Paying privately but the CSA wants the money all over again
My ex and I split up 17 years ago when my daughter was 3. Up until she came to live with me when she was 16, I paid my ex £50 per week as agreed privately between us. The ex was working at the time. A couple of years later she got married and started claiming Social Security with her new husband and it’s since been found out she didn’t declare the £50. After a bit of an arguement one day the ex decided to report me to the CSA! Since then they have been chasing me and despite numerous phone calls telling them my side of the story they still are demanding £25000. I was able to send them bank statements proving I was making weekly payments to the ex but foolishly when my daughter was 13 I began to pay her directly as I believed the £50 was not being spent on her. The CSA claim this was a ‘gift’ to my child and not maintenance money!!
The worse thing is it’s my ex who has done wrong by not declaring the money she was getting but she’s getting away with it scot free. The CSA advised me to report her for fraud but they already have it on record she was claiming all that time, I didn’t know what she was claiming for as we live 200 miles apart and I have very little contact with them!!
Anyone have any idea what to do next? I’m unemployed at the moment and the CSA have told me today that they will take money from me when I get a job. Will I be able to get Legal aid if I go to a solicitor?
3 thoughts on “Paying privately but the CSA wants the money all over again”
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Your case is typical as to what the CSA are doing at the moment. They want this money for themselves. There is too much to tell you as to what you need to do, to do it here.
They have gone back to old files and decided that you owe all this money because they haven’t updated their computer records.
Fortunately you are unemployed at the moment so this gives you some time to get all the facts and figures together. You need to detail all the payments you have made directly, I trust that they were by cheque or bank transfer. You then have to establish when did the CSA did first get in contact with you. You will probably find that they will try and say that they contacted you years ago but that you never replied. You need to establish when was that first contact date. To do this, write off for a copy of your file under the data protection act to the CSA in Longbenton and ask for copies of all computer and clerical records. Ask for the computer log to be properly dated and enclose a £10 postal order (not cheque). Quote your NI number. This you need to get thru so that you can see what has actually happened over the years and see if you can see what has been going on.
Do not phone them, put it in writing that there are no arrears as you were paying the maintenance for your child directly as per agreement with your ex, and that should they continue to threaten you that you will be taking the matter further.
You also need to get written down what has happened and go see your MP. It is also likely that you will have to take your case to ICE (Independent Case Examiner), Parliamentary Ombudsman (via your MP), and/or a Judicial Review.
For years they have been making up so-called arrears and telling everyone that they have billions of unpaid child support. Even the auditor general states that their figures are a hopeless mess.
They have been told by the new Government to collect all this money in and they are just making up huge fictitious arrears and going after people like you to collect it and they will stop at nothing until they have extorted everything you have from you, have cost you your job, your home and have bankrupted you, and having done that they will continue to harass and threaten you.
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Good luck, you’re going to need it.
Regarding a solicitor, they are a complete waste of time. This is a fight that you will have to deal with a step at a time. Under no circumstances allow them to establish a Liability Order. If you are threatened with Court action, there are ways to deal with it. If this occurs then come on CsaHellHelp on Facebook and we will see if we can help.
This is going to be a major area of contention. At the moment the csa “Rules” assume all Dads are avoiding, where in reality most happy to pay, support get shopping shoes or school uniforms.
The fact that the CSA only recognise payments through them enables the PWC to take advantage of good hearted dads. Let them contribute in kind and then hit them with draconian arrears going back years.