Money I pay for my daughter goes on ex’s lifestyle

My soon to be ex wife has been on and on at the CSA to increase my payments. I do earn a reasonable amount of money and changed my job and increased my salary by about 10% per annum. This is not my gripe however, I’m well aware of my obligations to pay and am happy to do so to support my teenage daughter.

My problem is I have no idea how the money is being spent, my ex was always spending money like there was no tomorrow, wasting it on frivolous tat mostly, duvet covers, mugs, tea towels and of course feeding her dirty smoking habit.I know for a fact that she gives my daughter £50 a month that’s less than one sixth of what I have to pay.

This I believe is extremely unfair as I believe I am subsidising her fag habit and her housing costs. She took my home and left my with all the bills and debts when we split. (Incidentally the split was her idea). The other point I need to make is that the CSA, with no reference to me, increased my payments by 20% without telling me last May.I telephoned them immediately because the extra they took was my petrol money to get to work. I explained what happened and I was told that a letter went out in March.

It may have but i never received it! He then went on to say that he would ensure a statement was sent out to me straight away (it never arrived either) and that the payments increased because they (CSA) had miscalculated my support pyments and I now had arrears!However, he did say he could reduce the payment by £40 a month if it would help.I agreed and even thanked him for his help and understanding. Guess what happened the next month?

Yes they took the same amount again in June and July. It does seem there is absolutely nothing a working man who is willing to pay can do with these people.My ex lives the life of Riley on my payments, as I said at the beggining I earn good money but it actually is a struggle to cover my living expenses and am now in debt.This is grossly unfair…however if I was working on a factory floor earning 12 grand a year I wonder what would happen….or out of work and claiming benefit….does it cost more to raise a child if your not working?

Does it cost less to raise a child if your on £12 grand a year?…according to the CSA it costs £320 a month for one 17 year old. I’m now about to ring them again….here we go an the same old merry go round…….