Completely Confused

Sally87

I applied for CS when I was pregnant with my son (broke up with my partner when I was 6 months gone, he's had no contact which is entirely his own choice, I tried) - my son is now 3 1/2. I rang up when he was about 6 months old to see if it had got anywhere, and was told my ex didn't have a job then. I asked whether I need to keep ringing and was told it would flag up on their computers if he got a job, so I didn't need to do anything.

I've recently started looking for work now my son's older and was advised by the woman I spoke to at the jobcentre to try again, so I rang up today. After being passed through about 7 people I finally got to speak to someone, and was told that it doesn't show up automatically if he gets a job, I have to apply for a re-assessment. So I've now done that, but when I asked if it would get backdated if it turned out he had had a job, she said it wouldn't, and would only apply from when they did the re-assessment.

So now I'm just beyond angry because I went along with what they told me in the first place (I didn't have a clue how it worked and just trusted them, stupid I know) - and now if it turns out he's had a job for years, we won't be able to get anything backdated :mad: It wouldn't surprise me if that is the case, we were together for 2 years but when I was 8 months pregnant (we had intended to stay friends for the baby's sake even though we broke up) he suddenly decided he wasn't interested in being a dad, he's never even met his son though I tried to arrange it in the beginning. So I certainly wouldn't expect him to volunteer the information to the CSA!

Has this happened to anyone else? I'm not sure what advice I'm looking for, I assume I wouldn't be able to complain to the CSA as I have no idea who I spoke to 3 years ago, just want a rant really! :rolleyes:

frugallass

Sorry to hear about your dealings with CSA, unfortunately it now seems to be common practice to be told one thing by one person and then to be told something else by another - you'll probably have to put it down to experience and you've now learnt never to believe a word they say.

Keep records of all your phone calls with them, taking the name and team number of the person you spoke to, dates, times....everything basically !

Loopy_Girl

Precisely the same thing happened to me Sally. Ex was on benefits (he does it now and again to avoid CSA and also he knows it takes ages to get a reassesment done) and I was told that as soon as he came off benefits it would 'flag up' and trigger a reassessment.

Phoned 1 month later and was told he was in work. Asked about the flagging up and was told that 'it must have been a computer error'

I was also told in the early days that reassesments are automatically done every 6 months...load of b0llocks!!!!

I know there are decent people that work in the CSA but quite frankly when blatant lies get told to you by various members of staff, it's hard to have any faith in them and speak of them highly.

kelloggs36

Unfortunately these flags never work properly due to the lack of staff to deal with them all, so they get put on the back burner and it gets left undone. They mostly rely on the NRP or the PWC notifying them of a change in circumstances and they can't backdate until anytime before they were notified. If you get your data protection file and you have evidence of what they said, you may have a claim against them for maladminsitration. It's worth a go.

Debicj

Kellogs is right. Get your files - they hold all sorts of interesting info and may be very useful!

PlayingHardball

Hi Sally, this just sucks! I get so angry constantly hearing of CSA giving out wrong info! Messing with someones money is serious, especially a single parent relying on this.

Kelloggs....How many times can Sally request the CSA look into a change of circumstances on the NRP. For argument sake, what is to stop Sally from writing every couple of months and say 'I believe he's working, can you do a trace through inland rev'?

Sally87

PlayingHardball, I absolutely agree, but this thread is a year and a half old, it only came back up because I posted *this* today! Turns out they're even more rubbish at it than I thought lol