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Can we apply for a variation to cover travel costs to pick up daughter?

March 29, 2013

My husband has been paying maintenance for his daughter through the CSA for many years. His previous employment covered out fuel costs which was great as his daughter lives 45 miles away.

We recently got in touch with the CSA to advise a change of employer to which they told him that he was in arrears! How can this be when the payments are taken weekly from his salary? After asking more questions he discovered they had no notification that we have his daughter stay with us every second weekend for 2 nights.

So, in essence his ex partner has been overpaid for the last 2.5 years. What was their response? Tough, we cannot backdate payments as it is your responsibility to inform us. When we checked online, the responsibility lies with the ex partner as she is the residential carer!

After some more digging around, it turns out the CSA have calculated the new weekly amount incorrectly, as they have not taken dat corectly from the previous employer. We tried to make an agreement with the ex partner to pay monthly directly to her as my husband’s new job does not give us free fuel anymore so we will now have an additional cost of £160 a month as well as any maintenance payments. This was accepted by his ex partner, however today she has changed her mind and only wants to go through the CSA.

What can we do? My husband is in bits as he can’t afford to pick up his daughter every second weekend as well as pay the CSA payments. Can we apply for a variation to cover travel costs? how does it work?

Written by CS79 · Filed Under CSA Advice 

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Comments

  • Lisa says:
    March 29, 2013 at 3:00 pm

    CSA complaints free phone number 08007838527 You may have been phoning and complaining to the CSA for a long time getting nowhere use this guide and you will see how quickly they respond. Please do excuse if I repeat the steps I have done this for a good reason. 1.Complain and Appeal and get your MP involved EMAIL the complaint and appeal copy everyone in.
    2.Order your Data Prints by post and email.
    3.Email all and sundry use the email list and email them every couple of days to remind them.
    4.Not happy with data prints items missing Complain to ICO be sure to copy everyone in. [email protected]
    This is what you do immediately if you believe the CSA are taking too much from you! ■First thing you must do is make an official Complaint and Appeal *EMAIL THE COMPLAINT*and contact your MP and get them involved regarding your issues you are having with the CSA. Mention that you believe that they have made an Official Error. Ask the CSA for the decision to be set aside as they are not leaving you enough to live on and is going to cause you an injustice. This is based upon Regulation 55 of the Child Support Act (Maintenance Assessment Procedure) 1992 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/1813/made
    Attach a copy of ALL your outgoings, even the things the CSA don’t allow for. Email a copy to your MP and all of the others in the email list further below it should get passed straight to the chief executive’s office. It is very much more than likely that they will then find errors in your assessment going back several years and use that as an excuse to drop the payments. You can find who your MP is via here http://www.writetothem.com As you will be emailing many politicians, ministers, ICE, ombudsman, complaints team etc all at the same time as per the email list below your emails will more than likely be forwarded to your MP in anyway. or use their [email protected] for example [email protected] [email protected] or simply just Google your MP if you know who they are and you will find their email address on their website. This is the email distribution list you are going to use for your Official Complaint and Appeal. Your MP [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

    Make a complaint get your mp involved and dont take no for an answer, good luck

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