Cake maker sponges from Child Support Agency
September 3, 2010
A baker who used an employee’s CSA deductions to support the business has been slapped with a hefty fine.
Barbara Heath, a partner in Auntie’s Handmade Cakes, based in Buckfastleigh, Devon, deducted money from the pay packet of baker Shawn Fell over 142 weeks at the behest of a DEO from the Child Support Agency. However, instead of paying the money direct to the Child Support Agency, as it was intended, the money was used to help prop up the business.
The scam was perpetrated for three years before investigators discovered it. Mr Fell’s Child Support Agency arrears stood at £8,002.55, but they found that despite deductions being taken at source, only £3,918 had been paid, leaving £4,084.06 unaccounted for. The CSA approached Ms Heath, 52, and uncovered the ruse.
Prosecuting on behalf of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, Martin Symonds told Torbay Magistrates:
“Investigators visited the proprietor and Read more
CSA debt drives father to theft
August 27, 2010
A Grimsby man stole thousands after he received a crippling bill from the Child Support Agency. Jeffrey Atkin, 48, admitted three counts of theft that he committed in April of 2010.
Mr Atkin was a factory manager for local firm M&J Seafood, and had worked there for 13 years. A model employee, he had been rewarded for his hard work at the company with a promotion to the position of factory manager. As part of this trusted position, he was one of only two people who were authorised to send stock to Cryotech, a company specialising in refrigeration storage.
When three doubtful invoices were discovered, Atkin was suspended. He eventually admitted the theft of £3,288 at a disciplinary hearing, explaining how he had Read more
CSA drives man to motorway protest
August 26, 2010
A man caused a motorway to be closed for hours as part of a protest against the Child Support Agency.
During an appearance at Preston Magistrates Court, Dr Surendra Sachdeva, chairman of the bench, heard how Marcus King had wanted to voice his anger and frustration about the way he felt he had been treated at the hands of the CSA.
King, 38, occupied a footbridge situated near junction 31a and 32 of the M6 near Preston, armed with several disposable barbecues; and had the intention of sending ‘smoke signals’.
Traffic on the motorway, and other roads around the city, was brought to a complete halt, and tailbacks reached all the way to the Lancashire’s border with Cumbria. King was charged with Read more
Deadbeat dad uses double to dodge daughter’s maintenance
August 13, 2010
A dad tried to dodge paying maintenance for his daughter by sending another man to take a paternity test on his behalf.
Terrence Bradley claimed that another man had fathered his daughter after the Child Support Agency decreed that his maintenance payments should rise to £235, from the £50 he had previously been paying.
In an effort to hoodwink the CSA, help was sought from his cousin Glenn Hart. The 29-year-old, posing as Bradley, undertook a DNA test. He volunteered two samples before signing a declaration with Terrence Bradley’s name.
When Sarah McCabe, Bradley’s ex partner, was told that he was not the father of their child, she cried foul. The switch was discovered when she was shown a picture of Hart masquerading as Bradley, and it led to the pair being hauled before Teesside Crown Court.
Judge Patrick Palmer condemned the couple, stating:
“This was a planned attempt to avoid the responsibility you had to pay for the maintenance of this child.”
“If that wasn’t bad enough, you must have caused the mother of this child, your former Read more
CSA want an interview, but won’t speak to me
August 13, 2010
The Child Support Agency sent a letter to MrDaz today insisting that he attends an interview at his local Job Centre, even though he works. He tried to call them, and naturally recorded the call, but they hung up as usual.
Have a listen to what he said, and see his post here.
I received a letter this morning from the CSA asking me to attend an interview next week at the local job centre. This could be a problem, because I work and can’t attend at such short notice. I called the number on the letter and spoke to Cheryl, in Chester. When I gave my name she immediately knew who I was and told me she couldn’t speak to me, as I was to be contacted by letter only, and then she hung up on me.
What should I do now? I can’t attend the interview next Thursday as I’ll be in work, unless I manage to move some days around at very short notice. Even if I send a letter back to the CSA (as Cheryl said I should do) I can’t print one and send it until Monday when I’m next in the office, so they won’t get that until Wednesday, and the interview is Thursday!
Anyhow – listen to the call and see what you think.
MP Philip Davies calls for abolition of CSA
August 9, 2010
Tory Member of Parliament Philip Davies has called upon the government to dismantle the Child Support Agency.
The furious MP for Shipley has said that responsibility for the pursuit of parents who are not making payments towards the upkeep of their children should be returned to the courts.
His outburst came after the revelation that absent parents across Yorkshire have failed to pay nearly £100m in child support. In a recent national ‘league table’ of debt, published by the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, parents in the Leeds Central constituency alone owed £9,612,000 in maintenance payments. Of the UK’s 650 constituencies, Leeds Central came in at eighth place.
The statistics, which are a snapshot of the national CSA debt mountain as of March this year, showed that the total amount owed increased by £1.7m over the last year and now currently stands at £98.7m.
Alarmingly, this figure is a conservative estimate. CMEC has owned up to the fact that these figures only include data from one of the pair of IT systems they uses, and that in all likelihood they have Read more
CSA lashed over alleged union-busting
August 4, 2010
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has lambasted the Child Support Agency amidst claims of harassment, bullying and the dismissal of union representatives.
The PCS has called upon the select committee for the Dept of Work and Pensions to conduct an inquiry following the sacking of Sam Buckley, a PCS branch secretary and the fifth union representative to be fired from the Child Support Agency office based in Hastings in nearly three years.
Managers at the office have stated that Buckley was sacked for “incapability”, and strenuously deny that the dismissal was related to Buckley’s claims that managers were ignoring employment law and ACAS guidelines.
The office has lost two secretaries, a pair of vice-chairman and a chairman since 2007. A tribunal found that chairman Eddie Fleming had been dismissed unfairly; even so, managers refused to reinstate him.
In another case, Winston Resalsingh was fired for raising Read more
Listen to Darren Jamieson from CSAhell.com on the radio
July 31, 2010
If you missed the radio show last week where CSAhell.com was represent by Darren Jamieson to local radio stations City Talk and Radio City in an interview with Pete Price, then you can listen to the segment right here.
The sound quality isn’t perfect unfortunately due to the way in which it was recorded, but you’ll get the gist of the interview and how CSAhell.com came across on the radio.
Do let us know what you thought of the interview, and if you listened to the whole talk show itself – or even if you called in to the show (as we know that Sue from the Child Support Agency, and who wrote this post, did).
CMEC seizes properties owned by absent parents
July 30, 2010
The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission has invoked tough new measures against parents who attempt to shirk their financial responsibilities towards their children.
New laws allowing CMEC to stop or annul the sale or transfer of any assets were brought to bear against a father based in the North West to prevent him selling a property that he had advertised on the internet. The gentleman, who can’t be named, currently owes £78,000 in maintenance to his ex partner after dodging enquiries from the CSA and CMEC for nearly twelve years.
CMEC made a successful application to stop the transaction, as they feared that any proceeds from the sale of the four bedroom house would be beyond their reach.
Chair of CMEC, Dame Janet Paraskeva, commented:
“This case sends a clear message to all parents who have Read more
MP threatens CSA over maintenance debt
July 29, 2010
The Child Support Agency has continued to highlight the UK’s debt blackspots with the release of their league table for money owed by absent parents.
The latest figures reveal that Waveney and Norfolk owe a combined £50m, which has been labelled “horrendous” by one of Norfolk’s MPs and has led to widespread condemnation of those who owe money, and calls for reform within the agency.
The figures show that Great Yarmouth is the worst in the region, and 15th worst constituency overall with a total debt of £9.3m.
Waveney has a debt of £8.687m, Norwich South £7.154m and North West Norfolk £6.13m.
Brandon Lewis, the MP for Yarmouth, estimates that around 25 to 30 per cent of his time is spent on offering his constituents CSA advice, and hinted that past efforts to improve the CSA had Read more
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