I want my money back from the Child Support Agency!

Straight forward case – mum (me) has our daughter so dad pays CSA; dad has our sons so I pay CSA. We both pay each other via CSA with DEO on both of us!

However, when my responsibility stopped (youngest son now 18 so I don’t have to pay maintenance) CSA forgot to cancel my DEO.
I ring to enquire, get an apology, but no action taken…DEO not cancelled for another 3 months! so I’ve paid an extra 3 installments when I didn’t have to.

This was back in Sept 2008 and I’m still waiting for them to return the money they ‘stole’ from me. The ridiculous thing is they happily admit they made a mistake and failed in their duty to cancel my DEO on time.

However, what they also say is they took the opportunity at that time to do a breakdown on our other case. They say I had been overpaid by – get this – an amount equal (less £9.00) to what they had taken from me. Call me cynical but how very convenient! And why did it take 3 months to investigate this farce, whilst all the time nicking my hard earned cash from my salary!

What’s more absurd is despite repeated calls and letters they won’t (because they can’t) tell me when or how I received this so-called overpayment.

I shouldn’t have be asking in the first place – if they say they’ve overpaid me they should be wanting to evidence it. I’m confident I haven’t been overpaid, all I want is my money back that they had no right to take.

I’m now in the second stages of fighting my case through ICE Independent Case Examiner. They’re very friendly and agreeable but not really getting very far on my behalf.

I will keep fighting though – it’s a lot of money to me and I’ve gone passed the distressed pain barrier, I’m just furious now.