CSA told me to get money from ex myself
I have been seperated from my daughters father for nearly 4 years now, he works as a self employed plumber and from our time together i know for a fact that he earns at least £500 a week, living with his mother so little rent to pay and no other real tresponsibility. He has not paid a penny since £10 we received last august!!!
We have 2 daughters, the csa have pursued in a fashion but he has continually failed to provide evidence of his earnings!! As soon as this is passed to criminal compliance department paul will sign onto the dole hence holdingh the case!
I believe him to be in arrears of around £2000!! The csa do not seem to be chasing this up, no complaints are taken seriously and ive never actually been able to speak to the same person twice!!
I have received so much conflicting advice and have even been advised to get the money off him myself!!! well i would if i could, i thoughtthat was your job??
Is it always this difficult with self employed people? I would like to take legal action to recover some money if this is possible?
10 thoughts on “CSA told me to get money from ex myself”
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Pmsl get a job, I did!!
davinia,
Yes, S/E parents can prove problematic for the agency.
Don’t be fobbed off though…
The CSA can apply directly to HMRC and gain a copy of the latest accounts they have for him, which would enable a calculation.
Also it is possible for the CSA, when they are unable to obtain the info needed to make a calculation, to make a default maintenance decision of £30, £40 or £50 a week for 1, 2 or 3 or more children.
– This can be corrected once the CSA has enough info to make an actual calculation and may therefore either create an overpayment or arrears.
Try again, make written, clearly marked “COMPLAINT”. Copy in your MP and asked for their assistance.
chall ~ afairercsaforall
haha, i do have a job, i have always worked hard to provide for my daughters unlike a lot of single mothers, i juggle the lot and so it adds insult to injury when he works and gives nothing!! if i was sat around on my bum i wouldnt feel half the need to have money off him!!
thankyou for your advice im definately going to contact my m.p as we already have a default amount in place of £40 per week which he is not paying either!!!!! grrrrrr!!!
is there legal action you can take yourself or does it have to follow these channels??
Thats why people like me who are in professional occupations, pay double what we should be paying and get stitched up with ficticious arrears to pay for the people who don’t pay like your ex.
No it’s not difficult but the CSA make it difficult. They do go for easy tagets unfortunately such as people working through PAYE system.
The CSA can request his income details from HMRC.
They are not doing their job correctly here at all. You are right in the problems you have encountered with complaints not resolved correctly, never speaking to the same person twice etc. Have you tried getting your MP involved? Once they are involved you will have a caseworker assigned quicker and also a direct contact for updates.
absolutely right, they have made this so much more difficult then it needs to be, but fathers that fight the whole way with no respect for themselves or their kids make it much harder!! if you had hundreds in your hand every week why wouldnt you feel the need to make sure your kids are provided for!! im definately going to contact my m.p tomorrow and see how we go from there. thanks x
Chall, Brett and Carol are right, I would give same advice but also contact the ICE (Independent Case Examiner) to complain about the CSA after you have put complaint in to the CSA (by writing, keep records of everything, send recorded delivery) and seen your MP, also join the facebook groups child support agencies failings and other groups for advice and support. Good Luck,
Complainants can approach the Independent Case Examiner’s (ICE) office AFTER they have received a final reply to their complaint from the Agency/Business, which they consider to be unsatisfactory.
chall ~ afairercsaforall
davinia,
Re; your reply May 20th, 2012 10:21 am.
I’m afraid you are going to have to let the CSA take its course, but keep giving them shove!
As a DMD is already in place and not being paid, enforcement action by the CSA will be hindered until an actual assessment and arrears can be correctly calculated pursued.
chall ~ afairercsaforall
I dont understand how a self employed NRP can pay next to nothing.When the CSA got in touch with my husband we filled the form out ,sent in his self assesment form and let them know what tax credits we got. CS was started from November 12th 2010 at £140 per month.At this time his daughter was 17 years and we know it would last at least till she became 19 years old.(It stops last week this June.)The reason why the ex went to the CSA for money for the child, was because 2 months before, her son who lived with us left home and she now wanted the money even though this son put us in debt due to us claiming tax credits while he was in college and his mum hiding him at her house cos he didnt want to attend (couldnt be bothered to go ).Tax credits wanted the money back (rightly so )so paying £900 back due to the deceit of both stepson and his mother.