Can’t afford bills due to CSA interference
Hi, can anybody give me some advice please, following a nervous breakdown 2 years ago i lost my job and was put on ESA, now, before anyone has a go i always, when working, before breakdown gave my ex money each week, bought my little boy clothes when she demanded i do so, she never asked, just told me, paid for 2 MOT’s for her and gave her spending money for my little boy & maintanance payments up front when she took him on all exclusive holidays abroad, all this, she does on benefits, i made sure that at xmas, birthdays and Mothers Day she always had a nice card and present/s from my little boy to take home with him for her & picked him up every Wednesday and spent all day with him and Saturday morning through to Sunday evening and looked forward to it every week.
So anyway, when i had breakdown i instigated not seeing my little boy for a while, yes, it was a very bad breakdown, i stayed with friends for nearly 3 months, the 1st thing she did was threaten me with CSA, they contacted me straight away and started deducting £5.00 per week from my benefits, she showed no sympathy, the 2nd thing she did was to tell me what a shit dad i was and how my little boy was better off without me in his life & that i didn’t love him etc etc, after about a month and a half into the breakdown i asked if i could see him with her present, the answer was no, this went on for nearly 6 months until mediation was put in place and she ordered me to get a drs letter to say i was fit to start seeing my little boy again, i attended and on the day she was due to attend she sent me a text saying she couldn’t make it and i could start seeing him again, so last year i came off benefits which work out with rent being paid, JSA and Council Tax allowance to around the equivelent of £182.00 per week and started a job paying just £143.00 a week, i claimed no benefits.
CSA were straight on to me again demanding 3 wages slips from me, i had only just started the job, so, in the mean time it was arranged between me & my ex that i would have him on a Friday evening until the Sunday evening as she was going away for the weekend, i also asked if i could take him th the cinema on the Wednesday of that week, she told me she was busy but suggested i have him from the Friday morning instead, i said i would think about it as i was waiting on a hospital appointment, on the Tuesday morning she sent me a text saying “Hi, i will drop him around on Friday at 9:30 in the morning”, i text back saying i hadn’t agreed to that, told her i was waiting on an appointment & we would stick to the Friday night to which she asked what for, i told her it wasn’t her business to which she replied Fine, be like that and a text arguement started with the outcome being that apparently i was messing my little boy about as she had told him he was staying with Daddy for 3 days and that i could not see him again until i had a court order in place, that was 8 months ago & i am yet to see him, she has had solicitors & mediation letters all of which she has ignored so my solicitor has given me papers to claim public funding to take her to court, back to CSA, i gave them the information they wanted and they informed me i was in arrears so they would be taking £100 a month from my wages.
I said i couldn’t afford that much and phone call ended with woman terminating the call saying they would go straight to my employers, i had already given them my bank details, so last month they took £105 from my bank account, yes, they had set up a direct debit, this month they took £147 from my bank account, i phoned them and said that out of the £643 i had to pay £388 rent, £100 Council Tax, £25 Water and around £80 electric, i rent a very old flat, so after all bills i’m left with £50 a month, they said they could lower payments to £90 a month and that they were trying to help me, so here we are now, 6 days in from being paid and i have no money for food, electric etc till the end of the month when again, they’ve told me they will be taking another £147, any one have any good advice for me…PLEASE
29 thoughts on “Can’t afford bills due to CSA interference”
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Nobody is going to have a go at you, as almost all of us are in similar situations to yourself. As usual I read that your ex is using the child as a weapon against you, there are many nice and decent people on here who will be able to offer you some practical advice, but you must remember that the CSA are the lowest type of SCUM that inhabit this planet, they are merely here to rip you off and drive a wedge between you and your kids. I am sure someone will be along soon to help you and advise you….best wishes
They are breaking the law going to your employer with a court order direct from a judge and also breaking the taking money from your bank account again with out a court order. Contact deadbeatdads website they will help.
you must now make a huge complaint, this has got to stop, from the CSA calculator it states that you should be paying £16 a week, they are breaking the law taking straight from your bank account, cancel the direct debit, they can go to your employer but they have guidelines to follow, you need to get oyur mp involved in this, they take the piss and don’t care whether you eat or not, its a disgraceful agency that don’t give a shit for anybody, remember your just a number on the end of the phone, another statistic,
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. casework@ico.gsi.gov.uk
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 firstname.lastname.mp@parliament.uk for
example alistair.darling.mp@parliament.uk harriet.harman.mp@parliament.uk 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
phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk
ice@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
info@cpag.org.uk
englandhelplinereplies@equalityhumanrights.com
theresa.may.mp@parliament.uk
nick.clegg.mp@parliament.uk
david.cameron.mp@parliament.uk
ministers@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
ed.miliband.mp@parliament.uk
alistair.darling.mp@parliament.uk
harriet.harman.mp@parliament.uk
duncan.gilchrist1@childmaintenance.gsi.gov.uk
COMPLAINT.REVIEWTEAM@csa.gsi.gov.uk
ian.cable@csa.gsi.gov.uk
Julian.Parnall@csa.gsi.gov.uk
jim.creber@csa.gsi.gov.uk
justine.brown@csa.gsi.gov.uk
sheila.ellor@csa.gsi.gov.uk
hayley.rothwell@csa.gsi.gov.uk
BCC this email address: press@cpag.org.uk
Its against your human rights for them to leave you with less than protected earnings and stopping you being able to eat is worse, follow the above, don’t let them bully you
Chris Stone:-
£143 per week = £619 per month (or is it £643?)
£16 per week maintenance = £69.33 per month maintenance.
£105 from £619 = 17%, £35.67 arrears paid.
£147 from £619 = 24%, £77.67 arrears paid.
£90 from. £620 = 14.5%, £20.67 arrears paid.
When you gave your bank details was it so a direct debit could be set up?
They have been know to take 40% of a NRP’s income to cover maintenance and arrears.
Hi Peter, Daniel, Lisa & Wilf, thanks for your replies, as of today i have so far written an email of appeal & complaint about my case, the Csa responded by sending me a copy of email in post saying i needed to sign it to appeal but in the meantime the monthly amount will stay in force,
To Daniel, can i ask you for something to back myself up with with regards the Csa taking money from my bank account unlawfully as if true i will be cancelling the direct debit tomorrow, thanks…
To Lisa, the complaint has been made, will put a copy of the email i sent to all the above names at the end of this rant….lol, (some of the email addresses came back as undeliverable)…
To Wilf, can you explain the breakdown of figures above, thanks
Now for the letter sent…are you sitting comfortably…
To whom it may concern,
I am writing to you, the CSA, to both complain and appeal about your recent assessment based on what i earn per month, I told you, the CSA, that i earn just £643.00 per calender month, out of this money i have to pay rent of £388.00, £100.00 Council Tax, £25.00 Water & £80.00 Electric, which leaves me with just £50.00 per month to live on.
You, the CSA, took £105.00 out of my bank account at the beginning of February and £147.00 out at the beginning of March, i phoned you, the CSA, and asked why you, the CSA, had taken that amount of money from my account, your answer, because that’s what you have to pay, 40% of your wages until the arrears are cleared.
I asked you, the CSA, why i had to pay 40% of my wages and you, the CSA said it was because i would not cooperate with you, the CSA, i fail to see how i wouldn’t cooperate as the last phone call i made to you, the CSA, was in January when i gave you, the CSA, my bank details, the woman i spoke to said that i would have to pay £72.00 a month and some arrears, she rounded it up to £100.00 a month and i tried to explain to her that i could not afford this much as i need to be able to live, ie, pay my bills and eat, she wasn’t at all bothered and an arguement started, the outcome being her telling me that she was terminating the phone call and would take the matter of payment up with my employers.
You, the CSA, then started a Direct Debit from my bank account with the details i had given you but instead of taking the £100.00 discussed in the phone call,(that i had already said i couldn’t afford) you decided to take the 40% that, by law ?, you are allowed to take.
So, during the last phone call made to you, the CSA, i told you that you had left me with no money at all in the bank for electric, gas, water etc and you, the CSA, said that you could take certain bills in to consideration…
These were:-
Rent – £388.00
Council Tax – £100.00
Water – £25.00
Electric – £80.00
So, to repeat again, out of £643.00 i am left with just £50.00 per month, you, the CSA, said you would phone me back that day, 4 days later you, the CSA phone me to say that my monthly payments have now been reduced to £98.00 per month, well considered, i’m now -£48.00 a month in the red & i haven’t even bought food yet, the woman i spoke to said she wasn’t prepared to take it any lower so i asked her how i was supposed to eat, her reply was that i am legally obliged to pay for the upkeep of my son & that CSA payments come before everything else & couldn’t i get some overtime at work.
I pointed out that Two years ago after suffering a very bad nervous breakdown i lost my job & was put straight on ESA by my Dr, so my rent was paid, £70 ESA and Council Tax Allowence actually comes to more than i’m earning now through going back to work and that, by law, you, the CSA, were only allowed to take £5.00 from that & yet now i’m earning £40 a week less than i recieved on benefits you, the CSA, can now take £37.00 a week & leave me with nothing, no common sense is being used at all on your part with regards my situation.
I believe that you, the CSA, have made an Official Error and i’m asking that your decision be set aside as you, the CSA, are not leaving me enough to live on, this is going to cause me an injustice. This is based upon Regulation 55 of the Child Support Act (Maintenance Assessment Procedure) 1992.
I have already mentioned i suffered a breakdown, i don’t want another one and you, the CSA, are not helping with both my physical and mental well being.
Christopher Stone
And yes Wilf, you are correct, after giving them my bank account details and them telling me they would be taking £100.00 per month and me arguing with the woman on the phone, she told me she was terminating the call & would go to my employers but instead set up a DD from my bank and went for the full 40% that, apparently they can take…shame on them
@ Chris
I genuinely hope the idiots sort this out for you, and please do quote to them should they phone you, The CSA is suppost to be a fair service for all, yes that means they will speak to you with respect and humanity, at the end of the day you are a human being and deserve that, The CSA are lower than low and they know it, they make sure that an account has arrears most times so they can secure a DEO, this is there rules, the arrears don’t have to be paid back durin the debt steer time of 2 years, everything has to be affordable, please keep us updated, The letter is fab, send it to everybody on the list, if you can copy your local mp into it, that’s just incase you have to get it directed upto ICE, good luck
@ Chris just to add, the CSA told you to take overtime, they will reassess you next time and take overtime into account so your payments are higher, im shocked they haven’t told you to take out a loan that’s the norm,
Hi Lisa, What is ICE, Chris
Independent case examiner, This is where your complaint will end up should the CSA not deal with it to your satisfaction
Chris Stone:- I’m unsure of what is happening because 40% of £643 = £257.20.
They have not taken this much from your income.
If your net monthly income = £643 then your weekly net income = £148.38.
Child maintenance at reduced rate =£5 for 1st £100 + 25% of £48 = £17.
At £72 per month if £33 arrears paid =£105 is 16% of net income.
At £72 per month if £72 arrears paid =£147 is 23% of net income.
At £72 per month if £18 arrears paid =£90 is 14% of net income.
I hope this is clearer. I was trying to show what proportion of your income they were taking each month.
They normally take the 40% and reduce to 30% if you kick up a fuss. But they appear to have taken less than both these amounts.
They seem to have had second thoughts about a DEO and used the direct debit.
Most direct debits allow the drawer to adjust the amount taken.
That’s why I recommend that everybody pays by standing order which is easier said than done.
Ok…if i stop Direct Debit what will happen then, can they go straight to my employer or are there various procedures they have to follow
@ Chris yes they can go to your employer, demand a standing order because you control the payments the amount etc, you can also cancel and re date so everything is done by you, demand this from them, they cant say no because its a payment method, if they do refuse they are refusing your child its money,
Won’t they just set up another DD
Yes they will probably do that but you can just cancel it, tell your bank after that to make sure they are not allowed to reset it back up because your paying them another way, make sure they are doing things the right way, did you send the email??? did you make sure in your email you had your name address NI number etc???
Chris Stone:- If you cancel DD they can not. They will go to your employer. Set up the standing order before you cancel the DD. Then after you’ve cancelled and they call you can tell them about the new payment method. Better still can you pay the PWC directly and move away from paying through the CSA.
Somewhere on this site there are bank details for standing order to csa, but yeah agreement with the ex is much better, cuts out the middleman
The ex has stopped me from seeing my little boy for nearly 8 months now, no idea when i will see him again, she did this because we had arranged for him to stay with me from the Friday evening until the Sunday evening & then she, the ex, tried to push me into having him from the Friday morning and i said i couldn’t, ex turned around & said i couldn’t see him again until i had a court order, so, no i don’t really want to have even a conversation with her, she is a very nasty irresponsible woman
The standing order is your only option then, I will try and find the details for you, did you remember to add your name address NI number and telephone number to your email before sending????
Chris,
It may be sensible to be careful.
If CSA deem you non compliant they may enforce a DEO or a regular deduction order from your bank.
IF you cancel the DD with your bank the CSA are not allowed to set a new one up without your agreement. This is covered under the Direct Debit agreement. A direct debit cannot be set up without giving the account holder 14 days notice. Cancelling a direct debit would result in the agency contacting you to set up a new method of collection. CSA’s preferred methods of collection are direct debit or deduction of earnings order. If a DD is agree the amount must be agreed between the NRP and the CSA, this is not restricted to the 40% of the NRP’s net earned income, but the NRP must agree to the sum being taken. If a DD agreement is reached between the agency and the NRP the agency will produce a collection schedule which will be sent to the NRP, this shows the dates the payments will be taken and the amounts.
If an agreement cannot be reached for a direct debit then the agency can contact the NRP’s employer and collect child maintenance and arrears by way of a Deduction of Earnings Order. If a DEO is issued the agency can take a maximum of 40% of the NRP’s net earned income, the remaining 60% being the protected earnings. A DEO cannot include income from any Tax Credits paid to the NRP.
If an NRP is suffering financial hardship due to the payments the agency can re-consider the amount being taken, they will however seek to recover arrears within a reasonable period of time. There are also agencies such as CAB and money advice servies, who are able to offer financial advice to people suffering financial hardship, they may be able to advise on things such as claiming any benfits such as housing benefit etc that you may be entitled to.
All CSA victims remember the words ‘Restorative Justice’.
CSA and staff, You are responsible for your actions, and will at some stage in the future be held accountable!
Going away from the CSA for a moment, what sort of messed up world do we live in when a father (that’s me) has to apply for public funding to try & get a court order to see his own son…totally mental, seems everyone gets to see my l’il man except me, and i’m supposed to have rights…it’s a total joke
And to add to John’s very good & valid comment, when the CSA staff have to answer for what they’ve done “I was just doing my job” will not be a good enough answer, i don’t know how you all sleep at night.
Cost me two grand for a worthless piece of paper from the family court, where the Judge who made the order would not deal with my ex for breaking it repeatedly, and to take the p-ss, when I told her, I was told to pay another two grand for another piece of worthless paper, whilst the legal thieves get rich off me!
Hang on in there, for at some stage in the future, these scumbags will reap what they have sown, and will be held to account for it!
Hi John, yes they will, strikes me that women like my ex get rewarded for having children and we, the dads, get punished, think i’ve hit the nail on the head basically, CSA aren’t interested in the fact that i’m being kept from seeing my little boy, they’ve even rewarded her the money for the night i used to have him stay, according to them it’s not their problem.
Chris …its not just dads who are penalised like this. I couldnt get legal aid to try sort out my mess with my ex. I will have another go, but yes the whole system is ridiculous. Funny how we have rights only when it suits them.
Spiteful ex’s are the root of the problems, more so than the scum ath the csa.
Hi Carol, i didn’t mean women in general, i know ex’s who hate each other but never use the child as a weapon, i meant my ex, i have always tried to do right by her & have had 5 years of crap, even down to me putting a baseball cap and a lightweight hoody on him in the summer last year gave her something to moan about, she wanted him suntanned, i didn’t so i covered up what i could, he still had shorts on and crocs but i made sure sun was off his head & arms, i have always felt that my little boy is on loan to me and his mother calls the shots which is not the way it should be, when school reopens after easter i’m going down there to speak to the headmistress, my point will be that if he was being abused then they would get involved, well, my little boy is having his head messed up by his idiot of a mother and in a way that is a sort of abuse, i really believe without a shadow of a doubt that she is completely aware of the damage and hurt she is causing, i’m an adult, it hurts like hell but i deal with it, i dream about my little boy most nights and he is just an arms length away but i just cant reach him, when and if i get court order if she so much as messes me about i will make her accountable for her actions by taking him from her, if she cant play fair then neither will i, i am fed up of being kicked down by her every time i think things are sorted