My life would be fine if it weren’t for the CSA

March 9, 2013

The sooner it shuts the better.

In September 2008 i informed my ex girlfriend i was starting work. 2 Minutes later the CSA was on the phone. Gave all the details had no problem with this. At the time I had 3 children living with me 2 biological and 1 step daughter (no csa payments received for the step daughter. At first the CSA told me i didn’t have to pay for my Son as they lived in Germany. (Ex girlfriend married a soldier and were posted to Germany.) Approx 6 months later i was informed by the CSA that i was over £1000 in arrears. After a lot of arguing with a James Delaney from the CSA it was agreed that the arrears would be deferred until my Son was 17. About a year later 2010 the CSA informed me they would be taking an additional £50 a month to pay these arrears. I didn’t argue it as i just wanted it paid.
Moving on to present day.

In September 2010 my wife at the time and i seperated. My eldest daughter went back to living with her mother (child from my first marrage) My youngest stayed with her Mum along with her step sister.

From this point I payed the mother of my eldest daughter monthly for child support and my wife that i separated from. I also continued to pay for CSA obligations including the back pay.

In August 2012 i changed jobs, i informed CSA of this change so not to disrupt the money being paid via CSA. As it turns out i never changed my address in 2010 or informed the CSA that i was no longer living with the other children. I was happy for the CSA to review everything. Quite simply i have been paying 3 lots of payments so supporting my 3 children, 1 via CSA and the other 2 via our own agreements.

CSA are now currently reviewing my case. They say as far as they are concerned my private agreements that i have had since 2010 don’t mean squat. Although i can prove payment with bank statements they wont take this in to account. They are now accessing one child from 2010 and i will have to pay arrears. Apparently the only way i could of made a private arrangement is with a court order or by going through the CSA. Why would i want to go through the CSA. I did all i could at the beginning or my claim and they cocked it up. I want as little to do with these people as possible. How can they not take into consideration that i have 3 children that need child support and that i have been paying for all 3 since 2010. They are about to deny 2 children their maintenance because they dont deal with it. They party that is likly to recieve 2k ish in arrears and are a working family. While the 2 other children living with single mothers and receiving benefits will now receive nothing as i face large arrears payment.

The only option i see now and a route i feel forced to take is to ask the 2 mothers i have private agreements with to go through CSA and basically make a claim form September 2010.

The CSA has caused me nothing but problems everything would be fine if they were not involved. They put me in debt only care about the money that goes through their system. I found out that after i make a payment it takes 2 weeks for the Mum to receive her money. I wonder how much revenue the CSA has generated in interest for itself and or the treasury.

I would like to talk to someone about the legalities of this case and my options but i have no idea who is independent and who actually know the law regarding the CSA who doesn’t actually work for the CSA. Sorry for ranting but i’m am extremely stressed by the whole thing.

Comments

  • Carrie says:

    We are struggling with the fact that we aren’t having our private payments acknowledged too because the pwc wont admit she had the money.It is a night mare,my husband has been rung at work ( its difficult to talk in an office environment with out everybody knowing your business but expensive to ring them back) so you find yourself agreeing to very unmanageable payments plans just to get off the phone !The spoke to him like an totally errant father by believing the pwc.They penalise you for neglecting to tell them something many years ago when you have been happily paying for & looking after the children (& step children)Doing a full weeks work & having a young family is tiring enough with out going through reams of CSA small print in the evenings.You imagine you are doing your bit by paying for them and hardly feel the need to do this if the pwc seems happy with the arrangement .The powers the CSA have are quite frightening -at one time they wanted nearly 35% of my husbands wages !We wouldn’t have been able to feed ourselves & young son so slightly re negotiated after much pleading.For someone who has the normal debts in life like rent,food,services, petrol to get to your job it would have been impossible to live on that etc You can ask for you Data files to go through everything they think you owe.You can ask your MP for your area to step in -it does speed things up a bit.We’ve been working on our case for 11 months & got a file inches thick now.We have had a lot of sleepless nights,stress & tears from the situation.Hope I haven’t depressed you too much.There is lots of advice to be found on here & gives you an insight into how things work .All the best!

  • lisa says:

    WE would all be great if the CSA didt exist and we all had to get on with it on our own, you want proof of these arrears, email and complain, not to the idiots in the office but the knobs at the top that usually sit twinddling there thumbs,
    Internal Phone numbers Complaints team 0191 2351024 Gilchrist Duncan CM POLICY 07920592466 [email protected] Liam Thomas (01912162114) operational issues Paul Nash (02073404468) on legislative issues. internal number for Plymouth 01752 886255 Julian Parnall | Parliamentary Resolution Manager | Client Service | Complaints | South West Area | Clearbrook House | PO Box 43 | Plymouth | PL95 8DL | Tel. 01752 886255 | Ext. 6255 | EMail [email protected] [email protected] 07767707270 [email protected] Tel 01752 886233 here are internal numbers and email addresses for the top knobs, dont forget to include your mp, its important that you show them everything, photocopy it dont send original, then demand them reassess you because they are leaving you destitute, good luck,

  • Carrie says:

    Thanks Lisa .That’s quite a list there ,I’ll tell my husband .We have got MP involved.
    Will let you know how it goes !

  • Lisa says:

    Carrie please email.these and.complain, getting your mp involved as well as these at the top wil make sure you are listened to, I keep being told as an.NRPP that things are changing and the csa is suppost to be fair for all, good luck

  • D BROWN says:

    I suggest you contact in writing the Independent Case Examiner and tell them of your situation. Their address is Jupiter Drive Chester CH99 9SA, When you do write to them you will have to leave them your telephone number. Let me guess the CSA told you that bank statements are not conclusive proof. What the fools don’t realise is that a bank statement is evidence of all transactions made into and out of your bank account. If other organisations accept bank statements as evidence of payments why can’t the CSA. They are law onto themselves. It’s just a bunch of idiots who work at the CSA who don’t have a clue of what they are doing and a computer system that is inadequate.

  • wilf says:

    The bank statements are irrelevant as the OP did not inform the CSA of a change of circumstances, that is children he was receiving allowances for were no longer in his household.
    The NRP needs a court order or a case through the CSA, for definitive proof of payments for those children no longer in his household, in order continue to receive allowances.
    I doubt ICE will see it any differently.

  • Carrie says:

    The problem in our case is that the pwc has to agree what she took the money as ! the CSA say some women say there were debts they took on when the nrp left & they have been left to pay them .There definitely wasn’t in our case ALL debts were settled and she had a large payout from the sale of the house! Anybody could see my husband has done for the children. Except the CSA !

  • Carrie says:

    *anybody could see what my husband has done for the children! Except the CSA !

  • lisa says:

    CSA complaints free phone number 08007838527 You may have been phoning and complaining to the CSA for a long time getting nowhere use this guide and you will see how quickly they respond. Please do excuse if I repeat the steps I have done this for a good reason. 1.Complain and Appeal and get your MP involved EMAIL the complaint and appeal copy everyone in.
    2.Order your Data Prints by post and email.
    3.Email all and sundry use the email list and email them every couple of days to remind them.
    4.Not happy with data prints items missing Complain to ICO be sure to copy everyone in. [email protected]
    This is what you do immediately if you believe the CSA are taking too much from you! ■First thing you must do is make an official Complaint and Appeal *EMAIL THE COMPLAINT*and contact your MP and get them involved regarding your issues you are having with the CSA. Mention that you believe that they have made an Official Error. Ask the CSA for the decision to be set aside as they are not leaving you enough to live on and is going to cause you an injustice. This is based upon Regulation 55 of the Child Support Act (Maintenance Assessment Procedure) 1992 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/1813/made
    Attach a copy of ALL your outgoings, even the things the CSA don’t allow for.

    If you complain this way and send all your bank statements as they need them they will be taken into consideration,

  • >