Maladministration, theft and fraud

Following several months of dealing with the Child Support Agency (CSA) I have suffered severe maladministration by them as well as theft and fraud in them taking my money – here is my story to date;

On 19th September 2013 I received not one but two letters from them out of the blue informing me they would be taking money directly from my wages (they had already completed a DEO (deductions from earnings order). This was the first I knew about this as they had not even bothered to contact me in ANY way shape or form to complete ANY assessments! Their letter stated they would be taking £472 directly from my wages at the end of the following month they also informed me:,Following a review of your case we have found that you were not paying enough (I had no correspondence from them about this or any review).So they have therefore added £2,538.00 to my pre-existing arrears, thanks for that CSA.

Now I have two children and rent, bills, etc. to pay there was no way I could afford that! If the CSA had taken that money it would have meant I would not be able to pay my rent let alone bills and would have ended up homeless with my children and partner, I would not have been able to run my car and would have had to leave my job and become unemployed.

I immediately telephoned them and discovered this claim was started by my Ex way back in 2004, however I did not split with this individual until 2006 and by pure luck I actually found several documents proving we were still together until then. The CSA adviser agreed something was not right and informed me they would have to ‘action’ my case. This basically meant they would send an email (to where I do not know) asking for my case to be looked urgently. I contacted them every day for a week – every day I spoke to a different CSA adviser who told me NO ONE was picking up the email and each day that I phoned another email was sent asking for the case to be looked at URGENTLY because they were still going to be taking this crippling amount from me at the end of the month.

I also learned that they should have contacted me first to complete an assessment to see how much I could afford to pay – THEY DID NOT. A DEO order should only be sought by the CSA when an individual refuses to comply with the CSA, now seeing as I had had NO previous correspondence from them I find it quite baffling why they decided to waste tax payer’s money on getting this DEO when all they had to do was actually contact me!! I was also told that if I have overpaid they would of course pay me back.

I asked how I could forward the proof that I was still with my Ex and was told to go to their website where I could send them the info… this was a LIE! There was no way AT ALL to forward the vital proof to them only an online form you can fill out to lodge a complaint. This complaint form did not have any way for me to attach files like the ones I desperately needed to get to them.

After a week of this and their lies I’d had enough and telephoned them demanding a address I could forward my proof and a complaint to them via. I then forwarded my complaint both via their online form and via secured next day post regarding misadministration, gross misconduct and gross negligence in this matter. I also included copies of my proof in the letter I sent via Royal Mail. Funnily enough I received a telephone call within a few days of them receiving my complaint informing me they were now looking into it, about bloody time too. At this point they did, for better use of the word; freeze all activity on my case to look into it, so no money would be leaving my account. Having received my proof they agreed I was in fact with my ex until 2006.

I then received another call from them asking me if I had any way to contact my ex. Now what makes me laugh is the CSA didn’t even have up to date contact info for my ex yet they were going to be taking A LOT of money from me and paying it to her without even knowing if HER details were still the same. For all I know they could have taken my money and paid it to someone else!! Surely for a government body such as the CSA they should have at least checked my Ex’s details were correct, no? Before taking money from anyone should the CSA not you know contact the person due to receive the monies – what kind of mickey mouse system do the CSA seem to be working by?!?

So several weeks later and they managed to find her (well done CSA). By this point the CSA had lied about being able to send them the proof, had not shown any interest in seeing my proof, had wrongfully got a DEO order without even contacting me, hadn’t even bothered to do their jobs and look into a case that needed to be ‘actioned’ urgently, had not completed ANY assessment and tried to charge me from a time when I was still with my ex as well as a few other things.

Now came the wait to see if the CSA could actually do their job and on 14th October 2013 they wrote to me informing me my current case had been closed and was no longer in force. They were so nice to include in their letter;

“However, we will look at your case again to see if there are any arrears of child maintenance still to be paid. If we find that there are arrears these will still have to be paid and we will contact you about this separately”

Well aint that fucking nice of them! No mention about whether I could of overpaid, no mention about them looking into if THEY owe ME! But if I still owe arrears I WILL HAVE TO PAY! Right, ok then.

I telephoned them again at this point and learned that my ex had put in a new application and someone would be contacting me within the next two weeks to start and assessment and work out how much money they would be stealing from me in the future.

Weeks went by, those weeks turned into months… then finally on the 6th JANUARY 2014, yes around THREE MONTHS LATER. Three months that no doubt new arrears will have built up on this new case, if there is even a new case due to their complete lack of correspondence??? They actually wrote to me informing me that I had in fact made an overpayment – great so they should pay that back to me as they told me they would. I mean if I had any arrears I would HAVE to pay them, remember they can take monies owed directly from my wages without my consent. They also have the authority to take my passport and even put me in prison if I don’t pay because that’s what the CSA do!

In this letter informing me about my overpayment they failed to include the amount of how much of MY OWN MONEY they had illegally stolen from me, now I’m sure they have a legal obligation to inform me of just how much I have overpaid, no?

Now this next bit is priceless, here is what they actually have had the audacity to say in the letter;

“After carefully considering the circumstances of your case, we have made a discretionary decision not to repay the overpayment”

Oh ok is that how it works, what a fair and just system that is! They even say in the letter;

“this is because neither you or your ex informed us when you reconciled”

What reconciliation? I was with my ex until 2006 which I proved for god’s sake!!! for us to have reconciled wouldn’t we have had to have separated first?? I proved we were together until 2006 yet the CSA have taken it upon themselves it would seem to lie and make up their own story of mine and my ex’s time together. Clearly this deception from the CSA is purely to facilitate them not having to pay me back the money they illegally and wrongfully stole from me, and remember they haven’t even bothered to tell me how much of my money they stole.

Now bear in mind their first letter that stated they had decided to add over £2,000.00 to apparently already existing arrears and after they worked everything out I had actually overpaid means that by rights they must owe me several thousand pounds??

Today’s date is 11th January 2014 and no one from the CSA have been in contact (again) about this new case my ex has put in. I have no confidence in them and they have shown how they just lie and fail to do their job when you contact them. Every day that passes their new arrears build up! We are a very low income household, I work a full time job that doesn’t even pay enough to live on, we do get tax credits to top up my wages but that’s it and we still struggle on a daily basis, we get no help from the council at all. Since our youngest started school last September my partner has desperately been looking for work without success, so words like arrears scare us as we cannot afford to live now, if they take money for these children my ex won’t even allow me to see (in fact she moved away somewhere and I have not seen my children since 2007 when she sent me a nasty text message informing me she has taken my kids 500miles away and neither myself or my family will ever see them again, oh and im not even sure the oldest is mine but as the CSA told me I will have to find the money myself for a paternity test and again they will pay me back any overpayment that is made – oh yeah of course YOU WILL!) and were fucked! Add the arrears and I honestly don’t know if we will even be able to afford to live at all, worrying and uncertain times ahead for us indeed.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my experience.