CSA got a court order for my wages without telling me

January 10, 2013

My ex left me shortly when my daughter was 5 months and my son about 2, I was in the army at the time, stating that if I didn’t look after them she would put them in care.

I had no hesitation and left the army to care for them , I contacted the CSA regarding payment from my ex, they stated that I was not entitled as my wife was not working, which she was.

I battled hard to keep afloat and after a few years my ex cam back stating that she was all better and that she had been suffering pmt, I was taken to court and the court decided that as I was working and ex was not she was more suited to look after them

I paid an agreement with her and paid her money every month, however after she met someone else she contacted CSa stating I’d not paid. They contacted me stating that I owed thosdands and when I stated agreement they said that my ex had sated this had not happened.

Contact was not easy and I had to go to court to confirm contact, however I rejoined the Army and while serving in Afghan in 2008 she re-married and left a message stating that she was taking kids to Northern Ireland and that they would be fine, she gave me an address which proved to be false.

That was nearly five years ago I tried all avenues to find them papers local authority CAB, I ve no criminal record and have a CRB.

I contacted the CSA and told tem I wanted to know where my children were they sated that due to Data protection act they could not, I asked if they new if I was alive, they could not answer that, they sated that I could write a letter to my children send it to the CSA and they would pass it on to my ex, three letters later I still have no idea if they passed letter on as they cant tell me that either.

Final straw came when I noticed a court order from my wages, CSA had not told me this was happening even though I’d allways paid, I asked them they stated her situation had changed and I needed to pay more, I informed them I could not live on what I had left (700 per month), they said not their problem and maybe I should give up my job. I stated that I will stop payment nd then go to court and explain to judge that I stopped due to the fact that I had no option as I had no idea if they were well or even alive, I was told by CSA that they were fine and well due to the face that my ex said they were, when asked if they had seen them, they sataed no our department so asked how do you know there well, your ex said they were (shocking)

Needs to be pointed out that sh has two children from previous marriage that she pays not CSA for or even seen them for twenty years.

What a wonderful dept CSA is

Comments

  • Alice says:

    Under Data Protection the CSA cannot reveal the wherabouts of the PWC and/or QC(s) to the NRP – likewise they cannot reveal the NRP’s details (address/tel no/place of employment etc) to the PWC.

    Is your case old rules or new rules (pre March 2003 or post March 2003)?

    Your CSA liability starts from the date they initially contact you to advise that the case has been opened – this can be by phone or letter. They cannot charge you for arrears of maintenance agreed privately between you and your ex before she contacted the CSA and they contact you.

    If there was a CoC – say for increase in income, either annual pay rise or promotion etc – the CSA can gather the information from your employer and progress the change, this would result in an increase in your weekly liability, a letter will be issued to the address held for you on file. They should also attempt to contact you by phone to inform you that the re-assessment has been done and inform you of your new weekly liability and discuss the re-payment of any arrears incurred. If you are on active duty they are not allowed to contact you to discuss arrears, they must wait until you are not on active duty (they consider it a risk to your safety as arrears can put extra worry on you).

    For serving members of the armed forces a DEO is not issued – it’s a DER (deduction of earnings request) and your commanding officer can make judgement as to whether they feel the amount being requested is acceptable – if they feel that it is not reasonable they can order a lower amount to be paid.

  • browned off says:

    I’m quite surprised that the CSA have concerns about placing extra stress on a NRP.

  • Alice says:

    if an NRP is prepared to enter a war-zone and put their life on the line they command the respect of the UK Govt and it’s employees and they get it

  • browned off says:

    I like that comment Alice. Our soldiers are fantastic and give so much to the country. However, I feel all non resident parents who support their children should also have respect. My own son who has a shared residence order, tries very hard to make ends meet whilst his ex. who earns quite a lot more than him has plenty of money to splash around. Tonight he had to close all his doors so that the children didn’t hear the ice cream van. He had not one penny in his pocket. I feel bitter that a decent dad can be reduced to poverty as there is no leeway within CSA rules to take the NRPs living expenses into account. Not only that, NRPs are taxed as single persons and do not qualify for any state help despite having shared residence.

  • Alice says:

    @ Browned off – every NRP and every PWC deserves respect, as do CSA case workers who do their jobs in accordance with the legislation laid down for them by the Govt.

    I understand your frustration and agree that there are cases where NRPs find themselves in a situation that in order to pay the maintenance assessed according to the legislation they are unable to provide the nice extras for their children, unfortunately the current legislation is what the CSA have to work by and it does not allow an assessment to be reduced due to an NRPs outgoings. I never worked the Old Rules cases where I understand many factors from both NRP’s and PWC’s household were taken into account, there were many complications with that scheme and as such this prompted the govt at the time to introduce the simpler CS2 scheme. There is never going to be a system which works perfect for everyone – life has many variations and it does not come as a ‘one size fits all’ .
    If your son has overnight care more than 52 nights per year he can apply for a shared care allowance.

  • brett says:

    I don’t want anyone on here to think after reading Alice’s last comment that they would be better off under the Old Rules, where household factors were taken into account. Im under the Old Rules and paying 23% net income each month for one child.

  • Gonk says:

    Lol Alice….I guess an ice cream is a luxury not a nice extra once the csa gets its fangs into a NRP.
    And it’s an outrage that a NRP is not assed on his/ her ability to pay a fair amount particularly if those outgoings include debt that was a direct result of when the ex was living with him.
    My case for instance.the house was done up, the wedding cost inc dress,rings,honeymoon etc. car I brought her. All to make her happy.she walks away and leaves me to pay off the loan that payed for it.I seek a hearing to have my monthly payments reduced because of my outgoings,she lies through her back teeth about non of it being down to her and guess what…yes…they believe her,how so typical of the csa..as for me ..well they said I had to prove those debts …well funny enough I never kept receipts for any of it because I never thought my wife would dump on me .this is the best part tho….remember she told the csa that none of my debt was a result of when we were together. I saw her back in June last yr as my daughter was in town..sat round a table laughing and joking about a great wedding and honeymoon we had…..her words were ” I bet he’s still paying for that wedding”
    Nice….nasty bitch!
    You are right about there will never be a system that’s fair for everyone…..mostly for the PWC

  • Gonk says:

    Oh and Alice …..screw legislation laid down for them by the Govt. it’s disgusting and immoral and 100% in brownedoff’s gang With his comment ” a decent dad can be reduced to poverty as there is no leeway within CSA rules to take the NRPs living expenses into account” it’s wrong wrong wrong…it is not fair that a NRP is reduced to poverty because of this scum…it’s wrong that a PWC can lie to the csa and they take her word for it.its wrong that a PWC can have a new partner who maybe incredibly wealthy and she and your kid/kids need want for nothing and none of this is taken into consideration when a fair amount is being decided upon for her needs.
    Now how much fairer is that…does any one disagree ?
    Legislation needs to be changed.it has to be fair…surely a PWC should be assessed on their financial need for that money and a NRP assessed on their ability to pay what they can afford.

  • brett says:

    See everyone the CSA have got a heart. They don’t stitch up our brave soldiers until they get back from a posting, somewhere like Afghanistan. You can just see the case worker counting the days before the soldier returns to the UK and then the phone calls and threats begin followed by a DOE. You couldn’t make it up !

    CSA staff don’t get any respect from me. As soon as they realise they’re employed by such a corrupt organisation, wrecking decent people’s lives they should get out and find themselves a new job.

  • browned off says:

    Brett – I wouldn’t be surprised if a good number of them have taken flight at the first opportunity. They must have to take some flack during telephone calls, but who can blame the dads when they are stitched up and have no means whatsoever of doing anything about it. Why would a mother working full time, earning more than her ex and in receipt of all the benefits want to take 25% of her exes income, even though he is sharing care of the children but not quite 50% of the time.

    Because she can and because the Government enable her to do it.

  • brett says:

    Im raging every day of the week over how the CSA are allowed to operate.

  • brett says:

    When I did see an ex CSA employee for legal advice, he did tell me army personnel were one of the occupations the CSA targetted.

  • Davie B says:

    The armed forces would be one of the occupations targeted, simply because they are an easy target. In have served in the forces and now the emergency services so they have me over a barrel.
    Alice’s comments are typical of the attitude of so many CSA employees – it;s okay not to bother them in a war zone so we wait for them to get home, but probability is that they will have to go back to that or possibly another war zone.
    I have never known an agency who make so many mistakes yet are never accountable. They bully, harass and intimidate and despite what Alice says, they have no respect for anyone, they, along with the Government of this country are wholly corrupt

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