CSA going after mothers as well as fathers
June 11, 2008
You may think that the child support agency are just going after absent fathers in order to get them to pay up to the mother? In fact that’s not true, there are over 150,000 mothers living apart from their children in the UK. This is as a result of the UK courts awarding custody to fathers.
Margaret Clarke is one such mother, she came home from work to find that her husband had left and had taken their two children with him.
My husband ended our eight-year marriage by walking out with my two young sons, then aged 4 and 2. I came home to an empty house. It was a nightmare.
Despite a court ruling that she could have her children back, her husband refused.
When it comes to custody battles, possession is nine tenths of the law. If you’ve got the kids from the outset you are in a much better position to maintain the status quo. My ex-husband was able to establish a ‘new normal’ with the children, thus initiating the elimination of me as their mother from their lives.
Eventually Margaret lost her case as she was working full time, and like so many fathers today she paid the price for being the main earner in the family. She was confined to just having contact with her children once a week and every other weekend.
This isn’t uncommon now, as the CSA have shown that the non resident parent is actually the mother in 66,900 of their cases.
Sarah Hart claims that mothers living apart from their children are being unfairly labelled as unfit mothers.
People assume that they have either abandoned their children or been deemed unfit mothers by the courts. They are perceived as bad mums, odd, possibly even heartless, selfish or cruel.
In reality, the circumstances surrounding a mother choosing to living apart from a child are often complex and emotionally charged. Decisions are often made very quickly in times of high stress, few resources and seemingly few choices.
This is of course what every father living apart from his children goes through, so while Sarah Hart is correct in that just because a mother lives apart from her children, and doesn’t have custody, it doesn’t mean she is a bad mother; by the same token every father that lives apart from his children isn’t a bad father.
For fathers though the issue is greater as many of them don’t even have access to their children due to the mother’s refusal to allow them.
When it comes to custody rights in the UK, the law is still firmly on the woman’s side.
Will the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission improve the CSA?
June 10, 2008
When the CSA becomes the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission do you think it will make any difference for parents with care and non resident parents? Do you think things will improve, or do you think things will get worse?
Let us know by voting in our poll, what difference do you think the CSA becoming the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission will actually make?
Loading ...Fathers 4 Justice protest at Harriet Harman’s home
June 8, 2008
The Fathers 4 justice have targeted Harriet Harman’s home for a protest today, climbing onto her roof dressed as super heroes.
Forty-Six year old Mark Harris and Forty-One year old Jolly Stanesby, both from Plymouth, climbed up onto the roof dressed as Captain Conception and Cash Gordon, armed with a banner that read: “A father is for life, not just conception”. The Fathers 4 Justice group has been campaigning for fathers rights in the UK.
Both Harriet Harman and her husband, Jack Dromey, are said to be inside the house.
Fathers 4 Justice campaigner Mark Harris said:
All we did was push open the gate which wasn’t even locked, put a ladder up and climbed up.
In this time of heightened terror alerts, I can’t believe Harriet Harman has such lax security. My house is more secure than this.
Mark O’Connor is the founder of Fathers 4 Justice, and he promises that this is just the first of many protests lined up over the coming weeks, leading up to Father’s Day.
This is the beginning of a series of protests leading up to Fathers’ Day.
We’ve got absolutely nowhere in terms of dialogue with the Government and if anything the situation for fathers is infinitely worse.
Politicians don’t want to tackle the elephant in the room, fatherhood, for fear of upsetting single mothers.
They say you can abandon your children tomorrow if you pay.
The protesters say they will remain on the roof of Harriet Harman’s home until she reads Mr Harris’ book, entitled ‘Family Court Hell’ According to Mr O’Connor they have enough supplies with them to stay up on the roof for a week.
The group has been famed for their highly publicised stunts over the last few years. In 2004 they threw condoms filled with flour at Prime Minister Tony Blair, and one of their group climbed into a ledge of Buckingham Palace dressed as Batman. They’ve also invaded a live broadcast of the lottery draw on BBC 1.
Mr O’Connor says there is more to come from the Fathers 4 Justice, and the CSA are being targeted.
There will be an official protest in Bristol, when we’ll be targeting the Child Support Agency (CSA) in a way which hasn’t been seen before.
We’ll also be revisiting many of our older protests.
According to Scotland Yard:
Officers are currently in attendance at the location and are speaking to the men.
CSAhell.com offers its full support to the two men, and hope they manage to stick it out until they get the results they want.
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.
Fathers 4 Justice hold a national sperm strike
June 4, 2008
We received this message from the Fathers4Justice, and naturally we had to post it. They’re organising a protest against the Child Support Agency, and CSAHell.com is right behind them all the way,
Hi I am a member of F4J and we are organising a national demo against the CSA, I believe that many of your readers would be interested and I would be grateful if you could post some details regarding this somewhere?. Below are the details…
THE FATHERS 4 JUSTICE DAY FRIDAY 13TH JUNE 2008
Are you a redundant dad? Did you get your P45 but are still being fleeced? Are you angry with the CSA? Have they stitched you up? Now it’s YOUR turn to have YOUR say this Fathers Day.
Don¹t let Labour Make Fatherhood Redundant! Ask ŒFlash¹ Gordon why he doesn’t give a toss for fathers!
FATHERS 4 JUSTICE & SPERM (Society for the Promotion of Equal Rights for
Men) presents
THE FATHERS 4 JUSTICE DAY WORLD’S FIRST NATIONAL SPERM STRIKE - AGAINST THE CSA FRIDAY 13TH JUNE
Make your sperm count at Bristol Job Centre, The Pithay, Bristol, Avon, BS1 2NQ between 10.00am 2.00pm on Friday 13th June 2008 where dads will be arriving looking for work as, er, dads before we move on to our top secret target.
Fathers are being made redundant in the family courts and by the CSA. As one dad said to us recently, ³I used to be a dad, now I’ve been made redundant and instead of a redundancy package, I now have to pay through the nose for the privilege of not seeing my kids!²
Featuring: a giant 40ft long phallic symbol with the words ŒFREE OUR COX DON’T TAX OUR TADGERS¹
What to bring: white space hoppers, white balloons, gallons of wallpaper paste, foam machines, giant water cannons from Woolworths, air horns, whistles, ŒBoycott Your Sperm Bank banners.
Dress: All White, white ŒSperm¹ T shirts (available on day)
Music: Monty Python’s ŒEvery Sperm is Sacred & ŒThe Penis Song
Finale: a buttock bearing finale of ŒDon¹t go down with Brown - Todgers on stun! Let’s baste the bastards!
Vote: With your loins. The sperm has turned don’t go with the flow.
Please register today at office@fathers-4-justice.org spread to other groups and forums all welcome!
Top Super Sperms in Action:
ANGRY WITH THE CSA CHECK OUT THESE CLIPS AND THEN REGISTER WITH OUR PROTEST!!!
Part 1
New! Part 2
Many Thanks
CSA Minister James Plaskitt gloats over money they’ve taken
June 3, 2008
James Plaskitt, the CSA Minister recently gloated that they’d taken £1billion in the UK last year, with nearly £2 million of that money going to children in St Albans.
The CSA claim they are doing good work in ensuring that children get money they are owed, stating that the money works out at £2,500 per child. MP Anne Main disagrees, saying there has been no visible improvement in St Albans since 2005. Who is correct I wonder?
On the face of it, these figures seem to show that, in terms of collections of maintenance in CSA cases, there has been no improvement in St Albans.
This is not in line with the rest of the country, where there have been significant improvements in collection levels.
Unfortunately, this seems to be indicative of a patchy delivery system in the CSA nationally, and this is worrying.
I have been contacted by a number of constituents with sad cases where the failures of the CSA have led to further deteriorations in family relationships and I know they are keen to see an improvement in operations.
Concerns over the amount money the CSA raise, compared with how much has actually gone to the child, have been raised by Mrs Main in the past. What is happening to the rest of the money? Who is pocketing the cash?
James Plaskitt on the other hand thinks the CSA have done a wonderful job as he buries his head in the sand and gives the usual rallying speech.
It is excellent news that we are getting more money to more children.
Existing CSA clients should be reassured that they will continue to see further improvements when the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is established later this year.
The Child Support Agency and its improvement plan has delivered real enhancement to the child maintenance system.
In the meantime, the CSA will continue to pursue parents who evade their financial responsibilities. Our message to them is clear. Act now or we will.
It’s a startling example of someone completely missing the point. The children are not getting the money their fathers are paying. Where is it going Mr Plaskitt?
Anyone want to name and shame the CSA by talking to the media?
May 13, 2008
We’ve received this press release asking for people to give their child support agency stories and issues to the media for potential publication. If you’ve had problems with the CSA, this might be of interest.
Tell your tale and boost your income by a potential £5k per year
- new website helps people earn cash from their real-life stories -
Continued growth in the women’s weekly magazine market, coupled with heightened demand from national newspapers for human interest stories, means there is now more scope than ever before for people across the UK to earn a profit by selling their real-life stories. Aiming to bridge the gap between the media and those individuals with a story to tell, a former Daily Mail journalist has launched TalkToThePress.com.
Founder, Natasha Courtenay-Smith explains, “Story-selling isn’t limited to just the ‘kiss-and-tell’ market as you might imagine, in fact, newspapers are increasingly seeking genuine case studies to illustrate the latest trends such as cosmetic surgery, as well as topical issues like MRSA and the credit-crunch. Women’s magazines continually hunt for inspirational tales from ‘normal people’, ranging from surviving an affair to dealing with addiction.”
“The market for honest stories and authentic case studies is continuing to expand,” continues Natasha, “but many people don’t know where to begin when it comes to talking to the media. Indeed, simply picking up the phone to a journalist can feel like a frightening experience. That’s where TalkToThePress.com comes in: advising people on whether they have a story which may be of interest to the national media, helping them decide which publications to aim for and managing all their contracts and fees.”
Natasha has ten years experience of writing individual, personal and often emotional stories for UK national magazines and newspapers. Since launching TalkToThePress.com in January, she has successfully placed a variety of stories in the national press, including: a woman trying to find a sperm donor; a man who has survived breast cancer; a woman who discovered she was the secret love child of a sixties rock star; a wronged-wife who underwent £5,000-worth of cosmetic surgery after her husband left and a self-confessed sex addict. All received payment for their interviews and, most importantly, achieved their personal goal of talking to the media.
“For many, just having their say and getting their story out there meets a deep-seated need,” explains Natasha. “This is either because they raise awareness about a subject close to their heart, raise money for charity or they quite simply get the opportunity to set a record straight. Some people talk to more than one publication, in fact I know of one woman who’s been a mistress for the past decade and has talked about it to numerous magazines – and why not? She has a fascinating tale to tell and magazines are willing to pay her to talk about her experiences which will doubtless be of interest to their thousands of readers.”
Natasha estimates that the savvier story-seller can top up their income by as much as £5,000 per year if they appear in just one magazine or newspaper per month.
TalkToThePress.com deals with a vast range of stories and can also help individuals who wish to keep a crime in the public eye. Individuals with a story to tell should visit the website http://www.talktothepress.com
CSA Step Up Propaganda
May 11, 2008
The Child Support Agency have stepped up a series of propaganda news stories telling how they’ve collected money for children throughout the UK. Over the last few weeks numerous press releases, disguised as news reports have appeared in local press around England, Wales and Scotland stating how children have benefited from the CSA’s actions.
There has been no mention however of how fathers have had their lives destroyed, the mistakes the CSA have made, the fact that they’ve refused to listen. These stories have taken a positive spin on the CSA.
For example:
Absent parents in Lincolnshire pay a record £12 million.
The chief executive of the CSA, Stephen Geraghty said:
The CSA will continue to pursue parents who evade their financial responsibilities.
Fathers in Scotland pay £1 billion.
The CSA Minister, James Plaskitt commented:
The implementation of the Operational Improvement Plan, and the hard work and commitment of our staff demonstrates the improvements that have been made. Existing CSA clients should be reassured that they will continue to see further improvements when the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is established later this year.
£11.8 million paid by fathers in South Essex.
Basildon Council’s Malcolm Buckley said:
This is good news as the whole point of setting up the CSA was to ensure families with young children get the money they deserve.
Payment boost for children in the North West.
James Plaskitt again said:
It is excellent news that we are getting more money to more children in north west England. Since March 2005, more than £332m in maintenance payments have benefited children in the area.
£90 million for children in the Midlands.
Stephen Geraghty again made the same comment he made for Lincolnshire.
£4.6 million paid by fathers in Edinburgh.
As you can see the CSA has been working hard getting the word out that it has been successful, bragging about the money it has clawed from non resident parents for its own profit in attempt to make itself look like a competent organisation.
The CSA is not competent, it’s riddled with corruption and mistakes. CSAHell.com aims to bring those mistakes to the attention of the British public.
Man faces Ruin because of CSA
May 9, 2008
Father Freddie Harrison is facing financial ruin because of the child support agency. He claims he will end up on streets, unable to keep his home, if the CSA doesn’t reassess what he owes for his children. He is currently having £300 per month deducted direct from his wages as the result of a DEO (deduction of earnings order).
It’s not that I’m refusing to pay, I have never refused to pay. I have had regular contact with my children and have always paid to help support them except last year when I was unemployed and didn’t have any money.
Freddie Harrison has children with two ex partners and they’ve been in touch with the child support agency to say that he hasn’t been making regular payments for his kids. Mr Harrison says that he gave them his details so they could pass them on to the CSA, but was stunned when the CSA calculated how much he was to pay.
I am not one of those fathers who is not interested in their children and has nothing to do with them and has never paid to support them. I care for them and they regularly come to stay with me. But if the CSA insist on taking this money it is going to literally ruin me.
I work to live, I don’t have lots of luxuries, I don’t go on holiday, I drive an old banger and practically all my money goes on keeping a roof over my head and that of my partner and her daughter.
Mr Harrison says the CSA are not taking into consideration any of his outgoings aside for tax and national insurance contributions. Sadly that is the case with the child support agency. They do not take into consideration any of your outgoings when you are the non resident parent. You are expected to pay what they calculate, and there is nothing you can do about.
I don’t consider my nett wage as fritter money, in fact it is extremely hard to make ends meet. I pay rent, council tax, road tax, car maintenance, utility bills, VAT on everything we buy including food, but none of these are seen as essential living costs.
Both Mr Harrison and his partner work rather than claim benefits, though if he did become unemployed the sad truth is he may be financially better off. Mr Harrison has written to Prime Minister Gordon Brown to ask why the child support agency are so wantonly punishing loving parents, though it is unlikely the PM will interject as thousands of fathers have been persecuted by the CSA to date, with many becoming bankrupt or even committing suicide.
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Earn Money
