CSA leaving my children with nothing to live on

December 19, 2009

I am 36 years old I have been with my wife for 7 years and we have 2 children together aswell as 2 children each from before we met. my wife’s oldest son who is now 12 has ADHD, we have had lots of problems with him and because of this I have had trouble finding work over the years. However, in April 2009 my wife and I took a huge risk, we gave up our council house and sold all our belongings to scrape together £5000 we then managed to talk a hotel owner into letting us buy the lease for this small amount and owe him the rest, he took pity on us and accepted.

When we moved in the building had been closed for 7 months and their was no customer database to start us off so we started from scratch, We are located next door to a derelict building which put’s people off staying and we have had many people walk out, we have contacted the council but they don’t seem to be able to do anything about it…they have however reduced our business rates because of the building which has helped us a little.

We are trying very hard to make a better life for our children, we tried everything to get a grant or loan as we hear everywhere that the government is trying to help new businesses but apparently we were not suitable, the bank would not even give us a bank account and then when we did get one we were refused an overdraught…however we have struggled through and have managed to pay all our bills, rent, business rates and almost paid off the rest of the lease. However this has left us with no income from our business and we are claiming Working tax credits, child tax credits and child benefit which is just about enough to live on. As you are aware season is now over, we have no more bookings at all now.

As mentioned I have 2 children who do not live me and I have been trying to arrange maintenance payments since February, I became so fed up of calling them and having them promise to ring back but they never did that I began to record my calls to them as proof that I had been trying. I finally received a call back a few weeks ago and the lady asked for accounts. I explained to her that I would not have accounts until April 2010 but that we do not have an income from the business. Then on 24th November I received a decision from them which states that my average weekly income is £214.39. And that I have to pay £32 per week from April 2009. They want me to pay £32 per week plus £30per week to pay off the arrears. I thought that they were not allowed to take money from our child benefit, child tax credit or my wife’s share of working tax credit so i wrote and asked for a breakdown of where they got that figure from, after speaking to the decision maker todays she told me the break down of my income is my portion of working tax credits which is £41.80 and also my wife and my joint claim for Child tax credits which is £172.49. therefore they are infact taking money from the 3 children who live with me! She is putting in writing a refusal to look at it again and says I will have to appeal. She says that they are legally allowed to take into account child TAX credits. When I accused this of being stealing from the children who live here she simply said “we are allowed”

That is the only money we have coming into the house, we are a family of 2 adults and 3 children (full time) we also have my wife’s other child stay with us at weekends and my 2 children who the CSA are trying to take money for stay approximately 1 night per month. We have to pay £92 per week in child care for my 2 youngest boys, this leaves us with £122.29 to live off each week… CSA want to take £62 of this, leaving us with only £60.29…how can a family of 5 live off that?

Our hotel like most in Blackpool is only open through season, we closed on 9th November 2009 and will remain closed until April 2010, we still have all our bills to pay and no other money coming in, we have managed to pay all our bills up to date and have some money in the business account as well as a business overdraught which will get us through as far as rent and bill are concerned but £60.29 is not enough to buy food and clothes and other things that 3 children need.

My children’s mother who they live with has never worked a day in her life, she has been claiming income support for 14 years…she claims what the “law” says her and the 2 children need to live on, we claim in tax credits what the “law” says my wife, myself and our 3 children need to live on…so how can they take such a high amount from us to give to her…this will mean that we no longer have the amount the “law” says we need to live on but she will have MORE than the “law says they need to live on. Surely this cannot be right! We were better off when we were not working and living off income support….we work very hard now for nothing while my ex sits on her bum all day and goes clubbing every weekend.

If you could help we would be so grateful. If I have to now pay £62 per week I am taking money from our children here and we will have nothing to live on, if we than have to start using our business overdraught which we have fought to get then we will not have the money to pay our rent or bills or business rates. We are trying very hard just to survive this first year and just hoping that in our second year business may pick up.

My friend who about 18 months ago split from his partner of 14 years with whome he shares 2 children, lost his flat recently as he could not afford to pay,he works hard 6, sometimes 7 days per week. after paying CSA he is left with nothng while his ex also sits around doing nothing with her new boyfriend. Many of my friends are in similar positions.

CSA are forcing our own children into poverty

December 18, 2009

My husband and I recently sold all our property and gave up our council house to start a new business…it’s in it’s first year and we are running at a loss…the only income in our home is Working Tax credits & child tax credits for my child and the 2 children we have together. That’s it.

Now the CSA want to take £36 per week and back date it so that’s £66 per week while we pay it off. We have no other income at all we work 7 days per week and have to pay child care out of it and now they want to steal from my 3 children to give to my husband’s ex who has never worked a day in her life and claims income support (has done for 14 years) she claims what the law says her and her 2 children need to live on and we claim what the law says us and our 3 children need to live on so if they take from my kids to give to hers why is that fair??

It’s not like we don’t spend money on them… we have them here and feed and clothe them, we buy them shoes and clothes when needed and give them spends!!

Fighting the CSA: Should I quit my job?

December 17, 2009

I have had no ends of grief from my kids mothers due to the incompetence of this mis managed government agency.I built up a 5000 pound debt to the agency over 2 years because i was unwilling to pay nearly 100 pounds a week to my child (an amount i never had the luxury of spending on my kids when i was with the mother).

I got chased for the money but agreed a slightly less amount which i gave my ex via a check in full instead of installments through the debt collection agency.

I had another child with my then girlfriend and suddenly had a letter from the CSA saying my ex actually wasnt really happy with our private deal and wants the 5000 pounds- so there is my arrears, to be honest i dont dispute the arrears however this figure should go down when i have a DOE but alas it has risen to nearly 8000 pounds and when i ask why nobody knows. Since me and my littlest sons mother have split i asked her to go through the CSA immediatly so i dont build up arrears but alas i find out i owe her over 1500 pounds, How can this be?

My DOE was in place from the beginning and it gets much worse, i have been moved from the old scheme to the new one great i get to pay less NO, because my eldest was getting nearly one hundred pounds a week he couldnt possibly get a lot less so they have PHASING i will gradually pay less so when hes 16 i pay 32.50 the amount my poor lil one recieves now.

i am appalled that one of my children is worth more than the other as is my little ones mother it has come to the point where i will have to forfeit my job so as my children can get an equal amount between them as for the arrears seems they just pluck figures out of thin air and refuse to give me a break down of where my money has gone.

CSA arrears advice please

December 16, 2009

My partner lost his job last year, he has a small pension. He last paid his ex aug 08 the csa told him he had nil payments to make from his pension then they said he had been given the wrong info & he had to pay 20% which clearly stated on the csa website this was wrong.

He started work april 09 & told them straight away sent copy payslips p60 from his pension. Now they are chasing him for arrears saying his pension is £10,000 more than he gets per year & that the last payment he made to his ex was feb 08 not aug 08. he has sent all his bank statements clearly showing the payments but they say its not enough.

They have lost all the info he sent them. Now they have said they know he has a credit card & want him to pay the arrears on that.

We really don’t no what to do as they dont seem to want to sort it out.

CSA protest update for 10th January 2010

December 16, 2009

Hi all,

I would first like to thank each and every one of you so far that has responded by e-mailing me your support on attending this protest on the 10th January 2010.

Some of you are not sure where the event will start from of which I will state once again below for you.

Protest Event Title:

Unfair collection of payments and amounts collected by the Child Support Agency (C.S.A)

Organiser Of Event: Mr I.Longman

E-mail The Organiser: [email protected]

Time of Protest: 10am to 3pm

Where To Meet :Houses Of Parliament main entrance Westminster the protest march will continue on to No 10 Downing St where the protest will be held until 3pm.

I very much look forward to meeting you all at this event as I feel and I am sure most of you feel, will have a great impact on the way payments  are collected from the C.S.A and are treated in the future.

Once again thank you for your continued support and please feel free to e-mail me of your attendance to this protest.

Kind Regards

Mr I.Longman

CSA Advice please, they are robbing me blind

December 16, 2009

I have been divorced from my ex for over a year now and since i left her over three years ago (because she cheated on me) i have payed her £200 per month with out any csa involvement.

I started to recieve letters of debt in both our names a short time later, stating i owed a few thousand pounds for unpaid bills. It turns out that whilst living in our marrital home, she was claiming benefits as a single parent. I was at work during the day when the post came so she hid it easily, the money she was getting through benifits were getting paid into our joint account and she passed this payment off as tax credits.

I told her that i would pay the debt as this was in my best interest but the child support money would stop untill this was all cleared off.

Finaly cleared off and now debt free, she could not wait, the greedy money grabing ….. and contacted the csa.

They want me to pay £340 per month for my child based on a good month of overtime and a very rare bonus.

I earn £1500 per month basic but my rent alone is £525, with all other bills and c,tax i pay just over £1200 per month. This will now put me into the red even before my last d,debit has left my account.

I will never avoid paying for my child but this is rediculous. I have tried to speak to the csa regarding this but they are not interested. They don’t take any out goings into consideration and as a result screws us over.

I am on the sick at the moment and have been for 2 months as a result of surgery. I will be getting no overtime what so ever for the next fiew months at least.

I have just moved into my new house to give my child a bedroom, spent a fortune doing this and have a 12mnths contract on the house which i cant break. I cant leave my job or i will become homeless. What a mess, all because my ….. of an ex could not wait a few more weeks to get money from me. The csa stink and should have a total reform on its rules and regulations. They should be MADE by law to take All out goings into consideration.

CSA DEO for 40% of my income

December 15, 2009

I havent seen my 2 children for a year. My ex wife stopped my contact with my son and daughter age 5 and 9,, when I was made redundant. This is second time she has done this in 3 years of seperation. I have allways paid for my children even out of my JSA.

When i finally gained employment the CSA stated that I would need to pay through them as per my ex wifes request. No problem I thought!

it has taken the 4 months and many more miscalculations to fainally come to a figure which includes my arrears ( caused by them). They have told me that I have to pay my arrears at 40%, this would mean nearly £800 per month. I cannoy afford this. I have offered to pay what I think is reasonable ammount. Bearing in mind I have a new partneer and child to support,

They have threatened me with my employer being fined if they refuse the DEO and Baliffs being sent round to my house!

It begs the question, why are non resident fathers treated like criminals by this group of govermnet funded power hungry individuals?

I want to pay for my kids and will alllways pay for them, but under my rules and at an affordable level.

Surely its more important for the children to be given contact withe NRP. Than hound the father until he is ill!

How can you fight a liability order from the CSA?

December 14, 2009

My brother has been subject to CSA involvement for some 10 years, after his ex lied to them, stating that he had paid no maintenence (interestingly she had always insisted on cash on the advice of her mother, who works for CSA….)

A sa result, he has had ‘arrears’ which he has paid faithfully every month, and never missed a payment.  From time to time the CSA ‘reassess’ and he ends up owing more and more money, yet when he asks how they have reached the figure, he is ignored.

Most recently he was made subject of a liability order (despite always paying), and has now been told he must pay £4300 or face jail -JAIL?!!!!

I am not a parent and have no experience of the CSA, other than watching my brother and his family slowly be destroyed by the actions of the ‘agency’ and his dishonest ex partner.  Can anybody give me any advice as to what he can do?  He has a son and a wife, they have twice lost their home because they couldn’t afford it due to the crippling demands of the CSA, yet his ex partner is off on lovely overseas holidays and treating herself – hardly the point of the CSA, surely?

The injustice and total lack of organisation or accountability can surely not continue? What about the human rights of his 4 year old son, who lives in abject poverty?

Any help gratefully received!

CSA Protest 10th January 2010 at 10am Downing Street in London

December 14, 2009

Dear all,

I am arranging a protest to take to Downing St in the new year 10th January 2010 at 10am.

I am fed up of the way the CSA do not listen to peoples complaints regarding the child support agency and the unfair collection of payments and the amounts of money collected by the CSA.

I am one of probably thousands of cases out there that has issues with the child Support Agency that never listen and give you a very limited time to reply back to them, I am very angry the way my case has been delt with and with the very unfair payments I am making to the C.S.A and its time to make a stand!

PROTEST EVENT DETAILS:

Please e-mail me your support on attending this event.
[email protected]

PROTEST DESCRIPTION: unfair collection of payments from the CSA
PROTEST EVENT DATE:SUNDAY 10th January 2010
TIME OF PROTEST: 10am
WHERE TO MEET: Westminster, protest will walk past Downing St

This is your chance to make your voice heard so please join me.

Kind Regards

Mr I.Longman

[email protected]

CSA So Unfair to absent fathers!

December 13, 2009

Dear all,

I just wanted to share my story with some people on here and would be nice to hear from anyone with some of the same issues from the C.S.A

I have 2 Daughter’s but with 2 different Mums, of which I have never had access to since they were born and I have always been refused access for no reason what so ever, One is 15 the other is now 16.

I have been paying child maintenance for many years and have paid thousands into the child Support Agency and I have worked most of my working life, but they still state I am in arrears with them of thousands of pounds.

I recently moved in with my current partner after living at my Mums for a few months at that point I was paying the C.S.A £86 a week, I contacted the C.S.A when I moved in with my girlfriend, but they are still asking for the same money and still asking back pay of thousands of pounds which I find totally unfair as I clearly have to live and feed myself and cloth myself and pay bills and things like this.

I am on a very low wage but they still take 40% of wages off you, when I explained to them my circumstances have changed, they stated there will be no change or reduction in payments from them.

I am totally devastated with the whole thing as I clearly have to live but finding things more and more harder day by day, I understand children required to be payed for but within reasonable amounts where it allows the father also to get on with his life as I am clearly not able to do.

These 2 women who have my children I found out are not in hardship at all one of them has a 3 Bedroom house, clearly moved on with her life new partner and not in struggle for money of which I am !!!!

I work full time as I have always done and I would like to ask the CSA how comes my bank is always in its overdraft limit and I can assure you its not because I am overspending or anything like this.

The CSA should be scrapped its clearly unfair to fathers of which I have joined the statistics of many people.

Next Page »

>