star
Member
Hi,
I am a journalist and am writing a feature article on the CSA and the hell that it is trying to deal with them.
If you have a story or experience that you would be happy to share, please get in touch. If you wish to remain anonymous, that's fine.
Hope to hear from you.
dazza153
Member
Hi Louise549
Like many people on the site I'm a NRP (none resident parent) whom has been tracked down..(didn't know they wanted me) and is now paying over 40% of my net pay by a DEO (deduction from earnings order) set in place within 4 days of their first contact. My ex wife enjoys her new business several holidays a year and all the trappings of her new marriage and I get to move home to my parents and live off 130.75 a week less living expenses. 18 months of this.now I've just found my ex wife and my son whom she still will not let me talk to or tell him that I've tried to contact him. Don't know where it's going to go from here. He's 15 and I've been denied contact for twelve years
I found her through Facebook (that's How I know the stuff) When I phoned to say hello her new husband told me he too was in the same boat? He owes 17k arrears.which it would appear I'm paying...
dazza153
Member
The thing is that the CSA don't care about you.. they are looking after the interests of the children! that's the children held by the PWC (parent with Care) that they help to abuse and hold to ransom as their meal ticket. That's it in simple terms. maximise profit at the NRP expense.I know many parents and not one of them can tell me why a 15 year old boy needs £150.82 a week giving to him.
Tracy Gardner
Member
please take a look at the group on facebook called the child support agency the law and its failings... a few stories on there of families being let down.
doug3101
Member
I think the biggest failing the CSA has, is it has now just become a tool for revenge for some parents with care. I personally, was never given the option to make a private arrangement, I have not seen my N/R child for at least 5 years and the only thing I have ever got from her of late is a text saying that I am nothing to her and she wants nothing to do with me (apart from 15% net!!)
The 15% of earnings rule sucks, while I think NRP's must face up to their responsibilities, there should be a set weekly payment tariff based on the age and needs of the child and regardless of earnings. As Dazza153 has pointed out, does a 15 year old NEED in excess of £150 a week? It is obvious that it's just some kind of payday for the mother and/or hard working people funding the people dodging their responsibilities.
My situation is also strange in the way that my N/R daughter actually resides with her maternal grandmother and her mother is on benefits so only pays A FIVER towards her upbringing, beggars belief I feel.
I am in the process of writing to Ian Duncan Smith regarding many issues and the CSA is one of them, will post my letter on here to see if NRP's agree.
KMcQ79
Member
Before I met my wife I owned a two bedroom semi.
As a consequence of my wife's adultery and the corresponding divorce with my wife receiving 50% of our joint assets,I now live in a maisonette with a mortgage till I am 72.
Meanwhile my ex wife has remarried,bought a new home has a car(I can't afford one) foreign holidays and a better paid job than me (I financially supported her to do courses to go to university to get a better paid job).
Maybe that's why so many men don't want to marry.
The problem is not getting married,it's how men are treated in the divorce courts.
My ex wife uses the CSA to get money for our daughter probably because she is too embarrassed to deal with me directly,so the CSA does my ex wife's 'dirty work' at taxpayers expensive.
Dealing with the CSA is a nightmare.
You very rarely deal with the same person twice.'They are off today','in a meeting or conference','paperwork now being dealt with another department',phone calls not returned,letters not written/sent etc.
After 6 years I still don't really know the amount I pay is correct as I have never received a breakdown as to how the figure was calculated,received many computer generated letters and leaflets through.
I have worked for over 30 years for myself and have dealt with the Inland Revenue,National Insurance,Metropolitan Police and many other local and national government bodies and quangos.
None is as inept and badly managed as the CSA.
I also resent being harassed for 'arrears' which the CSA's own (earlier) letters say do not exist.
Letters to the CSA not only go unanswered,they do not even have the decency to acknowledge receipt of the letter so I don't know whether my letters are received by the CSA,let alone by the right department or person.
I exercised my rights under the FoI act and had all of the CSA's paperwork concerning my case sent to me so I could work out the amount I should pay.
It was about 300 pages of computer printouts and incomprehensible (Sir Humphrey at work here?).
The CSA appears to be a law unto itself,motivated by targets,boxes being ticked,staff 'only doing their job' and maybe one too many embittered women.
That's why it peruses and harasses NRPs who pay,like myself, and does have the resources to do the job it was created for in the first place.
peter546
Member
I have had a long and bitter battle with them that started in 1994, the divorce was in 1991, so I have experienced both the Court system and the CSA. The fundamental problem with the CSA is that it is not interested in children, mothers, or fathers, or indeed anyone. It is only interested in cases where it can collect money and keep that money!
The original idea, as detailed to Parliament and the Public, was right, but it was hijacked by Margaret Thatcher to be used as a cover up for the blatantly incompetent and sexually discriminatory benefits system run by the DSS.
I don't know how far you've investigated but it all started with Margaret Thatcher promising voters that she was going to do something about all these single mothers sitting on benefits. So, what did she do, she screwed up the introduction of the Children Act 1989 making fathers, unless married, have no responsibility for their children and then having made them have no responsibility for them, and no right to see them, decided that the fathers should reimburse the DSS if their ex chose to sit on benefit and refused to work.
Who suffers, the children! They are not allowed to see their father and father has no money for them. There is a lot, lot more.
If you would like a history of my case, once we've had a chat, then let me know.
Peter. NB 4 sons, 2 lived with me, 2 lived with their mother.
bradley
Member
Hi Louise...
I have had plenty of CSA nightmares with a fresh one just starting. (see my post on reduced access) I have been trying to attract the attention of the media to look at the CSA formula that allows the "parent with care" to gain financially by reducing the child's access the the non resident parent.
There are so many gross human rights abuses resulting from the CSA that it will be difficult to get it all into one article/documentary. I was a TV/Radio journalist in Canada before moving to the UK 20 years ago. If I can be of any assistance to you with your story on the CSA please don't hesitate to get in touch with me.
I hope to hear form you.
Best regards
Bradley
Zimmy
Member
Hi there,
I have an ongoing saga with the CSA which is currently sat with the Complaints Review Team. The problems I have had with them span the last decade therefore it would be impossible to give a brief summary here. Suffice to say they are an absolute disgrace and the words negligence, unprofesssional, incompetent and maladministration are only too kind.
If you are interested in the exact detail, please contact me and I will forward my recent complaint letters which will give you an overview of the case.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks
jackdog
Member
csa contacted me after 12yrs (when case was closed due to my finacial situ) for 19k arrears from 12yrs ago (my son is now 28yrs).I think they are targeting working people (for a doe)to get money back for the goverment to try to make up for the deficiets and reduce the fact that they are usless.there is no intrest of the welfare of the child now or then(i contributed to my sons welfare and upkeep every week) because my ex was on benifit i owe the goverment!this cannot only be for my son but must be for his unemployed father!as i owe £105 per wk there is no way that it would cost £105 to keep a child and i know his dad only got £90 benifit so where was the extra money going?they demand with threats and malice surley this is against the law!i for one would like to help stop them,and help anyone else who is living the nightmare of the csa!
jovialsam
Member
Hi, I cant speak for the NRP out there, but the abuse seems to come largely from them. Can I add a different perspective?
My son was born in June, my ex fiance abandonned me after promising us the world, when I was 4 1/2 months pregnant. I duly contacted the CSA for advice, and was told I had to get in touch when I had had the baby and was in receipt of child credit, to register the claim. That could take 4-6 weeks. Then That date would be use as the start of the claim. Point 1 WHY???? there is an easy date to use that is not dependant on how quickly people push (or lose) paperwork, the childs d.o.b, undisputably the date at which the child requires support from its parents.
point 2, the father in this case can drag his feet and not comply, and the resident parent has to find money to support themselves. The CSA then eventually get involved and lose paperwork, change computer systems, make up excuses, and come up with every reason that they havnt managed to yet action my claim. I have been told it had been assessed, I would be getting money this month, but when it didnt arrive, I rang and was told it hadnt even been assessed yest, despite the child now being nearly 6 months old!!!
So it is a totally useless system, and unfair it would seem to all. The CSA didnt have a reply when I asked who was to feed my starving child as I had no money, and I had paid for him and put a roof over his head for 6 months, whilst his father drove around in his new sports car.
Surely it is not that hard??? Cameron and Clegg, get into these organisations that do not function and sort them out, before children starve or freeze in our supposedly wealthy country.
thumperfive
Member
Hi Louise, I have had numerous issues with the CSA, too mant to acurrately and briefly summarise here, I offered my ex a very lucrative ( for her) support agreement when we broke up yet she chose to throw it back in my face and involved the CSA. Now I face a regular battle with them comtinually doing reviews on my case. the recently increased my payments by 50 % backdated to July 2010. When I questioned it they replied... it was mistake by us initially and its taken so long because we are busy !!! The words incompetent, unproffessional and uncaring spring to mind. As a Health & Safety manager if I acted as poorly as the CSA I would have been sacked and probably caused someone to be seriously injured through my negligence. Why does no one in power take the CSA to task and deal with it. I have no issues paying for my childrenyet refuse to be hijacked and held to ransom by a failed incompetent governmemt body..please feel free to contact me directly for further details
Pershing
Member
I am currently homeless but they still expect a big chunk out of Disability living allowance, mobility allowance and Employment and support allowance. No way I could afford to pay rent with what they leave me. So I continue to sleep on friends floors despite being disabled and constantly in and out of hospital.
pinkprincess83
Member
Hi Louise,
I would like to speak on the failings for the parent with care. Since the CSA were involved in 2008 they have helped me zero my ex paid nothing for the first 9 months and i have still had no back pay. I dont earn much but i have never claimed any sort of benefit. My ex is buying new phones and cars and claiming he isnt working as he is a student although i dont believe that is the case and he gets a pension from the forces. He cancels paayments every christmas just to spite me and when i pone to complain the wll not help me. I am struggling to support my child and they do not care. i have tried complaining but get no where and they never look into complaints i have made. i feel if i was on benefits then it would be a different story as the money goes back to the governemnt. My ex is supposed to pay only 160 which is less than a third of his new i phone. Im annoyed that most of the failings seems to come from the fathers but noone looks at the flip side
peter546@live.co.uk
Member
Star. Is this a real post? Are you really interested doing this the article?
If so please contact me by email or message me on CsaHell on Facebook. I am looking for someone to do an article NOW!
kitty82
Member
Hi Louise, I don't know if you're aware of this but I discovered today (after making four complaints to the CSA over a period of 6 months and recieving no replies) that any complaint made either via the online complaints form, or in writing (my letters were clearly labelled on the envelope that they were a complaint) are forwarded directly to your own case worker who will then 'pass the message on' to the complaints team. May be worth investigating as I have never known any other organisation where complaints are handled directly by the person you are complaining about it's absolutely disgusting!
SkintKaty
Member
Hi Louise, Just found this site today after yet another repetitive conversation with the CSA. I'm in the same situation as many other PWCs on the site, my ex has made a career out of dodging the CSA. Everytime they eventually catch up with him and then give him lengthy periods to respond to their numerous letters he quits his job. He doesn't sign-on and basically goes underground, then when the heats off he goes back to work. I have my suspicions that he is re-employed by the same employer (a family member) and when the heat is on he's off the books and cash-in hand! CSA, of course, can't discuss this with me. However when I asked if they would report such suspicious actions to benefit fraud they tell me they can't it's not within their remit! He lives with his current partner and five children, CSA have an address for them but when they contacted that address the occupants had never heard of him! This is the address that the CSA have found for him time and time again! Obviously an address he's using. If I were the occupiers I'd be worried that some stranger is using my address, wouldn't you? Again not within the CSA's remit to share this info with benefit fraud. Surely it's ludicrous that these government departments don't talk to each other or share their information? Both departments would benefit greatly from sharing information. Maybe this is another angle for your article?
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