CSA takes more than I can afford

November 30, 2010

On a constructive note, I understand the need to support your children, but a lot of the comments here are on the nose. The CSA does treat you like shit. They really dont care what damage they do. I know this first hand. They also make mistakes, and then make the estranged parent pay for them.

So, My ex looks after my child now we are not together. After suffering redundency, I was put to the mercy of the CSA after the payments i was making to her personaly, obviously had to stop. Now I am on a relatively low wage, and need to also spend aprox £16 Read more

Happy to go to prison to avoid CSA

November 30, 2010

Well been to court yet again with the csa since last time. They ajourned 3 times and finally issued a suspended 42day sentence. Still paying £50 per month.

Clever little trick they use. first time in court u can use duty solicitor after that u can’t you have to use ur own and pay so by dragging it along they know most wont pay for a solicitor. But nether the less they didnt get anymore money.

The suspended sentence was more my doing cos i was dicking them around on payments even at £50 and being late for court…why?…cos i can and hate being compliant to these corrupt fools.

So in 3 years when this liability is paid i have the same routine for an £11,000 one but thats worth doing the 6 weeks prison time for cos u cant get prison twice for same thing and all they can do is try to hassle me. Just keep my monies nicely stored elsewhere…

One tip dont trust there lawyers they play games big time,playing nice sometimes then threatening with prison the next…i was prepared to go to jail so threats didnt work….whats 6 weeks with a playstation and a nice duvet and pool table…..a holiday really….even the court clerk was an arse…

The csa doesnt help your kids it helps the state recuperate benefits most of the time…

Self employed ex claiming benefits

November 29, 2010

I seperated from my childrens father 7 years ago – Dec 2003 (divorced 5 1/2 years ago) we have 3 children. He was self employed (DJ and Carpenter) and now blatantly works while claiming benefits.

He stopped offically working in April 2004 after receiving a decision from the CSA that he pay me IRO £400 a month in maintenance – saying it was a ‘rip off’ – and has since been ‘on benefits’ or ‘living off his mother’.

I supported the children emotionaly and financialy single handed (ie: working full-time, studying part-time, paying for/running a household). He dd not care if the house got reposessed or if the children had what they needed on a day to day basis – maybe he was too busy playing golf (during the day) and drinking (during the night) to even care. Anyway I had to to sell the family home and buy a shared-ownership property 10 miles away.

I did not rely on the CSA to get the maintenance for the children because they apparently only deal with the information that is handed to them on a plate – therefore the self employed and benefit cheats have the upper hand when it comes to supporting their own children.

In January 2007, due to my daughter being assaulted by her father (fact as he has it is on his criminal record), I had a complete breakdown – the WHOLE situation burned me out. After 6 months being not able to work, losing income I could ill Read more

CSA rules promote reduced access

November 29, 2010

I have a number of issues with the Child Support Agency arising out of their current rules around assessing child support payments. It isn’t that I think that they’ve made an incorrect assessment but I am experiencing that their rules have allowed my child’s mother to reduce my access and at the same time increase the amount of money she receives each month.

I had been paying his mother in cash each month. She believed that if she accepted money from me that her benefits would be reduced so she refused to give me any form of receipt or proof of payment. I continually asked her to give me a receipt to avoid any disagreement and she continually refused. The fact is that her benefits wouldn’t have been affected, but she thought they would so she was clearly willing to commit benefit fraud and make me complicit in it if I wanted to support my child. This put me in the difficult situation where I Read more

Inability to pay child maintenance

November 28, 2010

I have 5 children with 2 ex wives and 1 ex partner. I have always not only kept in touch with all my children but also see them on a regular basis at least once a week or when my work allows. I regularly had my two daughters (from 1 of the wives) every weekend despite the fact that I have been declared bankrupt due to monetary problems and am now back living with my parents.

This particular ex wife has now contacted the CSA despite my having the girls every week end, and is also refusing to let me see my daughters. This is because whilst I was out of work for 2 months I did not pay her anything, the Csa are now claiming that I must pay £600 per month to clear the arrers for the next year. I am a chauffeur with a company that gives me jobs on a daily basis and although it is possible that I will earn around £1,600 in a month it is equally likely that I will earn less than £800. My guaranteed income before tax is £260 per week.

Can you tell me how I am supposed to pay all this money if I literally haven’t got it and cannot earn it? Am I supposed to go begging on the streets to pay for food while I am waiting for the CSA appeal to go through? This would obviously have a Read more

I fought the CSA and won

November 28, 2010

I was getting hounded by the CSA for money I didnt owe and they wouldnt listen. Just told me i had to pay it. Sure enough I got a court summons through, I called them again, they wouldnt budge, i called the courts they said they coudlnt help. Luckily for me my sister is a lawyer. As soon as I got her involved the case was adjourned, and now they have dropped it altogether saying I now dont owe them any extra money.

Could also have something to do with the fact my solicitor put a data request in and they knew I recorded all phone calls, but I think they were a bit shocked when I informed then that an individual can record any conversation as long as its for their own use and not divulged to a third party, and asked why they kept hanging up on me?

My advice – record everything

How much do I need to earn to pay the CSA?

November 27, 2010

Firstly i would like to say as far as i can see my ex does a great job looking our two children.

It’s very hard to get across my feelings as they they would be based on fairness and unless my ex was involved in this comment then you are expected to take my word for it but, so be it.

i was raised in ireland and moved to this contry in 1991 and this is my home now.

I have a 17 year old son who is working now and although i embarrass him i have a very good relationship with him and his mum (she is a really nice person).

After we split and i found the love of my life my ex got a mortgage and bought me out and with that money Read more

CSA arrears leaving me with no money

November 27, 2010

I hope you can help- I am at my wits end.

I have 2 children with my ex wife. They are 16 and 17.

We split 7 years ago and my ex moved them to Barnsley from Sheffield.

I have now got quite a lot of arrears which the CSA want back over a 12 month period so are taking £450 per month leaving me with just over £600 for the month.This is for arrears and to pay for my 2 children.

However my 16 year old daughter now lives with me and has done since 07th October 2010 but the CSA are taking maintenance from me and paying it to my ex wife for both my children.

Last month after the CSA took their money and I had paid my bills I was left with £105 to last me and my daughter all month.

I have spoke to the CSA who have advised that until my ex wife cancels claiming child benefit for my Daughter they cannot reduce my payments and only if my ex wife agrees to have the arrears paid back over a longer period of time they cannot reduce my monthly payments for my arrears.

I am getting increasingly depressed over this situation and to be honest I do not know where to turn.

My daughter came to live with me after being very depressed herself as she is not getting along with her mother and her mother was constantly telling her to leave and come and live with me.

I do fear however that as I cannot provide for her to live with me due to lack of money I am going to have to send her back to live with her mother but I am concerned she will do something stupid as she is adamant she does not want to go back.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE can you help me or advise me where I can go for help???

Thank you .

Darren

All parents should pay to support their children

November 26, 2010

For over ten years I have brought up my two children single-handedly. I, like many other single parents have struggled to provide my children with a normal childhood.

A normal childhood I feel is one where the children are happy, safe and provided for financially. We have a relatively good life now, I work full time to provide us with a decent income which in turn pays the mortgage and provides for us as a family.

For eight of these ten years the children’s father has evaded his parental responsibility at a ratio of 99.9%. The children receive a phone call on their birthday and a card with £20 in it. Usually there are a couple of empty promises for instance “hope to see you soon” or “tried to contact you on Facebook but it didn’t work” or “we’ll catch up at Christmas”. They saw him for four hours one Christmas in 2008, his new wife kept ringing him to see when he would be back because she wanted to order them a take-away (his third wife). Both children have had their own phones for eight years as-well as a home phone, one child has been rung three times, the other at least twice.

They have learnt to detach themselves from the endless empty promises over the years and surrounded themselves with fantastic male role models. They are both very sociable and enjoy many team sports, none which their Father has seen, he refers to a sport which they did seven years ago when he phones on their birthday. They tell him every year which sports they do now but he never listens.

For the past five years I have been writing to my M.P. in the hope that he might take an interest in my case. It isn’t just my case either. This situation affects millions of families throughout the UK. If an absent parent (male or female) does not want to contribute towards the children they have created they do not have to. I’m sure many of your readers believe that there is a court system or an agency to deal with this sort of thing. There is absolutely no governing body in this country for children who are abandoned by a parent.

If a parent does not want to see or finance a child all they have to do is sign into the UK benefit system. It doesn’t really matter which benefit but as long as they put their name to it, it is an instant protection against any legal action or Government power. If you believe the absent parent is working cash in hand then do not waste your time telling the Inland Revenue or the Department of Work and Pensions they are not interested. These people are small fry to them, you could tell them the time the absent parent leaves for work every morning or you could phone their home and be told by family members that they’re at work. None of it matters to our Government. They would rather ignore all the twaddle and just pay you the odd £5.00 a week out of their benefit system, if you are lucky enough. It’s a sort of “That’ll keep him/her quiet” attitude. “At least you are getting something” I was once told.

When your absent parent signs into the benefit system at their local Job Centre there is no immediate alert that this parent is evading Child Support. The Child Support Agency is part of the Department of Work and Pensions which amazingly directs the Job Centre. They will completely deny the connection over the phone however their letters to myself are headed with two of these titles as recently as two months ago. It currently takes around 6 weeks to process a benefit claim which results in back pay for the claimant. When this back payment is made by cheque to the absent parent it has no deduction of Child support. For recent claimants you will be aware that after 12 weeks your payments may cease, if you haven’t actively sought work. This means that your children may receive £30.00 for the last 6 weeks of your claim. The Government are therefore rewarding the evasive parent with six weeks grace of their benefit claim. Any parent that can raise two children for six !
weeks on £30.00 step forward! I’d be in awe.

There is of course a much easier route, make all parents support their children! Our benefit system was designed as an income support for the short term unemployed and for people that were genuinely suffering hardship. Not for people to build their lives around it. I do not want my children to receive any handouts from the state. I would like their Father to be made to work legally and meet his financial responsibilities.

Should evasive parents find that they cannot work legally or through persistent laziness, then perhaps paid Community Service with a direct weekly deduction to support their children’s upbringing! Why are these evasive parents being completely ignored by the state and protected? There are many absent parents that start new families, or two new families, do you think this would be an option if they had to pay for all these children they create?

The enforcement measures that the Government put in place to tackle persistent non-payers has absolutely no power against our benefit system. Confiscating their passports will reduce their right to seek work outside of England, take their Driving Licence and you reduce the type of work they can look for, send the bailiffs in, you might as well they can’t take anything whilst they’re in receipt of benefit. Put them in prison-you can’t do that either, not while they are job-seeking. They can job seek for how ever many years they like. After a while your benefit payments are stopped, that doesn’t really matter if you are working cash in hand. You are still signed into the system and protected even though you are not directly receiving payment.

Millions of families are facing this cruel fate brought on by the most selfish act of one person. Our government are protecting these people and aiding them in their preferred lifestyle. There are many single parents who have chosen to provide and protect their children from the fate that another parent has decided, mainly because we would like our children to play a decent future role in society. Does the government recognise these children or their parents?

In a fair United Kingdom any parent who chooses to create a child then abandon them financially and emotionally would be brought to justice. After all it is a form of abuse. As for our ever accepting benefit system, if you are signed into the system but are no longer receiving payments then we should be questioning how you are living. Living off a spouse and his/her benefits is not financially possible on the amounts the Government are publicising, or is it? I wouldn’t know I work to support my children.

If anyone from the legal profession can offer a solution to this situation that affects so many families then please let us know.

Join CSAhell.com on Facebook for more CSA help

November 26, 2010

If you’re reading this website the chances are, like most people, you’re having some form of problem with the Child Support Agency. You may be a single parent struggling to bring up children and receiving no help from the CSA at all, or you may be a hard working non resident parent receiving demands for money you can’t afford to pay, and most likely do not owe.

This website is filled with thousands of stories like yours, from people in exactly the same position as you, and their experiences will offer valuable help in showing you that you’re not alone in this fight, and there are ways you can prevail.

One way you can get even more CSA help is by joining our Facebook page, where you’ll be able to interact with hundreds of like minded people all after the same thing – justice and fairness for all. By joining our Facebook page you’ll receive daily posts in your Facebook news feed offering stories of hope, tragedy and, in most cases, CSA mistakes and incompetence. If nothing else it will show you that you’re not alone in this fight, and there are others in the same position as you. All you have to do to join our page is visit the page now and click ‘like’ to receive daily updates direct in Facebook, and to interact with people on the page.

Have a look at our Facebook page and join us on the largest social networking website of all.

Keep fighting the CSA.

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