbie, and her daughter, the CSA were unable to track down the movie star. It wasn’t until he married Jill Halfpenny and his wedding pics appeared in a national newspaper that the CSA found him.
Debbie explains:
Shortly after his wedding was in the papers the CSA tracked him down but he insisted on a DNA test.
Debbie confronted Craig and his new wife Jill when they were in panto together.
We waited at the stage door for him to come out and when he did he had Jill with him. He just turned round and told her who I was. I asked if we could go somewhere private but he wouldn’t and said he would give me a ring.
As I’d heard that four years before I knew I had to say my piece to him then and there. I got the impression Jill was shocked by what I said. I have kept cards and love letters from him and I can prove we had a long-term relationship.
He was the first person I ever slept with, and he knows that.
The CSA have said that Craig Conway should pay £34 per week, which is a pathetic sum of money for a film actor married to a soap star.
The CSA said he only earns £225 a week. I find it really hard to believe when he has been starring in massive budget films. I can’t believe he has become so cold hearted. It’s not the boy I grew up with.
Meanwhile Jill Halfpenny, who lives in a £500,000 house in Northumberland said that neither she, nor her family would comment on the story.
Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission
June 8, 2008
We reported on the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission yesterday, and how they would have more power than the much maligned Child Support Agency. Solicitor Kim Fellowes raised her concerns over the power the new agency would have and how it could cause even bigger problems and make even bigger mistakes than the CSA have done so far, which themselves have been monumental.
The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission will attempt to get parents to make arrangements between themselves for payment of maintenance, though this of course has caused problems already with the CSA. Fathers who have made private payments and have no proof of the payments are having to pay again when the relationship with their ex breaks down and the CSA always take the mother’s word over the matter. They would though, that’s how they get their money.
The Citizens Advice Bureau are expected to help in these matters, though as they are already stretched it’s expected that they won’t have the time to take on the massive volumes of cases the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission would throw at them.
The new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission will also have the power to write off arrears from NRPs, though whether they do that is another matter.
Since the CSA launched there have been thousands of cases that have resulted in the money being written off because the CSA never took the necessary action in time, causing the six year period to elapse; after which money could not be collected.
Kim Fellowes says:
The Government has got a lot of bad publicity in the past over the CSA and now it wants to reduce its workload - and the outstanding debt owed to the CSA of £3.3bn. To do this they are sending people packing by getting them to make their own arrangements and will be writing off arrears.
There has been no comment from the Department for Work and Pensions about the criticism the bill has received.
Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission will have absolute power
June 7, 2008
Later this year the CSA, child support agency, becomes the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (C-MEC). This new body will have even more power than the CSA, giving them power to take money directly from people’s bank accounts, impose curfews, seize money from the sale of property and confiscate passports.
Given the mistakes the CSA have already made, this could mean thousands of fathers in the UK being wrongfully penalised with little hope of resolution. The powers that are being endowed upon the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission are similar to the sort of powers that are saved for anti-terrorism bodies.
Fathers are being treated like terrorist. All they want is to be a part of their children’s lives.
The Government’s bill is currently working its way through Parliament, and could be successful within a few weeks.
While the CSA has been dogged by mistakes and incompetence since its creation in 1993, replacing it with an even more powerful body seems like asking for trouble.
Kim Fellowes is a solicitor based in the North East, and she warns against these powers coming into play.
These new powers will affect every single family going through separation in the North-East.
For fathers, this means the safety net of the court has been removed. Someone might not agree that they have been sent to prison for a criminal offence, but at least they know they have been tried before a court.
The difference here is that there is no court scrutiny.
And if the father believes he is being unfairly pursued or harassed, that could mean a severe backlash for the mother as she will get the blame. The risk is that even a separation that was previously fairly amicable could become strained.
The problem is that if the new body has more powers than the CSA, the errors will stay the same but the consequences of those errors will be magnified. In the early days of the CSA, a report found errors in a staggering 86% of cases!
Even though improvements were promised, little was done as a Nation Audit Office report made in 2006 found that 20% of all payments made to the CSA were inaccurate. Should these mistakes continue with the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, they could breach human rights.
CSA hang up on guy facing repossession
May 14, 2008
In a frightening display of callousness, the child support agency hang up on a guy being wrongfully hit with a DEO for £550, that means he cannot meet his mortgage payments. The woman refuses to speak to him once she realises the call is being recorded and hangs up, regardless of the fact that the man is facing repossession due to a mistake the CSA have ALREADY admitted to.
This phonecall follows on from one previously made into a video, and we’ve been promised a third one in the trilogy.
CSA admit ‘administrative error’
May 13, 2008
The CSA admit in this video, added to YouTube, that they made an administrative error by sending a variations form meant for one guy, to a different address. The outcome was a DEO set up for the wrong amount, a staggering £550.
This amount was far more than the father should have been paying, over £200 more, meaning he couldn’t afford to pay his mortgage.
Marvel as the inept CSA worker squirms at the errors they have made.
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