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The CSA has been very underhanded with me – what can I do?

June 4, 2013

I am 40 yrs old with a 17 year old daughter after splitting up with my ex girlfriend for her cheating. I was giving her cash for my child and everything was fine.

My ex was then told if she did not go through csa to claim money of me then this would affect her benefits. I moved away from the area as i had lost my job due to an assault in which i was left with severe head injurys. I spent almost 4years on the sick untill i started training and made a recovery.

I then joined the army and went of to pursue a carrer. I had a very limited contact with my daughter as the relationship with my ex was understandebly tense. The first i heard that i was being pursued for money from the CSA was from the army after i had been with them for 6 x years. I was called into the commanding officers office and asked why i had refused to pay in which i replied i knew nothing of there claim.

The army interveined and the amount that the CSA wanted to deduct was reduced dramaticly. I then left the army 2 years later and found a job. Ater being in this job for 8 x months the CSA started taking £150 a week out of my wages. I contacted the CSA to ask why i was paying so much and spoke to a very rude man who seemed very anti father.

He informed me that the CSA had called me on a phone and i had refused to pay anything.I informed him that i had never had that conversation with anyone and the phone was not mine. He told me that because they had spent so long trying to find me and i refused to pay they had taken the earnings i was on at the time and used that as the figure to work out back pay. I told him that i was not taking home £540 a week in the army and that i was on the sick for 4 x years and he told me that there was nothing he could do as they had already decided that i owed £16000 in back pay.

£8500 to my ex partner and £7500 to the goverment. I was forced to leave a well paying job because of this and found unployement elsewhere. Once again after 9 months they started taking money straight from my wages.

By this i was having my daughter every weekend so i contactet the csa and told them unless we could come to reasonable solution then i would have to be unemployed as i would be better of on the dole.

Whilst all this was going on my ex contacted the CSA and told them she did not want them to pursue me for any more money as this was basicly taking the money away from my daughter as i had no money to look after her on the weekends.

The CSA contacted me to inform that they would only be pursueing the £7500 which they said i owed the goverment and that they a policy to collect the money within 5 years.
I have made regualer monthly payements to clear this debt with my last payement being last month.

I contacted the CSA last night to ensure that everything was ok as i have a new family now with a ten month old daughter and one on the way and my wife and i are surviving on £1.480 per month with £120 working tax credits added. The CSA said that i had no debt showing but they would ring me back to confirm. They rang me back at 18:00hrs and started the conversation with “you are not going to like this”.

They then went on to tell me that although my ex told them she did not want any monies from me that this was never written of and was put in holding account so now that i have paid of the money owed to the goverment they will ask myu ex again if she wants them to pursue this. This was never explained to me in any letters from the CSa and i have letters telling me what the agreement was and how much i had to pay.

They are sending out a letter to my ex but won’t tell me what address they are sending the letter too. I have told them that my ex has moved so wont receive this letter and they have said if they don’t hear back from her they will pursue the amount in the holding account.

I beleive that they have been very underhaned whilst dealing with me in every sense of the word. Firstly if they had taken into consideration my earnings and just plucked a figure from the air then then the bill would have been a lot lower. Secondly there excuse that they did this because they spoke to me on the phone and i confired my date of birth but refused to pay..(this phone call was never taken by me)

And thirdly how can they make an agreement with me and once i have fulfilled my end of the agreement go back and change it all.
This is obviosly causing a great deal of stress in my house hold at a time where we could really do with out.
My daughter turns 18 in september and has asked for driving lessons but if i have to pay more i will not only be unable to do this but i will once again be strugggling to live.

Is this common practice for the CSA to go back on what was agreed and is it legal?
I am extremally concerened as my ex has just got divorced again so she would most likely go for this money now as she is working and the child does not live with her so she would just get to keep it.

Please help me as i can’t see this being morally right

Written by Michael O'brien · Filed Under CSA Advice 

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Comments

  • Alice says:
    June 4, 2013 at 5:26 pm

    if a PWC says that they do not want their debt collected it is suspended and suspension letters are sent to both PWC and NRP – on the NRP’s letter it states that the debt has been suspended but not written off … until very recently there was no provision to write off debt, this has recently changed and the PWC can ask for the debt to be written off.

    If you ex is still claiming CHB or any other benefits (JSA, Tax Credits etc) and she has registered her new address with the benefits agency her new address will have been updated automatically on CSA records, but it might still be worth you contacting her, if you can, and inform her that the CSA are trying to contact her.

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