CSA complaints letters have received no answer

Heres some letters ive sent to the Complaints Resolution Team yet never received answers.

2nd May 2009

Dear Janis Crook

I am writing to you because I am extremely unhappy with how my complaints and issues are being dealt with. Due to all the problems I will list myself and my family have come under large amounts of emotional stress and I would like these problems dealt with as soon as possible.

The issues I have at the moment are:

1. I have several times requested an interview to be arranged so I can discuss my problems face to face with someone. And my response has always been ‘This is not possible’
2. I have requested to have a DNA test done because after further investigation I feel there is a possibility I may not be the father of the child. But ive been told ‘Because I have already paid child maintenance this is not possible’.

   Also the mother of the child has told me via email the child will not accept to have a DNA test done.

3. The amount of maintenance I am being expected to pay is extremely excessive.
   You have stated between 2/11/2003 and 1/12/2004 I was expected to pay £299.09 a month when my weekly pay after tax was only £230.09
   You have stated that this is the formula under the old scheme which equates to less than 30% when under the new formula now it is only 15%. This is a massive difference and I would like to know why?
4. At the time I was assessed to pay £299.09 I spoke to someone at the CSA and told them honestly I had 2 options. Either pay my mortgage or pay the CSA only to be told ‘It’s not our problem’.
5. On numerous occasions my assessments have been backdated and due to this I have accrued sometimes large amounts of arrears and have then been told ‘We need the money within 7 days’. Even when I have given all the information needed by the CSA within the time they ask I still get punished by everything being backdated. It’s not physically possible for me to have these funds paid to you within 7 days.
6. Several times I asked for a complete breakdown of my payments and assessment only to be ignored until I had written to my Member of Parliament. It should never have got to this point and upon ready it the amount of times I was either under or overcharged is unacceptable.
7. The mother of the child has been in contact with me via email stating her current partner wants to adopt the child and that I will no longer have to pay child maintenance. I would like to know if you are taking into account that he is obviously providing towards the upkeep of the child when you assess how much I should pay?

Yours sincerely
Reece Sanford

10th November 2009

Dear Janis Crook

I wrote to you on the 2nd May 2009 regarding many issues I have been having with the Child Support Agency which I am sending you another copy of.

I either spoke to you or Pauline McNeice on the 18th May 2009 and I was happy because I thought my complaints were being dealt with, however I still in the dark about nearly every issue I wrote to you about.

I received a letter from Pauline McNeice saying she tried to contact me on the 17th July 2009 to discuss the current position of my case but at the time I was unable to answer my phone.

As I requested a face to face interview in my original letter she states in the letter she sent ‘A face to face interview has been requested and my local office will contact me directly’, which they have not.

I also requested a DNA test and she sent me a list of approved laboratories. However I am not sure whether I have to contact these myself and what I say to them, also due to the mother of the child emailing me and refusing a DNA test I am unaware of where I stand with this. I will also send the emails I received from the mother.

Today 10th November 2009 my employer spoke to me saying he received a fax from Mel Crompton of the Child Support Agency ordering a Deduction from Earnings. They want to take £113.09 a week from my wages until 18th November 2011 and also say that ‘The protected earnings proportion is £190.58 a week’.

I currently take home after deductions £270 a week so I cannot see how they can come to this figure, bearing in mind when looking at the Child Maintenance Calculator it states for 1 child the figure is 15% which is nowhere near £113.09 a week.

I also today received a letter dated 9th November 2009 saying a change has been made and they have worked out that £95.28 a week should be paid from 19th January 2009, which completely goes against the fax my employer received. Now I am unaware which figure is correct.
There is a breakdown in figures on this letter but it is the most confusing thing I have seen. Even when showing it to a friend who works in accounts it does not make sense.

For instance it gives figures for carers allowance and a premium which I have no idea what they are.

It also mentions my exempt income for my personal allowance at £60.50 a week but nothing else. No housing costs or travel to work costs have been taken into account bearing in mind I have to drive 50 miles back and forth to work every day and have to pay rent to live in a house.

Plus taking into account I am also at the moment paying arrears at £200 a month.

The only time I have been contacted by the Child Support Agency was on the 16th April 2009 to say they have been told my circumstances have changed and they need to see if everything is accurate. Then again on the 26th October saying the same thing.

Yet it has taken until now before they have come to a figure which to me still doesn’t seem fair.

Also on one of the letters I read that the surname of the mother has changed so I am presuming her husband is now taking care of the child. If so has the planned adoption gone ahead and if he is working has his wage been taken into consideration?

One other issue is I am receiving letters from the Child Support Agency with several different phone numbers and addresses and I am unsure who to reply to. Some are letters that have Crewe as an address, others Newcastle Upon Tyne and others Stockport.

Again I hope my issues are dealt with promptly because this is still continuing to drag on and I am suffering more and more getting into financial and health problems.

Yours sincerely
Reece Sanford

13th November 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Yesterday 12th November 2009 I spoke to someone at the Stockport branch of the CSA. I was repeatedly told she had no answers to my questions and the person I needed to speak to was not there. She then told me the reason I had not been contacted was because there was a digit missing from my phone number. The problem being it didn’t stop the CSA calling me in May and July 2009. The CSA also have my address and know where I work yet I still wasn’t contacted.

I received a letter dated 17th July 2009 from Pauline McNeice (Complaint Resolution Officer) to say ‘A face to face interview has been requested and your local office will contact you directly’ and ‘Your case has been allocated to a case worker James Leebetter’. However since 17th July 2009 I have had no contact whatsoever from James Leebetter or my local office to confirm a face to face interview.

I have also today 13th November 2009 spoken to somebody that tried to explain how my maintenance was worked out and that according to her there will be no change in how much I pay. Yet my housing costs and travel to work costs have not been taken into account. I also cannot understand how you can tell me you need maintenance of £109.84 a week to look after a child, yet my personal allowances a week are only £60.50.

I was also told today that ‘One to one interviews are only accepted in certain cases and you prefer to sort things out by telephone’. I feel I have so many issues regarding my case that a one to one interview is a must. I could not even understand most of the telephone conversation today when I was bombarded with figures, constantly interrupted when I was talking, and then told ‘Are you sure you understand because it can be very difficult to understand everything’, which I find very rude.

I have a long list of complaints and issues and I would like answers to my questions:

1. Mrs Norman must now be married as her surname has changed recently. Is her new partners income being taken into consideration?
2. Mrs Norman has informed me several times she will tell the CSA to stop taking money from me but I still need to pay the arrears.
3. Mrs Norman has told me via email her partner wants to adopt the child and she has been to a solicitor to arrange this.
4. I’ve emailed Mrs Norman telling her the child is not mine and I want a DNA test. She has refused a DNA test which I believe tells me the child is not mine and she cannot refuse a DNA test.
5. You have told me a DNA test is not possible because I have already admitted the child is mine by paying maintenance yet your website says.
   The person named as the parent of a child may deny they are the parent either
   Before we work out child maintenance and After we work out child maintenance
6. Why is there such a huge difference between the old system and the new system?
   You have refused to put me on the new system where I would be paying 15% of my income yet on the old system I am paying 30% of my income.
7. Why can I not be put on the new system?
8. You sent me a letter dated 26th October 2009 stating you needed information about my housing costs ie mortgage/rent and council tax. You give me 1 week too reply and also do not take into consideration there was a postal strike and I didn’t receive your letter until 2 days before you were due to receive an answer. I sent the information you asked for yet on the 9th November I receive another letter which completely ignores my housing costs and doesn’t not include travel to work costs either. Bearing in mind I drive 50miles a day back and forth to work.
9. Also on the telephone conversation of 12th November 2009 I asked why there was a Premium charge of £16.75 I was expected to pay every week. The answer I received was ‘I’m sorry I do not know. I also asked about the Carers Allowance of £60.50 and received the same ‘I’m sorry I do not know’ answer.
10. I cannot understand how you can tell me you need maintenance of £109.84 a week to look after a child, yet my personal allowances a week are only £60.50.
11. I have been sending you all the information you have asked for including my employer telling you about my income yet it still takes 10 months for you to tell me how much maintenance I have to pay. Then you backdate everything those 10 months which means I accrue even more arrears.
12. My employer sent you information about my income yet after looking at this I realise she has completely given you the wrong information. Plus due to the recession my hours at work have now been cut so I am earning less money.
13. It says in my assessment ‘The other parent is receiving a type of benefit or income which we cannot use in the assessment’
    Why is this? Because as far as I’m aware the other parent is in employment and earning money that should be taken into consideration.
14. Of my telephone conversation on 12th November 2009 I was told you could not contact me because there was a digit missing from my telephone number. However I received 2 telephone calls in May and July 2009 (One from Pauline McNeice, The Complaint Resolution Officer on 18th May 2009. Plus you also know where I live and work yet still I receive contact.Why?
15. Why has my case worker James Leebetter not been in contact with me via telephone or letter? I was told on the 17th July 2009 he would be in contact shortly.
16. With all these issues why am I still being denied a one to one interview?

Bearing in mind I cannot understand most of the time who I am speaking to and its not possible for me to explain all these issues or get the answers via telephone.

With this letter I will also show you the email I received from Mrs Norman or Miss Ward as she was know then to show you she has told me her partner wants to adopt the child, she has also refused a DNA test and its possible for her to stop all payments for the child.

Yours sincerely
Reece Sanford

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Also while speaking to the CSA on the phone they said i am actually on the New System but part of my case is still on the Old System so my case will still be calculated on the Old System. And it could take between 2012 and 2015 until all cases are moved to the New System.

Ive never received any answers to any of the questions i raised to the CSA.

Then i thought to myself “Now they know i am not the father they will just disregard all my issues”.

Well guess what i receive a letter today dated 12th February 2010 and it pretty much summed that up.

Some extracts from this letter said:

In this call of 3 December 2009 you advised you were going through a DNA test and that the results were not back yet, we agreed we would wait for the results to come back before your complaint was investigated further as this may change the whole complaint issues depending on the result.

That just goes to show that the CSA will now completely forget my complaint because now its not an issue as i am not the father.

I will post the letter in full when i manage to scan it.