My complaint letter to the CSA
Dear Sir/Madam,
I received a letter from you today with a form to complete.
I wish to make you aware of several factors at this point.
My income will not tolerate any further expenditure.
Your system of calculation does not appear to take into account all the factors and those on high incomes benefit whilst those on low incomes suffer disproportionately (one example of someone I know personally who earns £70 000 per annum and yet pays no more child maintenance than you would calculate for someone on a breadline income of £16 000).
I adore my child and want the best for her but it was not my decision to end the relationship and if the truth would ever be listened to I was actually forced out of the matrimonial home in Sept 2007 by threats to make allegations against me, there was never any objective evidence for such claims, and the system never heard my voice.
This followed a long period of suffering relating to a matter that is still to be considered and which hurt both myself and my estranged wife. The injustice of this was clear to my estranged wife also. When I was forced to leave my job in Jan 2007 her support for me dwindled rapidly as I became very ill due to the stress and already was suffering with fatigue issues. For the first time she became the breadwinner as she had a job in teaching.
Shortly before I was ousted my estranged wife was having problems with her employment and I supported her and this allowed her a full return to work with support following an injury at work. Yet she did not adhere to the planned return and eventually lost her job due to non attendance.
Once I had settled back in my home town of Huddersfield I sought to get back on track and began a return into a previous profession, Podiatry. I have managed to continue with this work in spite of my health having ups and downs, which I mainly sought to deal with myself with meditation and exercises. The stress of the divorce, contact issues and the distance has made me quite ill as I try to come to terms with a relationship with my daughter which is so far removed from what I had for the first two years (which was very loving and close indeed and on a 24/7 basis).
I have struggled with my health in the last 12 months and this has been noticed by my employers who referred me to the Occupational Health Dept.
I am now at a cross roads and feeling very low as my attempt to agree to a disproportionate division of the financial settlement (80% for my estranged wife) to allow for the issue of child maintenance.
I am now approached by you, the CSA suggesting a figure of 15% of my income.
Considering that my costs for attending Cornwall to see my daughter are around the £200 pounds per month mark, I am on the breadline as it is. With £16 000 on my P60 for the most recent tax year (and approx £1000 a year paid to be able to practise). I know that this money having to be paid to the CSA will leave me with no means by which to see my daughter and indeed for her to see me as is her right in law.
I am also told by many people who have researched this system that most of the money that would be taken will not go to my estranged wife and thus there will be no benefit or reduced benefit to my daughter. Under these circumstances the Child loses out on both counts and as such this is not a child friendly system at all and as such is defeating the supposed object of the CSA.
I therefore have to say that under these circumstances I am likely to be unable to pay for this.
I am unable to work anymore than I do at the moment as my health is not as it should be as I suffer with fatigue/Post Traumatic Stress and now the fear of losing contact with my daughter altogether is causing so much distress I do not feel able to continue as I have been doing. I want to make a contribution to my society, but all things considered I cannot manage with what is to come.
In short I am unable to cope and wish to maintain my contact and so have to make it clear that I will be unable to pay the CSA any extra money at this time until things change. To be unable to see this is to fail to consider the priority of a daughters rights to see her father.
If we live in a fair and democratic society then all things considered should make allowances for each person’s circumstances yet from what I can see in your correspondence, there is nowhere to raise my concerns and so I present this letter.
Your faithfully,
Nigel Beckwith.
Cc Barry Sheerman MP
Cc. Dr Jabczynski
Cc. To certain Journalists and Activist Groups (names given upon request)
17 thoughts on “My complaint letter to the CSA”
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I have some bad news for you Nigel, the CSA will not give a stuff about your problems. They just want your money.
They dont care if you can afford to see your child after they have taken their money.
They dont care if you can afford to house and feed yourself after they have thaken their money.
They dont care if their involvement make your illness worse.
Emigrate or Die.. that all they want. – Join the rest of us homeless NRP’s.. 🙁
Well it is really not “their money” it is our money and I am sorry to say that this will never stop unless the entire thing gets properl;y organised and people en-masse simply join together and refuse to pay or demand a system change that accounts for all the subtleties of living in this messed up society.
And if the bastards are focing you to be homeless, be homeless outside Westminster and force them to listen or raise awareness with those who will see the spectacle. Stop bending over and letting them saft you stand up and be counted and resist like hell (non violent), it is the only way.
nigel most people would love to do a mass non payment but the csa will just issue a deo for whatever amount they see fit whether you can afford it or not. i definitely agree that some sort of protest needs to be done outside west minster
The only way things are going to change is by people power, no prima donnas, no secret agendas just people working together in non- violent ways and simply doing all they can to raise awareness and whereever possible refusing to comply on the gounds that the payment does not take into account the means to pay, and that the child does not often receive all of the payment anyway.
We do not all have to protest outside westminster…simply protest en masse outside every local council office or townhall throughout the country on arranged days and make all the points to the press and people watching the spectacle.
Peaceful is the word.
We are the ones that have always propped up this so called democracy. To sit by will ensure that it stays the same or gets worse.
Nigel,
As an ex-employee of the dear old CSA I can empathise with your situation. I regret that both yourself and the others who have left comments have under estimated the ineptitude of the CSA. It is actually ten times worse than your perceptions. From shocking experience, there is every chance your letter will be unanswered and wind up at the back of somebody’s desk drawer for a couple of years. In the unlikely event that you receive a reply which is not from a templated set letter, the best you can hope for is a variation form to complete and return. After about six months and overcoming lottery style odds, your £200 a month travelling expenses will be deducted from your £16k income and then the 15% worked out on the residue. Basically this means you will receive about £33 a month reduction in payment meaning that you will be able to get to junction 29 on the M1 just south of Chesterfield before having to abandon your visit to Cornwall and head back to Huddersfield.
you should also find out who your local MP is and forward this letter on to them urging them to get in contact with you. MP's are the only ones who can put the pressure on to make changes in this system from hell.
http://www.deadbeatdadsassociation.co.uk may help you good luck.
John please cant you try taking your experience with working for the csa to the media and get this shambles back into the lime light?
Sounds about right. What a sick system. What action is being taken by anyone to change this?
And how is it that so many are arguing amongst themselves instaed of working together. You don’t need infiltrators if people’s egos are so fragile. Work together you people and we will deal with this…this is the way it has always happened and always will.
I made a mistake with my calculation for the monthly costs of travel. They are nearer £300. Heck, so breaking up families is definately the agenda here then.
Ofcourse, the entire system of (in)justice in the UK is to break up families , lawyers are trained in this country to pit one party against the other -hey isn’t that what the model of democracy in this country is about ? Why would you expect MP’s to understand? Itwas going to be inevitable that it is going to infiltrate down to the level of a family .
The only people who benefit are the judges, the courts and lawyers who are running this racket behind the scenes- no children benefit in this country – they get exploited as do the parents . Oh and don’t get taken in -these so called ‘resolution lawyers’ its all a farce- lawyers do whatever they want , lie, cheat , manipulate the sytem evade justice -not help deliver it! There is no effective accountability – lawyers defending lawyers – what kind of a cartoon self regulation is that? Its a complete sham.
Lawyers can twist the truth and the courts will turn a blind eye because they want to encourage this and perpetuate this system of conflict-because it keeps them in business-only when ordinary citizens realise this and refuse to play along and boycott the system will anything change for the better .
Well it is self regulation, as you say…could we ever have expected Ronnie Kray to have punished Reggie Kray for misgivings? It is a sham. The so called two party political system is also a sham, it always was. No matter what sort of mandate there ever has been for sweeping change, it has never happened unless the powerful controllers (all behind the scenes) wanted it. Then they pretend they are giving us what we want.
Change it…of course we can change it…but does anyone want to actually work together and do the necessary work?? That is the question…people are programmed to expect a saviour to do it for them, an alternative MP or union leader or return of their chose religious leader etc etc….but rolling our sleeves up and doing what is necessary…no…but it can change…and I believe it will.
But to press I have seen no group working together on here. So what is the intent of this site…just to let people vent their spleen?
i think they should a reform forcing the mother to allow the father to see their children and spend some quality time with them. or she wont have any CSA payment for the period to she refuse to other parent from seeing their kids.
same as someone who pn jobseeker and refuse to sign. i believe they wont have any money 4 that week. because right now women are taking the piss out of men. you can be the best dad of this planet one day your ex partner will tell so many bad thing to your kids about that you wont imagine.
sorry guys i speak french.
Nigel,
After reading your story and also looking you up on Google. I have found another piece written about you, not by you may I add! Its is clear that you are a man with too much time on your hands and someone who feels that the world owes him a favour……..boo hoo!!!!
You really need to get off your fat bloated arse and man up……your an utter disgrace to the male race, pathetic freak!!!
How about I slap some good into you?
Bill