Arrears?
I’m neither a NRP, nor a PWC… I am a NRPs partner… and believe you me… it’s not just the NRP, or the PWC that get affected by the CSA! Not only do I have to see and feel the hell my partner has to go through time and time again… but I have even been threatened by the CSA for them to take me to court, as I refused to give them any information about whom I was or what I did for a living!
Anyway… not the reason I’m writing here… nope… I’m writing to rant, and also seek advise regarding “arrears”.
Since 2004, my partner had been paying CS through the CSA, always paying what they wanted him to pay… whatever new letter arrived in the mail… we complained… but paid what it said there (and yes… we paid… not just my partner, as there were time the CSA left my partner with less then £50 to survive on a week after everything had been paid off… not to mention the sweat and tears we’ve paid with).
However, at the end of 2006 my partner became unemployed, and he stopped his direct debit, and informed both his ex-wife and the CSA about it. His ex-wife wasn’t interest in the pennies she would recieve out of his Income Support, so the CSA backed off. In March 2007, my partner became employed again, and him and his ex-wife agreed to to do a standing order directly to her, for £250 a month.
In October, my partner ex-wife contacted the CSA again, without informing my partner that she was breeching their contract. A lot of palaver later on, and the CSA wants my partner to pay £16.53 more a week then what he was doing when paying her direct…
BUT… and here’s the big but… not only do they want him to pay £16.53 more a month – but they also claims he owns £2500 in backpay! Not only that… but they are not willing to tell him what the supposed arrears are for!
I worked it out… and if my partner was supposed to pay £16.53 extra a week since October, his arrears would be £396.72… so where in the world do they get such a number from? And how in the world can they get away with not informing people what the arrears are for? Oh we’ve asked… both on the phone and via letter, and so far the best answer we’ve gotten is “it’s complicated”… complicated my behind… either they can justify it, or they can’t.
The CSA are crooks, and the whole system should be abolished… a new system should come into place, with both parents paying towards the child in a percentage of what they earn… towards a set target that the children need! Let’s say a child needs £250 a month (this is only to cover clothes, food, extra electricity [as clearly the family the child lives with also uses electricity], gas, toiletries, etc), and the PWC earns £20000 a year, and the NRP earns £30000 a year. Then the PWC should be contributing 40% towards the £250, as they earn 40% of the gathered income of both parents (which in turn means that the NRP should be contributing 60%)… but this also goes for travel to see the NRP… as if the CSA, care one bit for the children they claim they are “helping”, then they should know that it’s important for a child to have a good relationship with BOTH parents! If either of the parents cannot afford to contribute their share towards the upkeep pf the children, then the government should contribute the rest!
7 thoughts on “Arrears?”
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I totally know your pain 100%, I always get frustrated when on the TV they talk about all the mothers who dont get their money, They never talk about all the dads who DO pay and actually get ripped off when they do. My Husband was owed 2500 from CSA by them calculating his payments incorrectly (we found this out from an excellent support web site called NACSA) they have been a rock for us!
We are currently awaiting a new re assessment, we sent the new job details of my husband over 5 weeks ago recorded delivery to the CSA by letter and still have had no response. After coming out of the army after 22 years and now going into a job which is less money suddenly the CSA stick their heads in the sand and ignore us!
I cant stand that organisation!
my partner has been paying nearly £300 per month for a child he doesnt know if it his. The csa sent him letters to 2 previous addresses which he hadnt lived for at least 3 yrs….so becuase he did not respond to them letters (derrrr…he never got them) they ‘presumed’ parentage…..and set up an attatchment of earnings for £260 per month. When he got in touch they said it was too late as he had not resonded to the original letters?? (derrrrr again) and when he enquired about the ‘presumed’ parentage they told him he would have to pay £400 for a paternaty test (derrrrr…..lot of money) also to top it all he has 2 other children that live over seas that he has a mutual arrangemnt with there mum to pay her maintenance…the csa WOULD NOT take this into consideration as they lived outside the eu……so as a result my partner was paying £460 per month in maintenance £260 oer month to a child that may not even be his???? Surely the system is wrong…..Hence now due to stress and bankrpcy he has had to pack his job in and take a job part time on less thatn £100 per week so now he pays £5 per week and his other children dont get anything as he cant afford to pay anything…………………………….WHERE IS THE JUSTICE IN THIS CRAZY ORGANISATION
sorry think my comment should have been in a different location not in the ‘arrears’ bit sorry x
Just call and ask for a complete “account breakdown”. You will probably find that the effective dates they have used for your change of circumstances were incorrect. Also it is pointless sending in post as it often ends up going through about 20 different people before actually being looked at. Instead call up and get a fax number to fax details directly to a case officer.
Actually Jeff, i asked for an account breakdown and was told that they are not obliged to provide one !
my partner has a child who is five this year, he and his ex split up about month after the birth of their son since then she has allowed no contact at all. in novmber of 07 my partner go a petition for divorce which we were more than happy to fill out and send back asap. Then in the same month we got our first csa letter demanding arrears of over £4000 as anyone else would be we were shocked by this. we hadnt been hiding from them but we did wonder how they had found us, a week later my partner remembered that her friend had been to the place we both work thats how they found us! surely the csa have ways of findng people to my understanding they can just type in the national insurance nmber and it will bring up where the person works!! so why didnt they just do that with my partner instead of leavng it 4 years then hittng us with this massive arrears bill i am in the process of writing a letter to the csa at the moment to find out why we should pay all the arrears. we still dont gt to see the child and weve tried to make contact wit the ex but she is having none of it. its getting me so stressed and worried i just wish they would leave us alone!!!!
Hi, my son has the same problem with CSA in Australia, the men have no rights and some women scam as much money from them as possible.
In my option CSA does not give a dam about the children so some women use the children to be spiteful to try and hurt the fathers but really they hurt the children who want to spend time with their dad.
Hope things are better for you now.
Cheers Kerri.