New Rules for Arrears
July 25, 2008
I recently contacted the CSA to advise them that my circumstances had changed and that i had a new daughter with my new partner and that i thought this may effect the payments i have been paying for a duagther from a previous relationship.
I had been paying £119.00 a month with a further £25.00 being paid towards arrears which amount to £6,700 pounds. I had up until this point been making monthly payments with missing any for the past 8 years. My daughter is 17 and a half years. Now although i know i had to pay my arrears i have been paying the amount the csa advised me to pay and have never missed a payment in all this time.
After the change was notified to them they put my payments down to £7.71 a week for regular payments and a further £7.72 a week for the arrears. This was all ok’d towards the end of may but because the cutoff date for payments had passed i ended up paying another month at £144.00. My payment was then put down to the new amount for June, in the mean time my ex wife asked the csa to reassess the case.
I was sent a letter asking me for 2 recent payslips and also my mortgage payment details. They said i had 14 days to do this. I sent all the info for them and have just received details of my new payments. My wages have risen by £70.00 a week since i last provided them with wage details 4 years ago so i knew my payments would rise slightly but the new schedule is asking for £42.00 a week which does not include any arrears payments.
While all this is going on i also received a letter from their debt department saying the arrears agreement was not good enough and that because the debt would not be paid of in 2 years they would be seeking a liability order from the court so as to be able to take further action. I phoned and tried to tell them that since the debt department letter had been written i had been reassessed and my payments had risen to £168.00 a month and that i would be willing to pay a further £32.00 a month for the arrears. I also explained that when my regular csa payments cease in 17 months when my daughter reaches 19 that i would be willing to then increase these payments. This was still not good enough for them and i was told unless i could pay back or reach an agreement to clear the arrears they would seek the liability order.
I then asked if this was the same as a CCJ and would it effect my credit rating which at the moment is good. They said it wouldn’t and that it just meant they could pass the debt to their bailiffs. So although I’m willing to pay what i can afford and have not missed a payment for nearly nine years I’m stilling going to have to go to court and end up dealing with a bailiff. Is there anybody else in this boat? This all because the CSA have been instructed to try to recover all outstanding debts and arrears within 2 years. This is probably because of all the bad press they received a few months ago about their performance and now its us that are going to pay for it.
Comments
6 Responses to “New Rules for Arrears”
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Yet again this is just another example of the Child Support Agency not giving a damn about the children. All they are interested in is getting the money in and to hell with the hardship it is going to cause. To the CSA you are an easy target, someone they believe they can get more out of. When they should be targeting the scumbag fathers who don’t care or pay for their children it is the likes of you and me that suffer.
I’m in a similar sort of situation as I have just received a letter from the csa saying that I don’t pay enough on the arrears that I owe (again due to csa cock -ups) . I’ve always paid what I’ve been asked for & until now the amount set has been ok, but i’m now faced with having to pay it all off within a two year period. After a little research on various websites it would appear that the two year rule is a guideline rather than a law & doesn’t stand up in court, so I’m considering telling the csa where to stuff their two years. Just waiting to hear the legal position from the citizens advice bereau & a couple of other avenues before making a decision…….
the CSA is legalised theft.. the government should hang their heads in shame.. the only thing i ever did wrong.. was to work night shifts , so my ‘wife’ could have an affair..i lost my house, (that i worked for) and now my kids.. ( she has brainwashed them against me)… imagine Tony Blair or Gordon Brown paying child support for children their mother wont allow them to see.. as usual nothing is looked at with my current families needs in mind..thats not supporting children at all.. its govt abuse.
These new ‘rules’ about arrears are utterly inhuman. I owe about £12,000, an amount accrued in no small part, by the failure of the CSA to properly deal with my case over a number of years.
I have agreed a monthly payment with them, and I have faithfully paid the agreed amount, on the relevant date, every month since. I have REFUSED to pay by standing order, which appears to have riled them, though the payment has NEVER been late.
I have now received a letter saying that the whole amount is now due, and that failure to stump up the money will result in a liability order being issued at the Magistrates Court, and the possibility of bailiffs being employed to recover goods to the amount of the outstanding sum.
I simply do not have that sum of money available, and I am not in a position to borrow, or otherwise obtain such a sum.
Does anyone know what my legal position is? Having agreed a payment plan, what rights do I have, if the circumstances remain unchanged, yet they choose, without good reason, to alter the arrangement without consultation?
It’s reminiscent of Kazakhstan, never mind 21st century England.
my comment is to jeff, im sorry your ‘wife’ did what she did but not all women are like her. although i left my now ex husband, i hadnt had an affair, i moved out of our house with the children. he stopped paying the mortgage, went to live and work in germany and has never paid any child support. the house was repossesed and i had the downfall to pay when it was sold at auction. im still fighting the csa but as he is over there and they have no jurastiction im fighting a losing battle. my eldest is now 19 so he has been written off by them and although my youngest is only 13 the case has been closed. he has never tried to see his sons, never sent birthday or christmas cards, so while you hate them ofr what they are doing to you, please try to see it from my side.
Ha you still winging about your ex taking off to Germany.? He has done the sensible thing. Ask your self a few questions. 1. If he still lived in this country would he be paying 40% tax on his earnings? 2. After he has paid the 40% tax and is then asked for an additional 15% would he have enough money left to have any kind of life of his own? 3. How badly off are you. You don’t need to pay for your own house, you don’t need to pay council tax, you get child allowance, you are about to receive free central heating bills, you already get free school dinners and to top it all off. Ask your self. How many days have I worked? And how much of my salary have I already contributed to this government.?
On that subject. Do you know the government of this country is actually handing out child allowance to immigrants whos children don’t even live here.! Oh with the free dental health, health care and all the other thing’s that the people who do work in this country pay for.
I would say to any father in this country that does not have contact with there kids to go and work abroad. Get out of the CSA system, stick the money in an account for your child and hand it to them at a date in the future. At least that way the idiots in our government don’t get it to pay for there second home in London or Edinburgh.