My local MP helped me with the CSA
December 4, 2009
the CSA have a deduction of earnings on my wages for £30 a week, they also said the arrears i owed had to be paid back at £36 a week, which is rediculous because if i can only afford £30 a week how can i then pay an additional £36 in arrears? i asked for a face to face meeting with them to which they did everything possible not to have one until i got my MP involved, the meeting was in April and they said they will report back within 30 days which is what their guidelines say they should, but they didn’t.
my payments went out weekly through the deduction of earnings, but not as much as they wanted, this was because of the shift pattern i was working and me not earning enough, over a month it ended up at around £46 a week though, but this wasn’t enough for them as they have an “operational improvement plan” in place, this is something they have come up with and nothing legal, what it means is they want all arrears paid off within two years and they don’t care about the persons situation who has to pay.
what they are doing to get their way is going to court to get liability orders against the non resident parent, if they are successful in court in means if you dont pay under their terms they have the power to send in the bailiffs.
this is what they tried with me, so i went along too (which surprisingly a lot of people don’t do) the CSA prosecutor told the magistrates i wasn’t even paying the minimum of £30, to which i disagreed, the magistrates adjourned the hearing for 8 weeks so the CSA could get up to date information, because what they had was 4 months out of date, the magistartes also asked me to help the CSA out by giving them copies of my payslips showing i had been paying, even though i paid weekly out of my wages the company i worked for only had to forward it on to them on a monthly basis.
before we went back i wrote and offered the CSA £12 a week towards the arrears on a monthly basis by standing order as well as the £30 basic amount, they didn’t reply to my letter so i sent it again, and again, it was only after i sent the 4th one recorded delivery that they did reply and then turned it down saying they wanted it paid off within two years and £12 a week wouldn’t do that, so we ended up back at court.
their records were still a least 4 weeks out of date due to my employer only having to send the money off on a monthly basis, but they did admit that i might be paying of some of the arrears on a regular basis, the magistrates weren’t happy, a liability order can only be issued against someone if they were not paying the debt off at all, for example, if you owe £1000 and you are paying it off at £5 a week they cannot issue a liability order, just because the CSA want it back within two years does not stand up in court, the two magistrates at my hearing said that in all the years they had been on the bench they had never been asked to issue an order under those circumstances, and it would be unlawful to do so, the case was thrown out.
every letter i wrote to the CSA i also sent a copy to my MP, he wrote back saying my case had been handled badly and he wrote to them saying they should reimburse me my expenses, but even with him involved the CSA still have an unbelievable arrogance and dragged their feet, it was only when i put them on 7 day notice that i was going to the press (with a copy of the letter to my MP) that the CSA came back to me with a proposal which laughingly was for me to pay my arrears back at £12.58 a week, 58 pence a week more than i had offered 3 months previously.
all i can say is don’t be put off by the bullying from them and also involve your MP, remember there is an election next year and these people want to keep their jobs, finally, i have work colleague who has just agreed with the CSA to pay off his arrears over a 3 year period, the point here is the two year issue is only what the CSA have come up with because of pressure from the government, it is not a legal thing, as long as you are paying off your arrears regularly the CSA cannot get a liability order against you.
i hope this is of some help.
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2 Responses to “My local MP helped me with the CSA”
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Thank you for this informative post, you directed me here after you read my post on the link below.
http://www.csahell.com/debt-enforcement-liability-order-baliff-team-from-the-csa-279.html
You have made me feel a lot happier knowing that I should be protected from a Liability Order because I have never stopped paying the agreed £10.80 per week.
The CSA has, and still is, one of the most unjust agency’s around.
In 1993 when I was on a pittiful wage coming home with £127 p/w, I was paying a regular weekly £20 direct to my ex-wife, being a soft-target (an NRP not evading payment because they have already got an agreement in place) the CSA decided I could afford to pay them £90 per week. My ex-wife was unemployed (and never ever intended to get off he bum), the most disgusting thing was – she did not ever receive a single penny more than before this was in place.
Never believe a thing the CSA tell you, when they were first set-up their policy was to target the maintenance avoiding parent, but when they could not meet their seriously inflated target, they hit all of the honourable parents who were already paying (The Soft Targets).
The CSA have told me I need to pay my arrears off in 6 months. The arrears have been caused by them dragging there feet and not sorting out the claim. I eventually had enough with the threatening letters and being spoken to as if I am something they have trod in and have now contacted my local MP. I spoke to someone in his office who thought I was the PWC (as I am a woman) I informed him I was in fact the NRP and the ordeal I have been through. The CSA have tried to make out that I have been non-complient even though I have sent every document they have asked for and payed them on time (before time actually). It makes me sick that a GOVERNMENT agency thinks they have a right to treat people this way people that have payed their taxes and have done nothing but assist them in what they want and need to know. I think its time more of us fought back and not wait till we are at our wits end to contact our MP’s we should do it much sooner then the Government will have to stand up and take notice. Just one more thing Mothers suffer to from nasty Fathers so please remember when you are having ago at the mothers not all of us are like that.