Do I have a case for suing the CSA?

November 27, 2013

do i have a case or suing the csa ? 15 years ago the csa assessed me and after i’d paid my rent i was being left with £80 a month to live on. I naturally assumed that this was a mistake and kept getting in touch with the csa to double check everything as they had obviously made a mistake.

After a lot of phone calls i was told nothing was wrong and thats what i had to pay. Due to having to choose between eating and paying to get to work I ended up having to leave the area. My mother had recently died and as soon as i’d moved i was informed by my sons mother that i couldn’t see my son anymore and she was seeing someone else who was going to be his father from now on.

i still have no contact with them and don’t know where they are. I’ve subsequently found out that the csa assessed me wrong in the first place and it really does look like they knew what they were doing when they assessed me. Do i have a case to sue them ? They are continiung to make my life hell due to their unreasonable demands , i don’t mind paying but when they think its ok to leave you with less than a giro to live on when you work full time i really do just want to take them to task for driving me away from my son in the first place.

Surely if murderes and rapists can use to the human rights act then surely so can i, because their incorrect actions have deprived me of a relationship with my son. any advice would be greatly appreciated

Comments

  • Marcus Lasance says:

    Leave the area? What does that mean? Now if you had said emigrated to Australia I could follow your story. What’s your mother’s death got to do with anything? Did she leave her estate to you? Maybe not so poor after all? Sounds more like running away from your responsibilities.

  • jo says:

    Marcus it meant he moved away when his mother died and possibly by the looks of it to live closer to work…this isn’t illegal, pwcs do this all the time aswel yiy know.I’m finding your replies very anti nrp and negative….try not to tie the deadbeats with decent nrps who want to provide and be able to have a life too, could you live on 80.00 a month? How do you know he walked out on his responsibilities?

    OP have you been in contact with your mp to sort your case out? If you go through your mp you’ll then have one point of contact with csa to address any issues you have. If there is a case of maladministration then you can take it further, but I’m afraid suing the government is a long shot.

  • Woody says:

    Marcus, why you being such a troll?
    Do you work for the csa?
    You seem to be trying to wind up all nrps who are being persecuted by the csa.
    Why don’t you try and help?
    Rather than making people feel worse.

  • Lisa says:

    Marcus you sound like an awfully bitter nasty person, maybe say nothing if you can’t help! I agree with jo getting the MP involved is the first step by making complaints you get your voice heard, I wouldn’t hold your breathe for any payments back, according to CSA they cannot leave a mother in financial hardship whether it’s their mistake or not, they only admit to problems after going through their internal complaints procedure and have had your case esculated to ICE, good luck sounds like your going to need it

  • Lisa says:

    https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/204256966364149/ We have a fab group on facebook, click the link, very supportive bunch and we can try and help with problems as well

  • Harry says:

    Marcus – it’s best to keep your gob shut if you have nothing useful to say. I suggest you do just that.

  • Marcus Lasance says:

    @jo Now I get it. The poor sod was forced to live with his mum by the CSA. With her gone he no longer had a place to live and had to move. Apologies! I should have worked that out from what little he posted? He should have said! I just don’t have your vivid imagination I guess. It is true my instinct is to side with/help PWCs that are vilified for no reason. Isn’t that what child support is about? If you care to read all my posts I have also supported several NRPs with a genuine story. And one thing you will never hear me do is use vile language against people I don’t know, which is what the real trolls do on this site. Someone is not a troll just because he doesn’t howl with the woolves!

  • Woody says:

    You are a troll marcus, many many of your posts prove that, you just can’t bring yourself to help, you would rather take an unjust pop at people who are so desperate they come here looking for help.
    Why not start your own csa troll group?
    People come here because they are having their lives ripped apart by the csa, thats both nrps and pwc.
    Try to gain some compassion and empathy for all the victims of the corrupt csa!

  • Woody says:

    Marcus,
    Are you really trying to wind up people who are already at breaking point?
    What are you hoping to achieve? That they do something stupid like harm themselves or harm someone else?
    Having being tormented by the csa on numerous occassions, i know how bad things can get.
    I know someone who committed suicide because of the csa, so please drop the troll routine and try and be a possitive force for change for both nrps and pwc.

  • Marcus Lasance says:

    Woody, you are misguided and mistaken. This web site was set up to support all people that have problems with a non functioning CSA. This is not a ‘fathers for justice’ web site! I actually posted earlier, proper research presented to a parliament select committee, that PWCs and NRPs suffer in equal quantities at the hands of the CSA. Meanwhile taxpayers subsidise 40 pence of every pound distributed by the CSA to PWCs. This is the real scandal! What seems to happen on this forum that a bunch of woman hating male trolls with names like ‘fat slag hater’ pounce on any PWC that comes for help with words like ‘greedy cow’ and worse. The web site owner, hiding behind a picture of a sweet little boy, mass approves all these vile postings. This makes him an accessory after the fact. So it’s this group of CSA victims, mainly PWC’s, that come here for help, that are driven away by trolls. If I try to counter act that a little, so be it. It does not make me a troll if I question a sloppy story that just does not ring true. I should not have to make up stories for missing facts. Kevin’s mother’s death above is irrelevant to him supporting his children!!!! This makes his story just another sob story, unless he clarifies that point.

    Finally here is some advice for NRP’s:
    1. Stay well away from the CSA and make your own private arrangement to support your offspring like I did. This means maintaining a civil relationship with your ex for your kids’ sake. Might mean you get invited to their wedding one day. Think ahead!!
    2. Set up a standing order so you don’t fall behind in your payments. Kids come first!
    3. Increase payments voluntary when you have had a rise or win the lottery. Keep the moral high ground! Speak to your ex when you hit the rocks. See point 1!

    But if you fall foul of the CSA because PWC insisted going down that route…….

    – log and date all communications with the CSA on a notepad. Ask who you are speaking to. They will only give you their first name unless they are a manager.
    – Use their on-line complaint form. You will get an email with a summary of your complaint for filing https://www2.dwp.gov.uk/csa/v2/en/complaint.asp
    – if no access to internet try sending complaints by registered post
    – if you talk to morons, insist you speak to their manager. Just keep repeating ‘i wish to speak to your managager’ until they put you through. Don’t call them names, they will just hang up and it gets you nowhere.
    – If you think you are paying the wrong amount, pay the right amount in a savings account. That way you will not face huge arrears when you win and smaller arrears if you loose.

    There! Now you cannot say I never help NRPs 😉

  • jo says:

    You don’t need to use vile language to sound patronising or be horrible….tone says it all.

    I’ve been left raising children by myself and have had no help from their father, it doesn’t make me anti nrp.

    And csa seem to make mistakes in a majority of cases which shouldn’t be down to the nrp having to save money back because it might happen to them….csa should be getting it right and be regulated in making sure that they do. They are messing with people’s lives which needs to stop.

  • Lyn says:

    You stand absolutely no chance of suing the csa. You stand absolutely no chance of getting anywhere by going to your MP..that’s a time-waster.
    The csa do not take any of your outgoings into account at all when making an assessment. It’s 15% of your net income for one child..
    I speak from 6 years as an NRPP fighting their errors, and have had success with refunds but you have to be patient, it doesn’t happen overnight.
    The single most VITAL thing that you need to know is that following ANY decision that the csa make, is that you only have 28 days from the date of the letter to Appeal against it if you think it’s wrong. And that you do not Appeal by phone, or to your csa office, because they will delay it on purpose. Send all mail by Recorded Delivery only. It’s amazing how many of my ‘not received’ letters suddenly show up when I say that it was sent this way.
    The csa have a Central Appeals Unit, and they will look into it internally. If there is still no joy from them, then you tell them that you want it to go to Appeal Tribunal Hearing. The main thing is that your Appeal has been lodged within the time frame.
    However, in the meantime until your Appeal is heard, you will have to continue to pay whatever they say.
    They cannot be sued, and Human Rights Laws do not apply to them unbelievably, nor does negligence or duty of care.
    In all they have it totally sewn up, and the reason for that is the “floodgates” effect.
    Because of their appalling calculations, their total incompetence, and the terrible impact on lives; If just one person was able to successfully sue them the floodgates would open and the subsequent financial impact would bring the Government to it’s knees.
    It has been known that some people have been able to claim a small amount of compensation, but this is small and only for minor errors..late payments etc. And purely an exercise to show that they are not all- out bastards.
    We have received refunds of £6,000 due to a terrible error from 6 years ago, and were able to submit a late Appeal because it was official error, but it took a further 2 years to get it all because each time the Tribunal ordered them to recalculate they got it wrong again, and we had to Appeal again. But we were refused compensation.
    Ours is an extremely long and stressful story,and we are still fighting as they still cannot bloody get it right.
    So, in answer to the first posted above, you certainly cannot sue them. If the original assessment was definitely wrong, then you may have the very very smallest of chances to recoup that money, or to at least have any arrears reduced. But I wouldn’t hold your breath.It was a long time ago.
    To all that do not fully understand the CSA’s policies (which will include 98% of CSA staff !) then please please buy a copy of The Child Support Handbook, available from the Child Poverty Action Group.
    It’s about £27, but if you are on benefits, then it’s about £9, and it will be the best investment against them that you will ever make.
    Also, NEVER try to resolve issues by phone, they tell lies. If something is told to you that they will do whatever on your behalf, then write a letter setting out the content of the call and send it by Recorded Delivery. It will serve you well.
    Get copies of your csa file from their Data Protection Unit. Your csa office will give you the address. You send them a £10 postal order, and you get copies of every letter, computer prints etc, Tell them you want EVERYTHING or you will only get letter copies.
    Go through it with a fine tooth-comb, that’s where you can get your proof of anything you’ve disputed, or proof of miscalculations.
    Know your enemy !!!
    And Good Luck to All. x

  • kev says:

    thanks to lyn for her excellent advice (29/11), and in respnse to marcus, bringing up my mother dying i was trying to highlight how fragile my state of mind was at the time – i would have been more able to have found a solution to my problem without havng to leave if i hadn’t beën so grief stricken. Trying to live on £80 p/m whilst the mother was also denying me access all became a bit too much, the stress levels were getting dangerously high.
    And i apologise if i offended anyone with my last post, a combination of anger and lacking eloquence.

  • Marcus Lasance says:

    Sorry to hear about your loss Kevin and how it affected you. I should not have jumped to conclusions.

  • Chris wyld says:

    Hi my name is Chris I successfully got repayment out of CSA and they claim it bk from mother with care as the child was not mine after many many I’ll advised calls to CSA I got three years payment bk and compensation contact me on chris [email protected] or 07806682563

  • Chris wyld says:

    Hi my name is Chris I successfully got repayment out of CSA and they claim it bk from mother with care as the child was not mine after many many I’ll advised calls to CSA I got three years payment bk and compensation contact me on chris [email protected] or 07806682563

  • Kevin M says:

    I lost my house because of the CSA, I was paying £60 cash maintnance for my Son every week, but I ex told them that I didn’t pay her nothing, so the CSA took about £700 out of my bank account one month and £400 the next, I just could not pay the mortgage and never cought up with the payments, this lead to the brake up in my relationship, I had a breakdown lost my job my car my woman and my house was taking off me by the courts, then I was in debt of almost £100000 that I’m now paying back with help with a IVA .

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