CSA hotline takes 1,000 calls per day
A spokesman for the Child Support Agency has said that they are receiving up to 1000 calls a day from parents wanting to arrange private maintenance payment arrangements.
From October 2008, parents who receive state benefits are not required to go through the Child Support Agency to arrange maintenance payments, but instead can set up their own agreement instead.
At the same time, a national support hotline was set up and, according to a CSA spokesman, receives 1,000 calls a day.
The spokesman said:
“We’ve got examples of dads who’ve been able to re-establish a better relationship with their children because they’re providing for them voluntarily.”
He went on to add that 60,000 private arrangements for paying maintenance had been made as a result of the scheme.
However, Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice have challenged this scheme, and said that the changes made have had not made much of a difference.
Rhian Howells, partner at the firm, said:
“A lot of our clients have had a bad experience.
“They’re taking a long time and they’re still making mistakes with the calculations.”
If engaging in a private repayment scheme, the need to take precautions can’t be emphasised enough. Make sure that the agreement is written and signed by both parents, and ensure that a copy of it is kept safe. Also, do not make any cash payments; make any payments through your bank and keep copies of your statements should there be any disagreement further own the line.
If in doubt, it’s best to seek CSA advice.
This follows news that five people have been sent to prison in Wales in the past year following non-payment of child maintenance.
2 thoughts on “CSA hotline takes 1,000 calls per day”
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Im sorry but when I read things like this that are trying to show they are doing their job, to me its 12 yrs too late for me!! I have gone through sheer hell with this organisation so that my ex can live a luxury lifestyle, lying and committing fraud while me and his children have suffered. My children are grown up now and one has nothing to do with his father and the other very little. This has effected me and them greatly and whatever the CSA do now cant change that fact. Im glad (if this is true) they are sorting things out but hopefully they will remember the people they failed so badly and have put to the side like me and many others, that doesnt justify them just helping the new cases and that the old cases.
Im waiting to hear about my tribunal hearing after they mucked up too, I shouldnt have had to go through all this in the first place and neither should many others. So while the CSA are trying now to do the right thing please remember me and many many others who they failed so they can try and put things right for us too!
i get really annoyed when i read that women still think they should be kept by their ex husbands why dont they get off their backsides and go and earn some money instead of sponging off thier ex husbands or partners, end of the day the children should be taken care of but not the exs as they end up living a life of luxury and NOT the nrp,the csa system is crazy , the parent with care is so much better off as they get tax credits working tax credits then child maintenance what more do they want ?
as for me & my new wife we have been left in finacial hardship because of the csa we cant afford to pay everything that we need to pay per month as £400 out of my wages is way too much so tell me how we live !!