Baffled by CSA calculations

December 28, 2010

I’ve paid for my kids through the CSA since the day my partner and I split. Ive provided wage slips been honest and worked to earn enough to allow CSA to take payments straight from my earnings for 3 years.

From the beginning I paid what I would consider to be a lot, but I paid it as I had no choice. I was baffled by the calculations, confused as to who comes up with “minimum protected earnings” and to what justification that person had to dictate how much an individual was “allowed” to earn and keep before CSA was calculated……….but, who was I to argue?

Dealing with money for kids through them was a damn sight more pleasureable than dealing with money directly with the ex at the time. As it was, they messed the payments up at first, they calculated everything, then failed to take direct debit payments from my bank account due to their error ( i gave them bank details over the phone and filled in a mandate for the monies to be debited) they either lost it or didnt action it………blamed me for failed payments, accused me of dodging my responsibilities and decided to go straight to my employer and began to directly deduct from my earnings.

When I telephoned my bank at the time, they told me no direct debit had ever been set up from CSA. That was 3 years ago, and the story gets better…….my ex decided that she was missing out on some of my money, I got married 3 months ago, moved on, she decided it was time to have me investigated, check out how much she was missing out on and requested the CSA look at my earnings. To cut a long story short they wrote to me, giving me 7 days to respond (how generous) asking for 2 wage slips….the 2 wage slips for the two months during my wedding. Aug and Sept this year the month I got married and the month before. So I had overtime/commission to pay for my wedding, on those wage slips, and yes you guessed it, my CSA payments have been recalculated to those earnings!!! I have written letters, I have made numerous phone calls, I even wrote to my local MP, how can they justify that, how is that in any way fair???? No one will listen, they say I can appeal but it takes 12 weeks, so let me get this straight, the ex can have my payments looked into within 7 days, 2 weeks tops for a re calculation of payments, I have to wait 12 weeks for an appeal!!!!!

I cant afford the new CSA payment, I cant pay my basic living expenses/rent/bills/food with the wages left over after CSA deductions. I want to know what idiot decided to make it law that a non resident parent should be made to lose his home and not be able to afford to survive just so the resident parent has her pocket lined. What do you do when no one will listen? Who do you tell? I cant even work more….to earn more…..to pay it, because then I cant prove it was inconsistent earnings, the more I earn the more I pay her.

Madness, total madness, I’m seriously considering leaving my job, if I dont earn they can’t take it, and I will claim benefits, join the army of non tax non CSA non workers, I’d rather lose my dignity than lose any more money that I have to go and earn to pay that bitch! The CSA are biased, unfair, rude and un organised, they encourage liars and cheats who can use them as a tool to target ex partners financially.

Its not about the children, because she works and has another partner and child with him, she, as I’m sure many others do, just use the CSA as a weapon and the CSA allow them to do it.

Comments

  • Bish Shaha says:

    You are simply another victim of this Agency.. Go and visit your MP its harder to ignore you face to face .

  • Karl Garrett says:

    same boat!! – it sucks. Take a gun to yur ex & blow up the CSA..I'l join ya..

  • Jason Wallace says:

    You are a victim of the agency. Sadly your story maps almost directly to that of many others, me included.You will nor be the first person driven to stop work by the CSA, and certainly you really do end up in a position where you are forced to limit what you earn and when push comes to shove when a pay rise means a shed load of CSA hassles and almost no benefit to your family ….Can you go to your employer and change your package? Can you take payment in lieu or a car allowance? Both of these are exempt from CSA.Be warned, if you become unemployed you can guarantee the same cock ups from them, when your youngsters are grown up you'll find yourself harder to employ.

  • Allan Morrell says:

    Have you not considered working a period where you can provide new wageslips without the overtime etc??? then have the reassessments made by CSA so they can see you are on a lower wage, I would have sent in any other payslips for reassessment and had it recorded delivery!!!!

  • John says:

    You must complain to the CSA. You must go to your M.P. and if I were you I would write to the European Court of Human rights. The more that do this the more chance that the Europe courts will intervene. There is no justice in this country as the courts and their officials are bent and corrupt!

    Like many on here I have been treated disgracefully by the ‘lower than life’ CSA.

    I am now taking my case to the highest levels.

  • Jason Wallace says:

    Allan. They don't sign for your letter – only the sack that the letter was in. And have you seen the signatur? Illegible

  • Sylvia Dunai says:

    Why don't you report a change in ur circumstances (e.g. showing other payslips where u didnt do overtime) and it takes them ages to assess new information!

  • hg says:

    Your story is an echo of mine…..the CSA actually advised me to leave my job!
    My ex has no mortgage, I do, yet I am left on the breadline to pay him! I am fighting through the courts to get my child back with me , as I don’t want a penny off him, I can support us, he has used the CSA as a weapon to hurt and try and distroy me….idiot! You;re right the CSA don’t care about the circumstances of the non resident parent, they just want to screw as much money as possible using any excuse to fleece you without caring about financial comitments, the only time they became more resonable is when I wrote to my MP and went to a solicitor!
    good luck!

  • daz says:

    yet again another wasted phone call to the csa,cant afford
    to pay the amounts they are asking for,lost my job few months back
    had to take out a iva to survive,which shows i am in debt this
    however does not bother these idiots as they have done a credit
    check on me and instructed me to use my credit cards therefore
    getting into more debt.

  • Allan Morrell says:

    In the past six months of my unemployment…and disability shared care, they have managed to increase my arrears with another £3k….wtf!!!

  • Vicky says:

    This is a really distressing story and unfortunately, it seems to echo many peoples experiences of the CSA. I am a resident parent and my ex pays through the CSA. He had wanted to do it directly with me, but I felt that it was better to get something official, then we both know where we stand. I’ve had no problems with them thankfully and it was easy for both of us to get everything set up. The only thing that happens is sometimes the money doesnt come through at a regular time (can be the 5th or the 12th etc) although he pays them on the last day of every month. The idea of the CSA is really good and it is a shame that they can’t get their house in order for people like you, for whom the service was designed (when voluntary agreements wouldnt be appropriate). I hope you have managed to get something sorted out, both parties should be able to cover basic costs at the very least.

  • steve says:

    Vicky…..if everything was was going to pay you and you dont agree with the screwed up CSA then why the hell did you go down the CSA route. To mess up his life is why. This will eventualy ruin the relationship with his children and possibly destroy his life which in turn will possibly distroy yours depending on how far you manage to drive him to insanity. some people go to some sick lenghths. have you nether herd of the people that take thier own lifes and take the kids with them. now i know why. women like you. hope your happy with your choice and hope it doesnt come back to haunt you.

  • Jenny Francis says:

    Always looking to blame anyone but yourselves…..

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