We do not want an attachment of earnings – we pay direct

February 26, 2013

I have raised a complaint 1 week ago on the 15th February 2013 with the case worker. I haven’t received any confirmation that this complaint has been acknowledged or is being investigated and wanted to clarify that this has been logged. As per your complaints handling procedure you are supposed to confirm you have received my complaint within 2 working days. This is stated on your complaints booklet.

My complaint was in regards to a number of concerns starting with the attachment of earnings that has been put in place on my husbands earnings, I have stipulated on many occasions that I did not want an attachment of earnings and we have been paying directly out of my bank account via standing order every month. I was told last Friday by 2 of your employees there was no attachment on the account to then be told by the case worker she had put this in place because I had previously advised we could not afford the payments you were demanding and she took this as we were not going to pay. We received a letter with the new arrangement that stated the payments were going to come out of my husbands wages and I called you and was told this wasn’t the case and this was only going to happen if we didn’t pay and was ‘a warning’. Clearly the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing in your organisation!

Also as per your letter the date that this attachment was supposed to start was 22/02/13 however you started to receive these payments last week 15/02/13. My husband was abroad at this time and was relying on receiving the whole of his wages and you taking this money early resulted in him being short of money whilst he was in a foreign country and me being at home alone with 3 children to look after and provide for.

We are currently appealing against the maintenance decision as we have 3 children of our own and cannot afford to make the payments you are demanding. When I spoke to the appeals colleague she advised me that while the appeal was going through we were only to pay the maintenance amount of £36.00 and not pay any of the backpay. You have taken the full amount of £56.00 and when I spoke to the case worker she stated this is correct! If we could afford to pay the full amount would we be appealing it??? After a lengthy conversation with the case worker she agreed to lower the back pay to £10.00 per week but I did state to her that I still wanted to raise a complaint and you can listen to the call recording and you will hear me state this.

This whole situation is causing me and my family a lot of distress both emotionally and financially and I want you to acknowledge that this account could have been dealt with better.

Please respond to this as soon as possible

Regards

Comments

  • Alice says:

    this is not the CSA website – it’s an open forum for those who wish to seek advice or air their views on problems they are having with the CSA.

    You need to contact the CSA directly by phone, email or letter if you wish them to address your issued.

  • Alice says:

    as general advice

    you state you are paying direct – was the case previously set to Maintenance Direct and has the PWC contacted the agency to ask for them to collect the maintenance? The agency must have the agreement of both NRP and PWC for MD, if either party wishes to use the agency to collect the payments the case cannot remain as MD, If the case was not previously set to MD but you have paid the PWC direct she will need to confirm the payments have been received and that they were for child maintenance – the agency will issue a declaration for her to sign and the appropriate amount will be adjusted from any arrears on the case. If the PWC does not confirm receipt of these payments the NRP can supply evidence (in your case your bank statements as the SO was coming out of your bank account) and this will be considered for adjustment.

    In respect of your current maintenance calculation you mention that you have 3 children in your household – does the current MC award the correct allowance for these children? Was the agency aware of the children when the last assessment was calculated?

  • j says:

    Hi EB

    As ‘alice’ has said this is not the csa but is an open forum so everybody can read your post on here. ‘Alice’ works for them so the advice about procedure and what action to take is probably as accurate as it gets.

    I would only add that its best not to do anything by phone. Put everything in writing, send recorded, keep the receipts.

    Have you had your data prints or complained about the way your case has been handled?

    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.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 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.

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