CSA – Another Corrupt & Suspect Agency
July 8, 2009
I have two children who are 11 and 13, and split from my wife in 2005. I have been paying the CSA since then. Because of the CSA’s shoddy administration procedures, I ended up with a DEO on my employer. I got made redundant in April, and after paying a CSA ‘specialist’ for advice, was told that they wouldn’t be able to take any of my redundancy pay. Great news.
A week after leaving my employment of the last 8 years, I was eagerly waiting for the redundancy payment to appear in my bank account. When it did, it was £8,200 short. I phoned my ex-employers payroll department and was told that they had had to pay the money to the CSA, and should have been informed by the CSA. I wasn’t. I phoned the CSA and asked why they had taken so much of my money and they told me that it was my employer who had calculated the amount and paid it to them, all that the CSA had done was enforce the DEO, and that it was my employer who should have informed me. It turned out that my parasitic ex-wife had got wind of my impending redundnacy and called the CSA prior to me leaving. They had then sneaked around without informing me, and in cahoots with my incompetent former employer had totally ballsed up the deduction, as it was actually over £3000 too much.
Since May 1st, I have been trying to get the overpayment refunded from the CSA. There have been over 30 phone calls, I have dealt with 4 different people at the CSA, each one admitting that the case was handled incorrectly and that they don’t really know how to deal with it, but each time assure me that I will be refunded.
Their absolutely useless computer system has gone into some kind of meltdown over this, so they are now in the process of taking the case off the system completely and processing it manually. I am still waiting for MY money to be refunded almost three months later. I have pointed out to each of the CSA employees I have dealt with (all from their complaints department) that what they did was basically a criminal act, as they stole the money from me, money which wasn’t owed to them, and they are doing everything they can to stall the refund. I also explained to the latest one that if the situation was reversed, I would most likely be starting my 42 days in prison by now, to which they agreed. I have now run out of money whilst my money lies in their coffers earning this corrupt government interest. I am totally sick of this situation and have decided that I won’t be going out to work for an employer ever again. I am even loathed to start contracting, as they then base their deductions on my total revenue in the first year, rather than wages paid – more corruption.
CSA chase me when I’m working abroad
July 7, 2009
I have a single daughter who is now coming up to her ninth birthday and I have not seen since she was 4 years old. Her mother has prevented this and I have so far spent near on 30K on legal fees and court costs trying to gain access. I have gladley paid the CSA on average 500 pounds a month since leaving the family home. I was never married to her mother. I was recently offered a position in the United Arab Emerates which I accepted. On leaving the UK , I contacted the CSA to inform them and requested their help in maintaining the monthly payments. I was told that as the UAE are a non reciprocal country they can not assist and suggested I make a payment arrangement with the mother. I took this approach and wrote to the mother about 5 or 6 times with no response. I instructed my Solicitor to write a similar letter, again this generated no response. I contacted the CSA again to inform them I had followed their advice and received no response to which their response was “we dont believe you are a non resident and are now going to commence legal proceedings”. I assured them that I now lived in the UAE at which point they asked me for evidence? I sent them a copy of my residence visa, my UAE driving licence and my UAE bank (visa) card both of which can not be obtained without a residence visa. They thanked me for the information and responded by saying they will now decide weather I am a resident of the UAE or not?????
I am confused.
I have asked for their help in making payment to which they said that because I am a resident in a non recoprical country they cannot help but on the other hand they have all the evidence available to confirm my situation and the need to decide weather I actually am a resident of a non recripocal country??
I have no connections with the UK except from the former family home which has a court order to be sold and a number of debts which I continue to pay through my Fathers bank account. The question I need answering is where do I stand legally?? I have offered to pay through the CSA and directly but without having bank details, physically can not. I am saving a reasonable ammount of money each monthe as I expect that one day the CSA will decide I am in arreas and i just want to be able to pay them off but this doesnt benifit my daughter now.
Please offer any advice or guidence you may have?
Regards
Dylan Thomas
CSA send me someone else’s details
July 5, 2009
I have loads of problems with the CSA but found this story amusing.
I have for 3 months been waiting for a copy of my file from the DPU , i even made a complaint via the information commissioners office regarding a failure under data protection act 1998. last week i was called last thursday evening by the DPU to ask if i would help with their survey. they asked that if they brought in a charge of £10.00 to receive my own information from them would i pay. i was annoyed to say the least and the guy once realising who i was agrred he had called by mistake. on froday i had some information from the DPU , but contained in the pack was someone else’s details including NI number , home address and work details including payroll number. all departments are a joke and my email buddy Stephen Geraghty should jack the whole lot in.
regards
steve
CSA set up a deduction from earnings order
July 4, 2009
Csa have set up a dedution from work order , i am in dispute with them / mother and have denied parentage and asked for dna test as i have never seen the mother or this child. How ever they took this and as me being non complient and set up a dedution from work order.
As these lovely people (thats sarcastic) are taking money from me , when the child may not be mine I have not seen do not know where mother or child live .I have set up a pension for a large percentage of my wage this will reduce the amount they can take , and will give it back to me later on in life i would rather have it in my pocket in years to come than give it to them. I have also ceased working overtime , will get the payment amounts reduced as this was made in a month i did a lot of overtime and is not a true reflection of my normal earnings .
It has taken a shed load of calls in which no one has called me back or givern me a answer to any of my questions or changed my payment amounts, I would advise any one to send any documents or letters by recored delivery as they will try and say they have never recieved them .They will try and deny phone calls have taken place or things that have been said . Do not accept that a manager will call you back if the agent is not able to deal with your query , the agent will try and fob you off or avoid helping you i think it is there aim to try and not do any work/ they literally do not care about your problems or your situation they only care about hitting there targets which are based on cases submitted to them and by hook or crook any means ,be it a deduction from work order if you question them . Stay on the phone and ask for a manager if they say there manager is not available ask to speak to the manger of the manager and so on till you get one do not accept a call back stay on the line till you get a manager it is the only way you will get answers to your questions or the ammendment/task you need done .And keep on pestering them write letters every week and keep on calling till what you want is done
CSA demand Five Thousand Pounds from me
July 3, 2009
I’ve been fighting the CSA now for 16years.
My marriage broke up in 1991.
I’m a UK national, and became a victim of the CSA in 1993, when I received a simple enough looking form from the agency asking about my employment details, income, address, etc after the break-up of that marriage from which I have one son (who was 10 in 1993). Having nothing to fear, as I was still paying EVERY bill at the former marital home as if I was still living there (mortgage, food,Electricity, gas. household ins., car, petrol..the lot), I popped it in the mail and forgot about it while I continued to pay these bills as well as find/fund a flat for myself.
In December 1995..out of the blue…I received a bill from the CSA for some £5.5K plus an assessment that I should payan ADDITIONAL £400/month on top…this for a child who lived large parts of the week with me and, who ultimately LIVED PERMANENTLY with me. (It later transpired that I had come to the attention of the CSA because of a false claim made elsewhere in the benefit system by my (now ex) wife, ….despite her having THREE jobs herself. !)
From December 1995, there followed what can only be describedas the mother and father of wars of attrition on me by the agency, who at various intervals, calculated, re-calculated, then calculated again my “liability” for child maintenance…maintenance that I did not, do not, and never have owed. This period was compounded by the fateful Saturday morning post where I received not one, not two…..etc, but no fewer than 6(six) separate envelopes from the agency with EACH alleging child arrears (varying in amounts up to £16,000) and none of whom agreed with the other !!!!
One can by this time perhaps imagine the effects that the stress surrounding such ALLEGED debts …to a powerful and draconian government organ…was by now having on my health, both physically and mentally, but regardless of what I did ,said, or to whom I made representation at the agency, this mindless dragon of state was not deflected from it’d blind intention to steal my money.
I was of course by this time,engaging solicitors, writing to my MP etc in order to seek respite from the agencies claims, but in the interests of brevity, these came to be of no avail.
Nonetheless, and quite unexpectedly, a letter was received by me one day whereby the CSA actually recognised that their performance had “fallen short of standard” and that, as a consequence, and without any request for compensation from me, they arbitrarily AWARDED ME the sum of £100 for my trouble. This however, proved to be a false dawn, inasmuch as the CSA STILL contended (without proof) that I was still liable for a £16,000 debt for alleged child arrears. This merely resulted in my redoubling of my efforts to have the agency both “explain” both their calculations and their actions, and while engaged in telephone conversation with a member of their staff, I accidentally learned of their intent (never intimated to me) to “arrest” my salary from my employer. Now, quite apart from the financial difficulty such action would have begun, I realised that there would soon be a very serious question re my financial affairs such as would be difficult to explain to my employer who in the normal course of events trusted me, on a daily and on-going basis, with the safe management of literally MILLIONS of pounds worth of his money and assets…nonetheless, and by the skin of my teeth, I was able to persuade the CSA to defer their intended action. By this time, I was of course in receipt of some £100 of the AGENCIES money and, following discussion with my solicitor, we decided to pay the CSA the monthly sum of £10, along with an attendant monthly letter stating that such monies were being paid without ANY admission of guilt or liability, and without prejudice. These payments were continued by me up till and including January 2001, by which time my son was 18years old, and outwith the interest of the agency. I then advised the CSA that as far as I was concerned that unless I heard from them, I would regard the matter as being closed.
It was also clear that by this time, and purely on account of the huge stress placed upon me by this unwarranted pursuit, that my health was in serious decline and with the huge assistance of both my GP and a regular visiting psychiatric nurse, I narrowly avoided suicide on a number of occasions.
Nonetheless, it was clear to all who knew me both professionally an socially, that I was no longer fit to continue working, and by the end of 2001 my employer discharged me with a medical pension, and I have not worked since.
By now, my dealings with the CSA had seemingly finished, and I went about the task of slowly recovering at least SOME elements of good mental health, to the extent that, in 2005 I re-married, and ultimately moved to live in retirement in France.
Indeed that might reasonably have seemed to be the end of this sorry tale but, on the 5TH June 2009 and with NO COMMUNICATION OF ANY KIND WHATEVER from the agency in the preceding 10…yes 10…years, I again received from the agency a letter (dated 27th May 2009) informing me that they had in fact implemented a Deduction From Earnings Order on my monthly medical discharge pension, in recompense of the “alleged” debt to them of £950…a figure that figured nowhere in the dozens of calculations down these many years.
I now find myself battling in the Scottish courts (whereI last lived in the UK) to have the CSA’s theft of my money returned to me. This of course results in a return of all the stress to which I was subjected all those years, and involves me in a great expense (and with money I do NOT have) to engage again solicitors to represent me (and my own travel and sustenance costs from france to Scotland) in fulfilling my serving a warrant on the CSA for the rightful return of all monies illegally seized by this government department.
The case will be heard in early August 2009, and I am full of dread and concern, not at the justice of my case (my conscience is clear on my actions in this matter at every stage) but at the possible return to those black, black days when my will to survive these allegations and actions will be tested yet again. Frankly, I have fears that should I fail, I will not any longer have the mental strength to recover again.
Will any /all fair -minded people out ther wish me well??……..or am I destined to be merely the latest victim of that long list of those who have fallen victim tomost evil and draconian of government bodies, with huge powers that mean they are in many ways ABOVE the law for the rest of us.
I hover between hope and despair….and will go to my grave secure in the knowledge that I am NOT GUILTY of any offence surrounding the financing of the care of my dear, dear son who, above all, gives me just a trace of a spark to go on and see this ordeal through to conclusion.
For anyone still reading thus far…my sincere thanks for your forbearance…and please help in any way you are able to revoke the evil powers f this unjust and unnaccountable government body.
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