Hi Guys, hope someone can possible give some advice, if not you at least get a good giggle from this.... I am sure that the advice that I got from the CSA is not an unusual occurance.
I have been paying CSA now for 11 years. Long story, I wont bore you with the details suffice to say that it was unplanned, well I wasnt planning, however she was and failed to tell, it was a mate of mine who gave me the heads up to say she wasnt on the pill. I confronted her with that information, she had previously told me she was on the pill, and the excuse was that she thought that she was unable to have kids... yes i know, i still should have worn protection.
However the deed was done, she had no interest in being with me, I had a DNA done to be on the safe side and started making payments. My first arreas bill was £1500 as it took 6 months to sort out. Strangley though the following year I had a letter saying my payments were increasing. And even though i was paying my arreas off, that had increased to over £2000. Naively i didnt do anything. The year after that i received another letter, this time it had been re-directed to me from my paybase, asking for my employer to give details of my pay. I should say that I was in the Royal Navy. I managed to make an appointment interview with the CSA office in the naval dockyard and was given some quite interesting information. Now its turns out that she was asking the CSA to perform a re-assessment as everyone knows that the Armed Forces have an annual payrise. Also i wasnt being asked to provide the information as they can have direct access to my pay records with the navy. In the space of 2 years my payments had gone from £200 a month to £350. I did ask if this was a breech of my data protection rights but was told no.
In 2003 i bought a house, was asked to be reassessed, which i was, and may payments was increased to £450 a month. So in the space of 4 years, my payments had doubled, however my pay hadn't. Unfortunately for me i was posted to another part of the country at this point.
I complained through the proper channels and basically told, tough. The assessment was correct. So i tried to find out why my housing costs were not included, and this will make you laugh... because i was in the armed forces, and wasnt able to live in my house during the week (House in darlington, base in Yeovil)they wouldnt accept it as my primary residence. Ok, then do I get my food and accomodation taken in to consideration because i have to live on base during the week? NOPE..... They quoted me naval regulations that state "Married Men do not pay accomodation costs and only half the food costs" Fine, however I am not married, therefore I do pay full costs. Again was told tough. Even though my payslips showed that i paid the full costs. Also i was only entitled to £10 a week travelling costs. I had to sell the house. When I spoke to an CSA advisor on the phone i was told if i didnt like it tough, and if she wanted to, she would have every penny taken from my pay, and take my car off me and anything else that she could think of. also i asked that if the maitaince required was £90 a week, why was i paying £117 a week? I was told to keep her in the luxury that I had, mmmmm sleeping on a single bed in room 4ft x 10ft.... of wow the luxury. I made a complaint about her and her attitude. Safe to that I never heard anything of the complaint I made.
This was at the same time that the assessment system was being changed to the new easier calculations. When I asked when would i likley be moved, i was told it was only for new cases until the system was proved, however she did tell me that there was a way around it...... go and have more children..............................
In 2006, I asked the question again and was told that this new easier calculation was still proving difficult for their computer system, and that if i go forth and breed more children, then i could change.
In 2007 i was medically discharged from the navy, and after medical assessment, I was awarded a war disability pension which is tax exempt for as far as i aware it is treated as a disability benefit, apart from the CSA, who see it as an income.
Again I asked the question about the new assessment scheme, and again was told the answer was children. If only my sex life was that interesting.......
So with my first job after the navy, my take home pay was £750 a month and my CSA payments were about £240 a month. after nearly a year i was made redundant, went self employed and after my first year did my self assessment. I didnt earn enough money to pay take, infact i was on the equvailent of £54 a week, my assessment came back, and i had to pay £220 a month, because my pension which is £514 a month, although not taxable, was classed an income, even though no other agency treats it like one. part of that payment is for arreas, about £27 a month. thats the minimum i was told i have to pay. again to be assessed under the new scheme, more children need, next time i will ask them to write that in a letter.
I did work out, that between 2003 and 2007 if i had been on the new assessment, it would have made £13,000 difference in those 4 years, i might have been able to keep my house.
Also the other way to get my maintainance reduced would be to have the child 4 nights a week!!! would that mean i was the PWC?????
I think I am pretty much like everyone else on here, I want to pay, but would like to see the system be fair to all. I know guys who avoid it like the plague, i know guys who pay but end up bankrupt because the system screws every penny out of them, and i also know woman who have a hard time getting the csa to work with them and also women who see it as another form of income. There was one girl in Catterick who had 3 kids by 3 different squaddies, who turned round to a friend of mine and said that she needed more money, went out got pregnant by another squaddie, so is in receipt of 4 different lots of Maintainence.
Ok, us blokes should have a bit more common sense, but not trying to sterotype, there are women out there, who can manipulate for their own ends, and they dont want their child to have a father.
At first when i found out she was pregnant, i tried to do what i thought was the descent thing, but she wasnt interested, she disappeared, and i have had no contact. The CSA cant tell me anything because of data protection and i dont have the money to get solicitors.
Hardest thing i have ever had to do was tell my mum. I have chalked this one up to experience, but it has affected me, i cant seem to maintain a relationship and have even asked ex's to show me that they are taking the pill as well as me wearing protection.
I am not asking for sympathy, but if anyone has any advice or info, it will be gratefully received.
Cheers