I need to own up straightaway. I stopped paying the CSA 4 years ago after a brief period of unemployment. When back in work I continued not to pay. This week i received a demand from them for £33,331. When I called them I was bluntly told that I must start to pay £616 per month or they would immediately send out a deduction of earnings order to my employer. They were not willing to listen to my personal cirumstances only interested in frightening me into paying any amount either by credit card, loan or remortgage.The case worker I dealt with was in a state of hard nosed detachment whilst she administered this dehumanised process in pursuit of some arbitrary financial target. I made a mistake in not facing my financial responsibilities a mistake for which the CSA seemed determined to make it impossible for me to reach some sensible solution. I am speaking to an Insolvency Practitioner and going into an IVA and switching to an interest only mortgage in order to raise the money. Of course this is disastrous for my current family and no regard is given to the children we brought up over the past 4 years. So I am crucified with guilt for not making the payments and crucified with guilt for the penuary I am forcing on my current family. So here I am an absent "deadbeat dad" who has been "...come down on like a ton of bricks." Or maybe I'm just a human being that made a mistake in a low, unhappy period of their life. The CSA has become an all powerful, crushing and destructive blight on what I suspect are some of our most vulnerable people in society. Its aims are astonishingly punitive to the absent parent who very often is providing care to children in a new family. This is abusive government power gome mad. I am simply left in a situation that I cannot redeem my previous poor behaviour without severe hardship to those loved ones around me who know nothing of my former irresponsible and feckless self. In dealing with the CSA all humanity and sensitivity to ordinary people has been removed and it very well may be creating more child poverty than it alleviates as poeple lead complicated lives and nobody has ever bothered to check.
CSA advice forum » CSA Complaints
An abusive governement agency.
(5 posts)-
MoneyHell
Member
Posted 5 months ago # -
rumarr
Member
i have read some of the posts on here and to be honest,it makes my blood boil,i have just started to get grief from the c s a,who do they think they are,they dont listen to you,they talk down to you like you are a criminal,and they have the cheek to tell me "think of it as another tax".While i have no problem paying i dont like being stitched up paying well over what i can afford on their terms.Moneyhell,every one makes mistakes,and it seems you to are being treated unfair.there needs to be a more fairer system in place.you are right it is an abusive agency
Posted 4 months ago # -
csa-hell
Member
90% of CSA workers I have talked to are the same. They do not give a damn about you or the circumstances involved. All they want is that ounce of blood that will take them nearer to targets the Government has set. When they should be targeting permenent absent fathers they are going after easy targets.
They don't give a damn!!
PS: When I was last up at court which was ajourned, I was talking to a father who was going into court after me. He was on benefits and they wanted £13,000 in arrears. A CSA officer at the court asked him if it was possible for him to get a loan to cover it! Are they that thick and totally stupid? Answer: YES
I have found this site NOT to have an active interest in the fight against the CSA.Posted 4 months ago # -
25selena
Member
Hey, it's not just the dad's which are abused at the expense of CSA employees. I usually come off the phone in tears, fed up with being spoken to like it's my fault I'm a single parent and deserve not to get my maintenance. I have been told not to rely on my maintenance! I do work full time myself. My daughter is 11 and I have supported her for 9 1/2 years without any money from her father (yes, it took me that long to get any maintenance!!). I feel insulted constantly and most employees I speak to have no consideration for my situation and I am a pest to be asking for my late payment!
And who can we complain to? How can we campaign to get the service improved? I would be in serious trouble if I spoke to anyone in my job the way i have been spoken to...
Posted 3 months ago # -
csa-hell
Member
Selena I totally agree with you and its a total disgrace how they can get away with it. The way I have been spoken to by them I honestly don't think I could control myself if I was face to face with them.
Posted 2 months ago #
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