CSA help

Gavin78 · 28 July 2017 at 12:44AM

I've posted this on another forum and been given some advice to contact them with a SAR request. I'm posting here looking to see if there is any alternative help/advice.

I took myself to CSA as my ex was being funny with payments, in 2007 I started working I informed CSA who calculated my payments at £30 a week from a deducations of earning order.

2007 I also started paying another debt back for £20 a month through my wage about the same time CSA were taking the money as well.

2013 I moved into a new house I informed CSA

2017 April wages updated their systems with new software and wage slips were a little different inc the £20 debt which now said £20 court order. Did pay much notice too it and went on holiday for a week just after getting the wage slip.

2017 April come back from holiday see a letter waiting for me from CSA to say it was changing to CMS in september.

Found it a little confusing so rang payroll to enquire if they new anything about it and they didn't as yet. I asked about the £20 debt as to how much was left to pay and it was at that point she said what debt the £20 is CSA payments.

I said well it should be £30 a week and I assumed it came off my wage before I got paid. So she said they can only pay what they have been asked to pay and £20 a month was the order.

I nearly died at that point 10 years have passed. She couldn't offer anymore advice other than to contact CSA themselves.

I'm scared to contact them I've estimated the debt to be about 18k-21k.

My wife lost her job last year hasn't got back in work yet and as a result put us 22k in debt which I pay back through stepchange debt charity at £269 a month

I get 1,250-£1300 a month. I've worked out that just on my wage there is about £140 a month left to buy food and that is for 3 adults and a 3 year old my stepson is 23 but still at home and Uni.

!!!!!! am I going to do about this mess. I'm in a council house so wont lose the house but I could lose everything we own. we have a car if we lose that I can't even get my daughter (who I have with my now wife) to nursery which free's my wife up to work hopefully (once schools open again september and jobs come back up)

I don't understand why CSA haven't contacted me when the payments were wrong (or my ex) who I haven't spoken to for since 2003

It's so bad at the min all the debts are in my name inc CSA 40k+ that ending it all has been floating in my mind there wont be any burden on the rest of the family it will all die with me.

Sambella · 28 July 2017 at 12:30PM

This could well be an error on the part of CSA/CMS so unless and until they get in contact try not to worry.

They send the instruction to your employer to deduct xx amount of money and if they give them the wrong figure it is hardly your fault.

Gavin78 · 29 July 2017 at 11:07PM

Thank you for getting back to me, I think you might be right. I have the evidence where they wrote to me to say it was £30 and the details of where I work etc

I was thinking if I contacted them it might only make the situation worse especially with it changing over to CMS in September.

HoneyNutLoop · 30 July 2017 at 7:46AM

As part of your CSA case closing, they will check to see if you owe any arrears and write to you then about them, if there are any.

The only decision you have now is do you tackle it now or wait til then? I think submitting a SAR now is an excellent idea, as it can take them 40 days to send it. You don't have to say why you're asking for the SAR.

You say in 2007 they wrote to you to say they would collect £30 a week by DEO and then later the same year the £20 a month began for your other (non-CSA?) debt? Did the £30 a week deductions ever begin? I.e. at one point you were paying £120+ish a month and the £20 a month, or have you only ever had the £20 a month taken since 2007?

Gavin78 · 30 July 2017 at 10:48PM

The £20 payment came off my wage as I got the letter from CSA to say £30 a week was coming off my wage.

I assumed CSA payments were coming off my wage before I got paid so never thought anything about it. I hadn't been working long about 3 months so my wage was different for the first year as I was paying less tax with being unemployed the previous year

1 year into my job I saw an employee who's wage was higher than mine but I had been there longer than him so moved up the payment ladder. I figured the difference was my CSA payments as there was about the same in difference what they said they would be taking.

After all this it got me thinking that I had heard him moaning the other year about having to pay a pension. I can only assume now this was the difference in our wages at the time I never gave it a thought back then.

So after calling wages it now appears the debt I was supposed to be paying off never happened and they don't know anything about that and the £20 a month that has been coming off my wage since 2007 has been CSA.

I've not heard anything from CSA to say the payments were wrong 2007-2013 I moved house informed them of a change of address heard nothing again until this year when I got a letter telling me it was changing to CMS

What I don't understand is why have CSA never contacted me about this and looking at other threads across the internet I'm supposed to get statements from them and they are supposed to keep incontact with me to some extent but I've heard nothing

HoneyNutLoop · 31 July 2017 at 7:34AM

No one here can tell you why they haven't got in touch with you before. Only they (may) be able to tell you that.

If they were taking deductions from your pay, this would have been shown on your payslip, in the same way that tax and national insurance deductions are itemised so you can see what the deduction is for and how much it is. Have you not been receiving payslips from your employer?

I would say ask for the SAR. You'll then know what attempts, if any, they made to contact you and have a better idea of the position of your case.

Gavin78 · 31 July 2017 at 8:36PM

I've had pay slips every month, like I said £20 was showing as coming off which I assumed was the debt I was paying. The CSA I thought was getting taken off my wage before I got paid. I never even thought about it showing on my wage slip as a deducation.

Stupid is as stupid does I guess. I was only just saying to my wife in January that there will only be about another 3 years to pay and she will be 19 then.

I wish I had looked into this sooner.

I guess until contact is made with them I'll not know what has been going on.

Thanks for the advice though. It's at least pointed me in the right direction. Once I know more I'll update this thread

HoneyNutLoop · 1 August 2017 at 7:22AM

The CSA I thought was getting taken off my wage before I got paid. I never even thought about it showing on my wage slip as a deducation.

On a different note - this statement suggests you don't know how much you're meant to get paid gross, which is a little worrying on the financial front. Are you salaried? Or are you paid hourly/piece work? How did/do you know each month if you've been paid everything you're owed?

Gavin78 · 1 August 2017 at 8:03PM

I get a wage every month that varied £100 +/-

Assuming that about £140/£150 a month was coming off my wage I would get what was left which left me with about £1250 a month give and take.

I've never actually sat down until all this happened and broke my wage down bit by bit.

but until I contact CSA I don't really know why £20 was all they were taking when the court order stated £30 a week.

I should have checked at the time £20 was coming off. In any event it's still not my fault it's CSA's and in all this time they have never followed it up. As far as things go they messed up but I have to pay the price for it.

I've no doubt now after spending hours reading on the internet from similar stories that I'm going to be financially screwed by them.

My only case I have really is why did they take £20 only and why didn't they follow it up and why haven't they made any contact in all these years

HoneyNutLoop · 1 August 2017 at 8:17PM

You mean your gross pay varied +/- £100 or your net pay? I only ask because if you thought you were meant to be getting paid an extra £120 all these years from your employer, what happened to that money? Have you been underpaid by your employer? Or did you think your wage was higher than it is?

It sounded in earlier posts like you've been planning that your income will be going up in the next few years when your maintenance ends, which implies you think your pay is meant to be higher than it is, given what you've since realised...

In terms of the CSA, if you're hoping they will say you don't have to pay arrears (if any are owed) because they didn't contact you about the short payments, I think you will be disappointed. All the SAR will do is arm you with information in advance about what did and did not happen on your case and how things currently stand.

Gavin78 · 1 August 2017 at 9:01PM

My wage started around 15k rising to 18k over the 10 year period I just assumed CSA would rise with it as I knew it was roughly 15% of my wage. I can't remember what my starting wage was about £980 off the top of my head.

I never thought I was under paid I assumed it was lower than another work mates because of CSA payment coming off my wage. I've just been stupid all these years assuming it was coming off before I got paid.

I now know that the £20 a month showing on my wage slip was infact CSA down as court order which I took into account that it was a debt I Thought I was paying off which never actually happened.

So while I don't think they would wipe the debt I think at this stage I want to possibly lesson the impact 60% of my wage would just cover rent and council tax I wouldn't be able to pay any other bills or buy any food.

I don't know how flexable CSA are it's not like I have been hiding from them I even wrote to them 6 years later to inform them of a change of address.

I'm hoping they will take the 15% I should be paying plus and additional 5% for debt till my wife gets back in work or I don't know what I will do probably lose our home.

I'm not sure what they do when you have a small child to support on 1 wage.

CSA help

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