PWC claimed we had never paid her a penny when we paid every month

February 28, 2013

My poor partner recently recieved an attachment to earnings notice with his employer for some ridiculas amount! Basically his ex lied through her teeth about the amount of time the boy spends with us, and claimed my partner had never paid her a penny when he had always paid her every month!

He called them and quieried the stupid amount of arrears they were claiming and also the crippling amount of money they wanted to take each month, even though they have decided to believe all her lies the new amount was much less (still more than she is entited to and more than we can afford) yet when he recieved his payslip today he discovered they took the original amount, this has now left us, after paying our rent and rent debt with £90 to live off a month! we are glad and grateful that we at least recieve some tax credits for our 19mo but we still cannot cover all our outgoings!

We have no idea what we are going to do or how we are going to get through the next few months! Its so unfair that he works far to hard for his money only to have almost half of it taken away from him by his ex wife who is working while fiddling the benefit system! we would be better off on benefits ourselves! we have no issue with paying the money just not at the high rate they are demanding! The poor man now has to work till 3am tonight then get up at 8am to call them and try and get down to see the CAB! How is it fair to punish a hardworking family in this way?

Comments

  • j says:

    Hello

    Do you jave any evidence that you paid the ex, bank statements, chq stubbs etc? Did the csa get in touch and advise you of the position prior to the attachment order explaining the position or did they just go ahead? Does your partner have a copy of his Data Protection file from the csa explaining what is going on? Have you made a formal complaint?

    Here is some general advice –

    ‘This isnt the csa its an open forum so don’t give names/details etc especially of children. (your own name can be used to identify the kids, and your case)

    Don’t deal with the csa by phone, everything in writing, sent recorded, keep the receipts.

    Copy your MP into everything and try and get them involved as your advocate.

    Make a formal complaint about any decision you are unhappy with from the outset as time limits are involved. Always go for an appeal tribunal asap following the internal process.

    Get a copy of your Data Protection prints from the outset so you know what you are dealing with, again follow the correct procedure in wording your request to get ALL information, send it to the right department, send the correct fee.

    Don’t be afraid to complain about any csa staff, or their superiors if you feel you have just cause.

    Remember the process, internal complaint, ‘independent’ case examiner (the csa protection department), appeals tribunal, parliamentary and health service ombudsman through your mp for maladministration.’

    There are a couple of sites you can also look at –

    © ChildSupportLaws – general info.

    ww.fmotl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=8006 – not sure it will help but worth a look.

    ww.deadbeatdadsassociation.co.uk – they don’t help you if you are getting advice elswhere.

    ww.nacsa.co.uk/page/contact_us.html – I’ve heard of them and they get a good review but cost money. (£30pm I think)

    Read the various threads on here eg ‘Court ruling leaves child maintenance authority ‘emasculated’ – ‘November 1, 2012′

    You may pick up some useful info.

    Finally a specialist csa solicitor may be worth talking to but can be expensive and usually end up putting you in touch with a specialist barrister. Still worth an initial interview though but to reduce costs you can use a ‘direct access’ barrister (find through internet) and save on solicitor costs.

    Good luck.

  • Alice says:

    if the amount being collected for the arrears was renegotiated then a new schedule should have been ran – this would send a new deo notification to the employer and a new collection schedule to your husband. Did you receive a new schedule since the call when the new figure was agreed? If so this would indicate that the agency have done what was agreed and the employer has not changed the amount they should have deducted – if this is the case then the employer has made a mistake and as such they should be able to refund the difference between what should have been taken and what they have taken.
    If you have not received a new schedule then this means the deo was not changed and as such the employer would not have been issued with a revised deo.

    I would suggest your husband contact the agency tomorrow (they are open 9-5 on a saturday and 8-8 monday – friday) and ask if a new schedule was ran after he contacted them and agreed the lower amount. If no schedule was ran the agency have not done what they should have done so the onus is on them to take corrective action – as the employer has up to the 19th of the following month to send the deduction to the agency it is most likely that the agency have not received the money yet – if so there are 2 options – they can contact the employer and ask if they can re-run your husbands pay for this month and take the lower amount (the agency cannot force an employer to do this and if it’s a large company they may refuse) if the employer will not refund the money then the agency can put the case onto ‘manual allocation’ and they can then arrange for a refund to be made to your husband if he agrees to pay the lower amount by debit card

  • Carrie says:

    It doesn’t make a bit of difference even if you have ALL the Monthly statements. The PWC has to AGREE that they were TAKEN AS CM . What the… How can they say this .WE PAID & now have to pay all over again at a very high arrears rate which is not leaving us enough to support child that lives with us.We get no ctc,wtc as it is worked out BEFORE they take nearly a third of our income. We are complying as we feel we have no other option ……………they will just go for a DEO & take what they like! Why isn’t anybody listening to US?

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