Has anyone ever taken the CSA to the small claims court?

donny_osmonds_mad_fan

can you even do that for a government agency?

to cut a very long story short....

Had an 'old rules' case with my ex, was fine for years...then he decided to finally admit he had 3 kids with new girlfriend (hadnt informed them as she was claiming income support as a single mum and getting housing benefit etc) when she got found out they had to go legit...so his 3 kids became more important than mine and his new assesement will nil...was advised to shut the old case down, re open a new rules one whereby I would get a per centage and most likely get around £50 per week.

was told that 13 weeks after shutting old rule i can claim new rules so at 13 weeks did this, was told the case wasnt shut even though i had a letter saying it was, and so it went on, and on and on and on months later still not shut and re opened....put in a formal complaint, was advised that as soon as i get a weekly assesment i can ask the csa to pay the money oweing for the time they had failed, 4 different people told me this (have all names and locations in my diary) so I get the assesment in may finally £54 per week, so did as i was told and wrote a letter requesting I had even been told of all the relevent dates i needed to quote.

month on not heard, despite saying please pay this within 28 days, rang plymouth where case was and who complaint was about, but they told me i had to complain to cumnock where it had been transfered, they said no it is plymouth and so for the past few weeks this is the argument, so at 28 days after sending the first letter i sent another with a copy of first saying please pay this within 14 days...again nothing despite having recorded letter proof of delivery of both.

rang today, spoke to plymouth, cumnock, bolton, plymouth comnock, bolton I kid you not each blaming each other, and one coversation through a 3rd party at plymouth told me I have to wait for 3 mths of payments to come in now from ex which before they will make a compensation payment is seriously taking the mickey especially as this is taking in the time from october to may and is about an office not even managing the case now, .......this is the complaints woman at plymouth who was monitoring my case, who then closed it against my wishes and told me if i wanted to complain about that i had to write to the director on the letter at plymouth...cumnock said that would escalate to a higher level...but doesnt seemed to have worked.

so sorry if you have got this far but my main question is.....am i now within my rights as i have asked for this payment, and reminded them of this payment with proof, still had no formal letter telling me this is what is happening about my escalated complaint, to now take this to a small claims court?

one of the offices said she was at a loss as to this 3 mth wait and advised me to go to a citizens advice but to be honest around here they are all old people who seem to be a bit out of touch with the real world and have never had any luck with anything there before.

do the csa have a 'rule book' or do they quote anything they want to take the heat off them time wise?

I have failed to make some payments due to being down on money per month and really need this money now as we are talking over £1500.

I htought i was a semi expert at the csa lol, having managed to sort out two ex partners dealing with so many offices and having regular payments for a number of years but oh dear this has worn me out lol

so small claims court now or not?

many thanks

kelloggs36

Go to ICE and then the parliamentary ombudsman and do it via your MP. Have you had a formal response to your complaint yet? You can't sue them, it won't work, but you need to follow the process up the line. Get the leaflet how to complain and follow it through. Good luck.

donny_osmonds_mad_fan

sorry but what is ICE?

I had a letter and my complaint was being monitored by plymouth until cumnock had done it which they have, cumnock said do u want this case closed and I said no not until i get my arrears and i know money is coming in, i then got a letter from plymouth saying it was now closed, if i did not agree to that then send a letter in writing the person address above which was plymouth (even though the woman who wrote me this letter is saying it is nothing to do with plymouth this is weirdly where i had to write into lol) but no I have had no reply to either of my letters asking about my arrears....which were sent to plymouth, which were sent to cumnock which it seems have been sent to bolton.......I am hoping what someone said in cumnock may be good in that they dont have a payment facility at cumnock they use bolton...bolton also chase payments due in from employers....going to start all over again on monday.

I just worry if I wait three months, they will then say sorry you waited too long etc....

out of interest why would it not work taking them to small claims?

NACSA_CHAIR

its almost impossible to take CSA to court - their legislation is so complex its unlikely that you will find a solicitor to take on any such challenge. those solicitors that are CSA specialist trained charged considerable fees as their existence is somewhat rare!! As Kelloggs said - use the ICE (independant case examiner...you can find their address on our website https://www.nacsa.co.uk) or use your MP to take it to Parliamentary Ombudsman.