CSA threaten to take money from my employer
15/05/09
CSA Complaint
I am a father who loves and gives as much as he possibly can towards his children who is being threatened by the CSA who have no evidence, with letters and verbally with prison, asbo’s, bailiffs, legal costs, having my house taken away, as well as my driving licence and passport and that my credit rate would suffer.
I am on low earnings and have been paying more than I should towards my children according to the CSA’s online calculator. On top of these payments I pay towards my children’s clothes, school trips (2 or 3 a year) music lessons, etc. I also have a 7-hour drive weekends to pick up and return my children to which the CSA have only just allowed me £7 a month off their wrong assessment.
According to the threat mail I have been receiving from the CSA they can take a non-resident parents wages off their employer even if it leaves the none-resident parent with nothing until such a debt is paid off. I asked Beverley at the CSA that if I was employed and living with a pregnant partner with children they would still take all my wages from me even though they have made an error. She said that “this is the hard line that the CSA take”.
I also had a threatening phone call on my personal mobile which is only used for family and close friends at 7.15pm from the CSA, threatening to take me to court if I didn’t pay up. When I asked how they expected me to pay this I was told I just had to get the money from somewhere and pay it. I receive these types of phone calls now on a monthly basis.
I would also like to point out that at the present time I am paying the CSA accounts office more than what I should according to their on line calculator.
The whole situation is causing a lot of stress and anxiety to my partner and me. My partner has had to have unpaid time off work sick due to this and we are now both on anti depressants. The CSA harass us for details with regards to partner’s earnings, which should not apply apart from 50% of the mortgage. We give and do everything we possibly can for the children and go without for them.
The CSA have failed to assess me fairly according to their own legislation in the leaflets that they have supplied to me.
They are not sticking to the formula for calculating a maintenance assessment, which is part of the Child Support Legislation, laid down by parliament.
The CSA are assessing me on made up figures supplied to them by my ex partner that is not true with out any evidence.
They are also taking my gross earnings without taking into consideration Tax, National Insurance, Pension, Mortgage repayments, Endowment Payments, mortgage repayment plan, and Self-employment Expenses (petrol etc.) as it says they should in their leaflets, and calculating a maintenance assessment on my gross income and not my net.
They have looked at my bank statements, accounts and tax returns, and seen that September to March is my busiest time of year and calculating this as an average and then projecting this figure for the rest of the year and then back dating this to 2001. This is surely unfair and breaks the law.
The CSA will not explain to me why they are assessing me unfairly.
There is a misadministration with regards to my case.
For example taking incorrect enforcement action, failure to respond adequately to correspondence.
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On many occasions I have requested an interview with one of their staff based in my area as offered by them but to no avail, as I still don’t really understand ‘departure’. If it means I need to pay more a week than I clear it must be wrong.
Some weeks I can receive up to five brown envelopes in the post (its like that Harry Potter movie but instead of birds it’s the postman) from the CSA which include untrue and unfair accusations about me and my partner sent to them from my ex partner, which I find totally unfair and puts stress on our relationship. I have filled 3 secretary size box folders with letters and replies to the CSA over the last couple of years. They use bully tactics based on untrue accusations with no evidence supplied to them by my ex-partner
I feel that this is a big waste on taxpayer’s money, money that could be donated to a good cause like children in need.
In the past I have always thought the CSA was a good organisation set up to see fair play. I do have sympathy for my ex-partner. I have had experience living on my own looking after the two children whilst studying and working part time to try and make ends meet with no extra help at all. (They are assessing me for this period to)
A friend who is an ex-policeman, who has been in the same situation as us told me that he has read many articles in the past of fathers committing suicide because of unfair pressure put on them by the CSA. I can see why with the unfair bully tactics that they use.
We tried to help my ex partner out by sending her extra money with help from another member of the family. I found out through one of the CSA letters that because of this she had reported me to the Inland Revenue making out that this money was undeclared income.
In the past my father has helped me out financially since my ex partner abandoned the family home for 6 months and left me the two children whilst I was studying and had little work. When she had sorted her life out she took the two children from me and left me with all the household debts to pay off including her parking tickets and speeding fines that she had accrued whilst using my car to cruise around the country side to various music festivals and parties.
The CSA are trying to make out that my lifestyle is inconsistent with my declared income. Most of the accusations with regards to evidence supplied to them by my ex partner are untrue,
What good I am to my children when I’m in prison with an asbo round my leg whilst the CSA loot my home. When I come out of prison I will not have any work and with a prison record will not be able to gain any work in my profession again. I will not be able to support my children or see them, as the CSA would have confiscated my driving licence and I would not be able to afford to buy a car let alone run one. Even if I did manage to see them we would have nowhere for them to stay, as we would be on the streets, as they would have taken my home away and I would be on the dole. As well as this I would not be able to borrow any money, as I would have no credit rating. I would not be able to move abroad to try and make a fresh start to try and support my children again as the CSA would have confiscated my passport.
I am now going to be issued with a court order if I don’t pay £27,000 in the next 8 days. Yes that’s £27,000. That’s nearly three times my gross yearly income.
I am now seeking legal advice which does not come cheap. I think the CSA should foot the bill.
This letter is just the tip of the ice berg, I could write a book.
Tim
4 thoughts on “CSA threaten to take money from my employer”
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Smell a bit of a rat with this one – so much woe.
I would not be paying fines that had accrued when my ex had the car – parking tickets etc
You will get no account taken for personal items/ clothing etc that you buy the kids –
You may qualify for a ‘departure’ in regard of your travel to collect and drop off your children – this in respect of fuel/ toll charges etc and this will need to be applied for – after a maintenance assessment has been calculated – not real time costs though I am afraid. You can also claim the same if you have travel to work expenses – that are high.
You need to speak with a case worker – hold it together and simply explain your position – if true and your ex wife is lying etc then reason should prevail – reason with them in a cool manner – it does work.
As stated mind at the start of this answer I smell a rat – your whole message smacks of real self pity and possibly too much woe to be wholly true – of course I could be wrong ..
I think you need to stand up for yourself a little bit. I am a single mum who is fighting an evil ex who wont cough up, but at the same time, I am a daughter helping my dad fight his ex (younger than him) who is trying to claim he is swindling her out of child support, when he can prove he has paid her every penny she is legally entitled to. Therefore I can see it from both angles.
After speaking to a manager at the CSA recently for my dad, it is illegal for the CSA to take more than 40% of your earnings, and they would have provided you with a letter stating what the minimum per week / month is that they will allow you to live on. Their computer system does not allow them to deviate from that.
Write to the CEO of the CSA, or even get your MP to do it. Provide copies of your company books, your bank statements and your partners bank statements as evidence of what you have coming in and going out. If your ex is making out you are living a lifestyle significanlty above what you say you earn, it is up to you to prove otherwise. If you are telling the truth, that will be easy for you. Always start your letter “I am writing to complain…” rather than “I am very annoyed…”. If you write saying you are complaining, then they will take it as a complaint and have to follow their complaints procedures. If you write saying you are annoyed, it will have no impact what so ever.
Ask for copies of your case file – they have a legal obligation under the freedom of information act to provide this. This will include every letter your ex has written to them.
Ask to have your income re-assessed. Legally, you are entitled to do this every 6 weeks as long as you can provide the evidence.
If you are only earning £9k a year, surely you would be better off leaving your business and going on the dole?? You will have to pay £5 a week child support out of your income support / JSA and thats it. Then, you can look for a job as an employee, rather than a self employed person, and the CSA will be able to assess you from your PAYE.
Good advice Louise –
Think you hit the nail on the head – getting angry is a natural reaction especially when being down trodden by such an unfair system – yet so self defeating.
Think you are right when you say he should stand up for himself – and get properly organized to challenge what appears to be a grossly unfair assessment based on what his ex partner is saying.
Good Luck Tim GO FOR IT..
Quote;
1) Ask for copies of your case file – they have a legal obligation under the freedom of information act to provide this. This will include every letter your ex has written to them.
2) Ask to have your income re-assessed. Legally, you are entitled to do this every 6 weeks as long as you can provide the evidence.
3) If you are only earning £9k a year, surely you would be better off leaving your business and going on the dole?? You will have to pay £5 a week child support out of your income support / JSA and thats it. Then, you can look for a job as an employee, rather than a self employed person, and the CSA will be able to assess you from your PAYE.
*1) Any ‘subject access request’ should be done under the ‘Data Protection Act’, not the FOI – You will be furnished with the information that the agency hold on YOU, not a third party (including their letters).
*2) You can request a reassessment whenever your circumstances change.
*3) You should be aware, this course of action could be deemed as ‘deprivation of income’, in which case your liability would ‘legally’ still stand.
Your more than welcome to join us in the forum at http://www.afairercsaforall.co.uk, we have others who have dealt with ‘lifestyle inconsistent’ and could well offer you support.