CSA employee, Clair Jones, jailed for stealing money from parents
Anyone who has ever dealt with the Child Support Agency will not be in the least surprised by this latest story of deceit, fraud and theft from the CSA. Child Support Agency worker, Clair Jones, who is supposed to help parents with care receive money from non-resident parents for the upbringing of their children, has been jailed by Plymouth Crown Court for diverting money into her own bank account.
The woman, who has been stealing money from parents since 2009, was in a lot of financial hardship according to her solicitor, Alan Harris. She apparently owed money to loan sharks and was being threatened in order to pay it back. Rather than work out her problems or seek financial assistance, she decided the best course of action was to use her position to steal money from hardworking fathers and mothers, and then cover her tracks so nobody would know.
Over the course of the last few years, Clair Jones stole almost £7,000 from parents and sent the money instead to her own bank account, fabricating records so that her supervisors didn’t know what she had done. As any parent knows, complaining to the Child Support Agency is difficult at the best of times as they don’t answer complaints well, are rude on the phone and condescending via letter. They are known for being incompetent and make constant mistakes with calculations and even payments, sending money to the wrong accounts. This latest action just compounds the frustration and sense of injustice that loving parents feel, especially when you consider that Clair Jones has only been jailed for 12 weeks, and will probably serve half of that.
Her solicitor, Alan Harris, intends to appeal the decision and claims that Clair Jones fully intended to repay the money she had stolen.
The prosecuting solicitor, Owen Lawton, stated that Clair Jones has stolen a total of £6,847.60 and paid into a separate bank account that she owned. Her tracks were covered when she altered records to hide the payments.
Jones’ theft was only uncovered when a non-resident parent complained that he had not received a refund of £400 which he was expecting. That particular NRP is lucky they even bothered to investigate in the first place. Clair Jones’ fraud may have gone completely undetected.
Wendy Casper, the magistrate presiding over the case, commented:
“Only custody is justified because these offences were committed while you were in a position of trust. ”
“They were committed over a long period of time and with a fair degree of sophistication. ”
“They only stopped when you were caught.”
Clair Jones is herself a single parent, and decided to steal money from those who needed it most after her own child benefit had been stopped. She also apparently ‘had a problem with her car’. These are all the same kinds of problems parents talk about when they speak to the CSA, but are ignored. She was reportedly in tears as she was led away from the court to begin her 12 week sentence.
Please let us know below what you think of Clair Jones, and the 12 week sentence she has received for stealing from parents.
21 thoughts on “CSA employee, Clair Jones, jailed for stealing money from parents”
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Just look into those eyes.
She sums up the CSA just by the way she looks never mind her actions.
Cried at a 12 week sentence????
She wants to try 9 years under the CSA.
I feel sorry for her Kids.
Her solicitor, Alan Harris, intends to appeal the decision and claims that Clair Jones fully intended to repay the money she had stolen.
Dont make me laugh, she fully intended the second she got caught!!! If she hadnt been caught no doubt she would still be doing it.
As for financial hardship….join the club!!! Any client of the CSA be they Parent with Care or Non Resident Parent knows all about the financial misery the CSA bestow on hard working people.
If this was on Simon Mayos confessions it would be unanimous…..NOT FORGIVEN!!!!
What really worries me is that the CSA has the power to go into people’s bank accounts and remove money, yet they employ the lowest of the low – staff with no morals, no ethics and no respect for families. OBVIOUSLY this was going to happen, and has probably happened thousands of times – but they rarely bother looking at complaints from people saying they’ve had too much taken, or haven’t received their money. They treat everyone (fathers and mothers) like scum and cover their own tracks.
I bet this is just a small splash in a very big ocean, and I think every case they have ever had, every payment they have ever made and every pound they have ever taken from NRPs should be looked at. I bet the fraud runs into the millions. Why wouldn’t it? You give scum like Clair Jones access to people’s money and they’ll take it, of course they will.
You wouldn’t hire a fox to guard a hen-house.
Another greedy pwc, because her child benefit stopped….hardship try having these bastards hack into your wages every month for stupid amounts on incorrect figures, and we don’t steal…..how many more are doing this? makes you wonder why suddenly so many nrps are being stung for large amounts that takes ages to sort out….taken us a year and thats with the mp involved just to get a breakdown!
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Child-Support-Agency-worker-jailed-pound-7k-fraud/story-16170904-detail/story.html
One wonders just who the CSA are employing these days?
Another reason why you should take extreme care when divulging personal information.
Very very worrying. As others have said she is only sorry for being caught and no other reason, if she hadn’t been caught no doubt she would have still been in on it.
Families are struggling because of people like her. NRP’s pay and being chased for so called arrears. And she is probably one of the ones who tells people they should be paying – hello we are totally through the nose and twice over, now we know why!
I doubt this is a “one-off” and I wouldn’t think she is the only one at it. This Agency should be scrapped immediately for the corruption that goes on.
So, according to her solicitor it’s okay to steal from those who pay maintenance to pay off loan sharksand her other debts!
It doesn’t matter which way you look at this not fit for purpose shambles, it’s theft by other means.
Try Google news and type in Child maintenance and read the stories of uncollected maintenance. Billions uncollected or written off as uncollectable, whilst those trapped in this debacle are repeatedly targeted!
thats about right i have had 9years of trying to find out if i was a father then 3months of huge payments out of my wages now got proff its been 2 months to try to sort payment 4 a child i dont know bloody staff read from script mp involved but powerless then we find out the scum pinch money she should of got 9yrs of pain at least like the poor soles who get targated by the so called goverment ran CHILD SUPPORT
I’m so glad this story has broken, it just clarifies what a lot of us having been saying about having no confidence in the CSA and not trusting them. What I’d like to know is how the hell did she manage to get away with it for 3 years? Also if she is granted an Appeal on the grounds that she was suffering financial hardship and was promising to pay it back, oh yeah when would that be then and how exactly, had she kept a log of all the people she had stolen from? If I was one of them I’d be asking for compensation. Absolutely disgusting and it’s time this agency was investigated seriously.
this is shameful, i mean all the comments, guess the CSA didnt work for her either, single parents go through great hardships for their children, mothers are slated, single parent fathers are celebrated. LETS FACE IT NONE OF YOU WOULD BE IN THIS POSITION IF YOU JUST DID THE RIGHT THING BY YOUR CHILDREN AND COUGHED UP!. Also bitterness, jealousy and twisted hate is all that is to blame. None of the irresponsible so called parents can put the kids first. Money for a child is nothing, love and security for a child is everything and I as a single mum i do everything possible to ease the childhood of my precious children. I don’t want my ex’s money, it is a neccesity, why should someone else pay for our children, especially when they already pay happily for their own? Everything I earn is spent on their upbringing, nothing left. I hope all can show some mercy and put your hands in your TIGHT pockets for me when I need it when i am old and cough up for the care I may need because i HAD NOTHING to put aside for a rainy day because my adorable kids needed it and my ex never paid to help.
However, its wrong to steal and this should never have happened, do the crime, do the time. You are a disgrace to all us hard working single parents whether male or female!
The whole point of this article is corruption within the CSA. Alot of nrp’s are paying maintenance and then being told they are in arrears and no wonder when there are people like this employed by the Agency who are diverting funds pwc should get.
Most people on this forum are not looking for ways to evade paying maintenance they just want a fairer system for everyone, without being homeless or made bankrupt.
Hear hear Carol…. that is EXACTLY why most people are on here… we want to share our CSA woes and get advice/help along the way… it’s not nice to hear of other peoples problems with the CSA but it actually makes us all see that we are not going mad!!
99% of the NRP’s who come onto this website WANT to pay for their kids but because of the CSA criteria CANNOT AFFORD to pay what is being asked of them. CSA staff have the ability to put an honest, hardworking NRP into bankruptcy due to their own lies and dishonesty…. Claire Jones has possibly ruined lives and left PWCs without money to feed their kids….. she is a thief and should be charged as such!!!
Nadama, you really haven’t got a clue have you. The vast majority of NRP’s who put their stories / comments on hear are decent honest hard working people who have always paid child maintenance and fully complied with the evil and corrupt CSA.
However to justify their existence and to try and “claw” back some of the monies owed by NRP’s that don’t pay or under pay, they target the good people by making up ficticious arrears and back dating them years. They then make threats of sending baliffs to your house, issuing a liability order and issuing a DEO where upto 40% of a person’s net pay can be taken from your wages every month. The CSA like to do this in a two minute phone call and totally turn a person and his family’s life upside down.
I take geat exception to your comment.
As for Clair Jones. That is the face of the CSA. If there was ever a tv documentary about the CSA or a CSA magazine on sale in newsagents that would be the face on the front cover…. Scary.
12 weeks, 12 months or 12 years she will be unemployable when she comes out of HMP. She probably got legal aid and her solicitor is paid to defend her. He certainly did his job with Jones only getting 12 weeks.
Nadama you are probably a CSA employee brainwashed pay for your children. For your information I was already paying for my children so do not tar all NRPs with the same brush we are not all deadbeats like the CSA are indoctrinated to believe.
That aside this is no suprize at all! how many other CSA staff members are dipping their fingers into the till?. Claire Jones in debt -now she knows what it is like to be hounded- I have had shit of the CSA since 1996 they had no right to get involved as I was already paying for my children, her actions have forced many of NRPs into poverty and financial hardship whilst working for this out of control Quango. The CSA need a Royal Commission and a Public Inquiry.
Have a read of this PDF you will see how they get bonuss and targets etc no wonder they do all they can to rip people off filthy rats that they are http://www.pfrc.bris.ac.uk/Reports/csa_report.pdf
Typical of the corruption that is rampant in this country. Clair Jones is just one of a multitude of government apparatchiks who think they can ride roughshod over the backs of the people and shop-til–drop while the country goes down the toilet. The more I hear of stories like this the more I begin to think that the only solution is revolution. The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is natural manure.
Hail Odin!
Really, not surprising, CSA tactics are such that even private debt collection agencies are banned from acting in such an underhand & cynical way, not just involving the parents but with regard to the law, for example, the practice of prosecuting a case in the UK , & bieng complicit in perverting the course of justice, knowing that the defendant lives abroad.This is just one of many examples of the way the CSA intentionally go to cynically manipulate the law to their own ends, & yet the legal hierarchy are either too old, too obtuse or complicit themselves to see it……So you see, the law is just laughable in this country today, changed or bent to the will of the government, no wonder this was swept under the table with such a short sentence, oddly enough though, had she defrauded parents out of the same amount for the absolute benefit of the CSA, she would have been crown protected, just like the police, & thus untouchable
Didnt mr cameron use the phrase “all in it together”? I wonder what he had to say to his civil service chums that run the csa after this story broke? What a disgusting piece of work this woman is and what on warth was the judge thinking? What would happen if you or I got caught carrying out a deception/theft like this from our employers. This woman was in a position of trust and abused it, a sentence measured in years would be more appropriate.
I have just had 12 years of arguing with CSA about court case in 1999, have just been told CSA had nothing to do with me prior to this date. I wonder if this woman was looking after my case between 97 and 99 ?
Does anybody know how I can take this further MP tells me he can do no more CSA say they have carried out in investigation?
Dave Jones on September 11th
Dave,
sorry to hear your situation, can only tell you from my own experience. A formal complaint is the obvious start, your MP can do more, they can continue to advocate on your behalf and look into the options open to you.
You have to follow the process which may include a complaint to the ‘Independent’ case examiner which is another branch of the DWP, just like the csa so dont expect miracles but you need to ‘exhaust’ the process. If you are still not happy your MP can make a referal for you to the parliamentry and health service ombudsman who can look into the matter to see if maladministration has happened and who are not a part of the DWP. Legally you could get advice from a csa specialist on whether your case can go to judicial review. Make sure you have a copy of your Data Protection prints which is all the info the csa have on you. Dont deal with them on the phone, insist on written communication, send everything recorded and keep a mini diary of progress. Check out other stories on this site (and other sites) to get an idea of what you are dealing with.
Hope my own experience will help you and good luck.
Just to inform. I have just paid £2000 to £2121 of ‘apparent’ arrears to CSA. When I called yesterday to enquire why a new deduction from earnings order has not been sent to me or my work, guess what? They can’t find the payment.
They have also lost around £2000 in payments over the last 7 years and no one gives a dam. Two famous words I always get ‘ you owe’
No right to a fair trial ‘Human Rights Act – Article 6’
Let me see complaints procedure:
Case Worker – not interested they have your details so I will take what I want. No phone back, fax or anything
Independent examiner – their answer, 6 months later, your assessment was correct. No investigation with me or my life so how did they come to that decision?
MP – Puppet. Won’t have a meeting with you. Sends letters to CSA THEN FORWARDS ON TO YOU, again no investigation with me.
The mother or resident parent – makes a false claim, after they are found out to be lying, why are they not done for fraud?
So if any of you so called goodies out there read this and would like to investigate please contact me. As the more I can expose this government company for theft and fraud the better.