I have been shouted at and abused to the point of tears – I need help

May 30, 2013

I really need some help with the problems/ complaints i have against the latest claim made by my partners ex wife for Child Maintenance.

In 2010 my partner contacted the CSA to make a claim on behalf of his ex wife. Although she wouldn’t allow him to see the children, he knew his responsibilities. At that time he gave authorisation for me to be his third party representative. Eventually his ex completed and returned her paperwork and £63 per week for three children was deducted by voluntary DEO from his wages.

I was annoyed at this time to find no provision on the CSA computer system for a Parent Without Care to make a claim with them stating it had to look like she had with details of his call being logged as a footnote!

In early April 2011, due to a garden fire, we took in the youngest child with the other older children going to an aunt. I rang the CSA to ask that the amount for the youngest child be deducted from the £63 and was informed as the Parent With Care had not contacted them the arrangement would stand. I stressed to them at this time that one of the main criteria of the CSA is that they are notified immediately of ANY change in circumstance by either parent and legally she was obliged to do so (it states in the how your child maintenance booklet that failure to do so could lead to prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000).

I was told tough and, as we felt we were fighting a losing battle, we gave up.The children were returned mid June.

All continued until October 2011 when we heard on the grapevine the mother had put all three children into care. Upon investigating further, I found they had been in care since 16th September 2011.
As the CSA payment was still being taken, I rang the CSA again and informed them the children were in care as of 16th September. I was told, as no call had been received from the Parent With Care there was nothing they could do “without evidence”. At this I got social services to fax all relevant information through to them as proof – this they had to take!

After arguments, stress, blood and tears, I finally got the CSA to agree to stop sending payments to the Parent With Care, with them taking and holding payments instead, so no arrears would start.
During this investigation it was also noted as of 13 June, she had only been claiming Child Benefit for the youngest child, so had been overpaid for the two eldest ones from that time.
As no contact had been made with the Parent With Care by end of December, even though countless letters had been sent and phone calls made, not to mention the absence of £63 per week!! the claim was eventually closed and some of the overpayment made paid back using the money in the holding account, topped up by CSA monies.

I was informed if she tried to claim again the system would flag up the information and the claim would possibly be denied as she had failed to inform the of her change in circumstances so had fraudulently claimed monies not due to her.

Nothing else happened until I received a call mid October 2012 stating she was making another claim. I asked if the previous details had been flagged up and the information noted. Laura said she didn’t know what I was on about but would have a look, possibly having to get a manager to also look into it. She would send the request for information if she needed to but wouldn’t bother if the claim was not going to be ongoing.

We received nothing so thought the claim had been denied.

I received a voicemail message from Gentleman at DWP. Upon eventually getting him a week later I was told the claim was ongoing. I repeated the conversation I had with Laura and was told just because we didn’t get the paperwork the claim was still ongoing. Knowing part of CSA procedure is if they do not receive any information requested, a standard chaser letter is always sent, I asked for the dates they had been. No chaser letters were ever sent. I also informed him of the past history and was ignored!

Over the last four months I have fought and fought but feel like I am losing the battle as well as my sanity!

Especially during this last few weeks there have been a catalogue of errors including:

Not following proper procedure;

Giving wrong Appeal information so making an Authority Form necessary; Providing the wrong Appeal address, giving Birkenhead rather than Preston; Even though I do not have children I received a letter Thursday saying the amount I received in Child Maintenance would not be altered?!?; I being told one thing is categorically correct, so I stress I’m right (because surely the CSA know what they are on about) only to be told the information is wrong!; Because of the wrong address the Appeal I put in, although received within deadline by Birkenhead took 13 days to get to Preston so has now gone to Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals and may not be heard!

I have been shouted at and abused to the point of tears, lied to and had the phone put down on me.

I need your help. I am trying to stop her claim as I feel someone who has not informed the CSA of the children not being in her care not once but twice so fraudulently claiming should not be given a third chance. As far as I have been led to believe, there have been no prosecutions, fines or even a slap on the wrist. This clearly sends out the message that the Parent With Care can deceive the CSA and still be rewarded for it – surely this isn’t right?

I am going to do a full Appeal to Birkenhead, our actual branch dealing with the claim, although we hear from Stockport with a copy going to the Parliamentary Resolution Team. I am also going to send a copy to Steve Webb mp.

Can you help or advise in any way? My relationship is in tatters, we can’t even talk to each other any more thanks to the stress this has put us through and today we received a threatening letter, we don’t sleep, can’t concentrate and my partner is so depressed the doctor has prescribed antidepressants for him, thankfully work keeps me busy, but we are both exhausted and at our wits end.
Any advice to help with our fight would be appreciated, any further information is available should you need it.

Thank you for your time

Comments

  • Lisa says:

    http://Www.csa-ripoffs.co.uk, lots of information there should you.need help

  • stuart says:

    Ok first job is to get a copy of your file from the CSA it costs £10 and will show all what has happened on your file, RULE 1 do not let these twats ruin your relationship, you both need to be strong and you are not at fault neither is the Father.

    Complain using Lisa’s links to e-mails, Steve Webb is minister for CSA so good start, Contact ICE and be sure you have your data prints before dealing with them.

    Do not allow them to fob you off, complain, complain, complain, record every conversation and name names of staff.

    It is a long hard fight but keep calm and work together to beat these scum.

    Good luck

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