CSA pluck arrear calculations out of nowhere despite my ongoing dispute

August 22, 2017

i have an ongoing dispute with the csa regarding arrears that as far as im concerned are non existent! I spoke to a member of their team back in march regarding putting my other daughter on a family based arrangement and i was told that my payments would be reduced considerably, at this point i was aware that there were still arrears to be paid but as far as i was aware there wasnt a great deal left to pay as id been paying £12 a week for almost a year.

after two months of making call after call and getting nowhere with them i finally got to speak to my case worker and we got my daughter on the system in a family based arrangemnt but i was also told that my monthly payments would be £159 which worked out at around £40 per week. i questioned this as i also pay £20 a week to my ex partner on a weekly basis which means im paying £60 a week for two children altough the csa calculator informed me the amount i should be paying is £38 per week for the two children. I was informed by my case worker that i still owed £200+ in arrears which in was bemused about considering i only owed £300+ back in may last year and they started recieving payments (according to my wage slips) in june last year. i was told that it was because they didnt recieve a payment until november last year which also bemused me. as i have proof that this wasnt true ive made numerous phone calls, week after week trying to sort this out as its leaving me with no money each week once bills etc are paid.

i have been told they cant get into the system, theresa nobody that can help with that right now, somebody will call you back within 72 hours and nobody does….endless excuses and reasons why! i recieved a letter stating that my weekly payments were £29 a week including collect and pay charge (this being another dispute) and my case worker had previously told me that she had reduced payments for these aparent arrears to £5 per week yet i am still to this day having £39 per week taken from my wages, i am still making calls once or twice a week disputing this and nothing gets done! in regards to the collect and pay charge….i was told last friday that because id been on this option for well over 6 months that i could request to come off that and move onto direct pay which would save me £6-£7 a week and that someone would call me back by monday to discuss this as they were experiencing system issues. nobody called so i called them myself on tuesday this week and was told that i shopuldnt have been told that someone would call me back and that it has been raised and will be dealt with.

firday this week still no word so i called them AGAIN. i was told that because id been placed on an enforced deduction of earnings all i could do is move onto a collect and pay but through direct debit and this would mean another 6 months of paying £6-£7 a week collection fees. as i wasnt made aware at any point of the option of requesting direct payments after the frst 6 months i feel that this is quite unfair and i explained this to them, but all i was told was i could go direct if the recieving parent agrees to it which i know she wont. im at the point now where im going to be contacting the ombudsman and also speaking to citizens advice (if needed) about all this nonsense that ive been experiencing for months on end as like i said earlier its leaving me with no wage after bills etc and im even having to pay some things short from time to time to pay other bills which is a constant worry and very stressful, im even thinking about quiting work which i really dont want to do but im just tired of working for absolutely nothing.

Comments

  • David says:

    Hi there

    The CSA/CMS

  • David says:

    Hi there

    The CSA/CMS loves to confuse you into submission. Often the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. Each time you call you get a different person who has no idea or knowledge about your case and so you have to relay the same query time and again. The system is designed to get as much money as possible from fathers who are faithful payers for the government coffers. The demonisation of fathers by the government, Gingerbread, Netmums and others are not justified at all. The CSA/CMS often can’t be bothered to pursue the none payers – these are relatively few. It’s nothing to do with child poverty – that is merely a smokescreen.

    Further, often the amount they say you owe will be fictitious. For instance, you pay what they say you should for 18 years and you thinK your liability has been met. Then suddenly you get a letter saying you are in arrears in the sum of £25,000. It really is a wicked and evil system.

    If you have evidence of all payments made, the thing to do is to obtain your Data Protection file and comb through the file to ascertain what legal and procedural mistakes they have been making. Then challenge the organisation who really are a for profit company. This is very hard work so I would strongly advocate your seek advice.

    I can help with this or you can go elsewhere. Drop me a line at [email protected]

    All the best to you.

  • James says:

    Had a family based agreement made 86 on time monthly payments , ex refers me to cms whilet hospitalised (no payment missed) cms make deduction order ignore my mandatory reconsideration appeal takes 12 weeks whilst still sick, make further 22 more months on time payments annual reviews incorrect my income is reduced, hmrc not updated!, now threats of deduction order over arrears of £50, despite monthly payment of over £500 for single child struggle to
    Pay easy target HAD ENOUGH now finished

  • David says:

    James drop me a line at [email protected] if you want to discuss.

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