Man faces paying for child that isn’t his through CSA

Sheffield based Ryan Kennedy has been having the worst of year of his life, all thanks to the CSA. They’ve contacted him in February of last year to say that a former girlfriend had named him as the father of her nine year old son. This meant he was liable for child support. However, even though he had to borrow £200 from his father for a DNA test, the mother of the child refused the test.

This means that if the woman changed her mind he could be contacted again by the CSA at any point in the next 13 years and be forced to pay back maintenance for the entire period.

This meant he faced spending up to 13 years – until the child became 19 – with the prospect that he would be suddenly landed with a bill for thousands of pounds in maintenance hanging over him.

Ryan, who plans to marry his 22-year-old fiancee later this year, said: “My fiancee has been fabulous but it could have gone the other way and totally destroyed us.

“It was as if my life was at a standstill and I couldn’t plan anything.

“The more money I got in the future from work, the more I might have ended up paying.”