CSA are making our life miserable

November 5, 2011

My husdand and I have had many dealings with the CSA and they are constantly calling us, usually on a Saturday morning. The last time they rang I answered and a man asked to speak to my husband, when I asked who it was the answer I got was “I am not at liberty to say but I am from a Government Department” You can imagine my horror!!!

I won’t bore people with the last 3 years of trauma, but just today my husband recieved a phone call from the CSA, he was asleep in bed at the time as he works shifts and in on nights. The lady on the phone told him he had been awarded £3.76 off his payment for travel to work costs (which is a 100 mile round trip!!) but as there were ‘arrears’ on the account our weekly payments would INCREASE to £106!!!! When we tried to explain that we were paying the arrears off (they originated from a CSA mistake & we not because we stopped paying!)we were told that if we didn’t agree they would issue a deduction of earnings!!!! So despite reducing our payments in one breath they put it up in another.

I have two children from a previous marriage and it is them who are missing out because of the amount we pay in maintenance, while we are more than happy to support my husbands daughter, it shouldn’t be at MY CHILDREN’S EXPENSE!!!!!! They even take my salary into account……………

We have spent the last 3 years trying to get moved from the ‘OLD’ system onto the ‘NEW’ system, which would reduce our payments by 40%, why does a child born 11 years ago cost more to support than a child born 4 years ago!!!!

This whole situation is making me ill & the CSA just don’t care!!!!!!!

Comments

  • John says:

    Many years ago the scum CSA were harassing me at work. A colleague picked up the phone and blurted out in fron of other. ” it’s ths CSA for you”. A girl then had the nerve to ring my house. I asked her were she got my number from and gave her short shrift. She called me a ‘horrible man’. I am in fact a decent, honest, mild mannered, that was until I got involved with the shambles CSA!

    I told them that I did not want telephone contact with them. I want everything in writing. I complained about the harassment. They do not attempt to telephone me any longer.

    Having recently sought advice from a solicitor, I was informed that the CSA may be breaching our human rights regarding a 3 tier system, with people on different scales of payment. I am writing to the DWP, CSA and European court of human rights, to threaten legal action regarding this anomaly.

    £3.7 billion remains uncollected. people over-paying, people under-paying and a lot not paying at all…….it is a shambles!

    My advice. Make a complaint regarding the phone contact causing you to be alarmed and distrressed. Do it in writing, and in future get all info from them in writing. Contact your M.P. ans see them. and write to the DWP to complain about harassment and the system that you are on!

  • leanne jones says:

    They do not take ur salary into exspense! Just ur husbands he need to pay for his child FACT! I understand arrears bump it up but there is a certain percentage they must give u to live off use the csa to get money for your children!! Stop moaning

  • Heather Hoggart-Mckue says:

    I think what you meant to say Leanne, was that the CSA don’t take my salary in ‘ACCOUNT’, in FACT they do, we have it in writing! If you were to read my post PROPERLY you will see that we are more than happy to support my husband’s daughter, but my ex husband pays the same for 2 children as my husband does for ONE child, due to the fact that my ex is self employed. I have tried on many occasions to use the CSA to help me but they say they can only go on published accounts which do not show a true income.
    Yes part of my income is protected but is still taken into account by the CSA as we are married and live together. (again we have this in writing)
    My husbands ex wife can afford foreign holidays every year – WE CANNOT, she can afford a new car – WE CANNOT so I will not STOP MOANING until the CSA make the system fair! I suggest you review your facts before posting such an offensive & rude comment.

  • leanne jones says:

    Obviously YOUR new husband earns more than ur ex as its all to do with income I wasn’t aware that that was the case as my ex is married again so will ring csa to see if my payments will go up! Your the one mopaning sounds like bitter lady to me!!!

  • Brian Masson says:

    Heather,

    I agree with you totally my partner and myself are in the exact same situation. I pay a good £150 more a month for my son than she gets for her own two children from her ex husband. The CSA are really unfair and no help what so ever all they care about is themselves.

    We have tried everything and they just want more and more if you find a way to sort out your problem let me know

  • Brian Masson says:

    Heather,

    Forgot to metion its great to see it from a ladies point of view as it just shows how un reasonable the CSA are. My partner tries her best to help me and i love her to bits but at the end of the day we are in a no win situation with a un reasonable ex wife of mine who is out for all she can get and a child support agency who are just a shambles and wont listen to rhyme or reason.

  • leanne jones says:

    At the end of day they are there to get what the children deserve as many wouldn’t pay without the csa

  • Sarah says:

    I am in the same situation, while i agree we pay for my husbands child, his ex is an absolute nightmare, causes endless problems, we pay and can hardly afford anything, while she and her new partner are living the best life, its really riles me how bitter some exes can be, we buy his child clothes and shoes that once we send them home in we never see them again. When we have him over she drops him off in his pyjamas or we pick him up from school and he has no other clothes so continously we clothe him, which i am fine with, but to be quite frank i dont think that some exes spend the money on the benifit of the child because its obvious we clothe him. Due to living so far away we have him one weekend a month and school holidays and my mother in law has him twice a week and the exes mother has him once a week and her sister in law has him once a week, they are just out for everything they can get. To make matters worse when we have the boy he never wants to go home which breaks my heart. So why i do feel sorry for some mothers, how can they treat every situation the same some women are just vile.

  • leanne jones says:

    I understand you may think that ur hard done by but when ur ex made the child he knew that he would have to pay I’m sure she provides for her son! And he does get benifits from the maintenance

  • Janet Short says:

    LEANNE JONES ! comment posted 8th Nov 12.26. You should get your facts right before you post your badly scripted comments. If this family are on the old system then the partner/spouses income will be taken into account, it’s only people on the new system who this does not apply to. FACT ! the CSA only chase the people they can get hold of easily, they are the ones who have always been willing to pay for the children they have produced. It appears to me that the people in this forum clearly fall into that category and your uneducated comments are just a joke, so why not stop making a fool of yourself and butt out.

  • THE CSA HAVE MADE MY LIFE HELL..THIS COUNTRY IS ONE FUCKED UP GOVERMENT.

  • DONT PAY THEM NOTHING BECAUSE THAY DONT NO THERE HEAD TO THERE ASS.

    DONT PAYDONT PAYDONT DONT PAY DONTPAY DONTPAY ……………………………………………….MAD IF YOU DO………………………………………………………………………….YOU MUST BE CRAZY……………………………….WHAT THAY WILL DO TO YOU……………………………………………..MESS YOUR LIFE UP………………………………………………………..AND I AM NO BANK ……………….I DID HAVE A JOB ………….BUT ONCE THAY GET THERE HANDS ON YOU ……………..GIVE UP YOUR JOB………………..BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT HAVE ENOUGHT MONEY TO LIVE…I WAS GETTING ABOUT £1,000 A MONTH AND THAY TOOK £300 A MONTH ….MY RENT IS £500 AMONTH AND IT DONT STOP THERE YOU KNOW..

  • leigh says:

    JANET! The comments made are right, I agree with them as if your big enough to make the child pay for it not go on to support other kids with other women!! Remember that men need to pay old or new system u fool

  • leigh says:

    The csa chase all claim believe me I know

  • Mick says:

    Yeah rite! Sure they do! They are just very slow at chasing up NRPs except the ones that do co operate! Sio what you are saying Leigh is its perfectly ok for the recpient PWC to live happily ever after and have more kids ny someone else but the NRP that pays for his kids can get stuffed with that idea! So much for equal rights eh!

  • Heather says:

    Janet, thank you for your support. Leanne, you clearly have no grasp of reality, my ex husband is SELF EMPLOYED, so he can just about decide what he earns!!! His accountant can make it look like he is only earning 15k per annum when in fact its more. I don’t actually have a problem with MY ex, we have a good relationship & he sees his children regularly. The point I am trying to make is that the CSA system is clearly biased – expecting fathers to pay more or less depending on when the separated from thier partner. It is blatantly obvious that you have had issues in the past with the CSA & obviously don’t have a healthy relationship with your ex, especially if you have to use the CSA to get him to pay, oh did I mention I came to a private agreement with my ex?!
    As far as my new husband is concerned he is MORE THAN willing to support his daughter, but NOT at the expense of his own well being!!!!

  • Heather says:

    Brian, I understand you totally. We are trying to get in touch with our local MP to see if he can help, but it is a very slow process & in the mean time we are not seeing my step daughter. We would like her to spend the holidays with us but her mother refuses to answer our calls or messages. We will have to seek legal advice for that too!!! All the while I have two children to support & while I tried to use the CSA to get a suitable agreement, in the end my ex & i settled on a figure between us!
    If I move forward in anyway I’ll let you know.

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