Merry's adventures with the CSA

LizzieS_2

For the first ex, I thought the csa re-assessed the existing csa1 case to account for there now being 2 claims (first ex only entitled to her share). The csa then did csa2 calculation and allocated which is for ex1. Finally if the csa1 is higher, the phasing would apply until it was at the csa2 level.

MG still gets whatever the csa2 amount is, and the only connection between the 2 is that the claim starts when the csa do the assessment (not backdated).

I raised the point originally as it looked like you are on decent terms with your ex. If he is going to have to pay more when the assessment arrives, the earlier he becomes aware of that possibility then the sooner he too can plan his finances. Perhaps the 2 of you could come to some arrangement, whereby a small amount of the assessment is paid now, and you repay that out of the future payments from the agency - that way he helps you now and he gets a more cushioned start once payments have to go through csa (please, both of you be honest if you do this and both keep proof).

For the delay between claim and assessment, you will have to pursure the csa for compensation, however I think that a certain number of weeks may be discarded.

Merry_Gentry

Hi LizzieS

Originally H was going to pay me £250 per month until the assessment was completed under a private arrangement. He now says he cannot afford to do that, and would prefer to wait until the CSA do the assessment.

I can understand why - he's paying £450 to PWC1, and £250 on top of that to me is a lot. But, that doesn't really help me with my difficulties - I obviously planned my budget based on him making this contribution, and his decision to stop paying has/is causing me some difficulty.

I don't want him to be skint, or anything like that - I just want what we agreed. I sympathise with his problems, but I have to consider my 3 girls and how the lack of that £250 may impact on them. I am wary of telling him that things are not as clear-cut as he originally thought because the only time he really gets 'volatile' is when we discuss money. We have managed to stay on a relatively amicable footing, but I'm starting to wonder if that in itself isn't doing me any favours.

I don't know - I guess I just feel I jumped through the hoops, filled in the paperwork, did what I was told and am no further ahead

LizzieS_2

Is the £250 based on what you both thought the assessment would be? Explain how you are struggling and ask if there is any way he could help for now even if it is on £20pw (remember though that you are not really entitled to this under csa rules so you should repay it when the assessment does come through).

Have a look on the oldstyle boards as there are many ideas there over how to save on day to day expenses.

And phone the csa until they do the assessment just to get you off the phone. Complain to your mp too.

Merry_Gentry

Yeah the £250 is based on the csa calculator. And he's already said he can't even afford a tenner. :mad: He knows I'm struggling, but he feels he's struggling too and that it's my household, my problem.

Merry_Gentry

Have phoned and spoken to two different people today, who have basically explained that once an application has a technical problem it can take six to eight weeks to be sorted out :eek: :eek:

Also spoke to husband, who has been told his first case with PWC 1 has been reassessed and moved to CSA2. He asked if my case had been added to that since they had done a reassessment and they said no. He asked why, and they said it's completely separate. When he said he had been told my application was not separate, and had to be assessed alongside the first one, they said yes, for assessing my claim, but not for reassessing the original claim

I managed to get hold of a separate number (thank you), and have spoken to someone slightly higher up. I explained the whole thing, and he said he would be investigating and would get back to me as it didn't make any sense.

So the situation as it lies is:

* I'm awaiting a phone call from them explaining at exactly what stage my application is - if it's still in Newcastle, then there's nothing further they can do;

* the person I spoke to this morning said they would contact husband to let him know he needed to be putting money aside to pay the arrears that would be due, although they couldn't tell him how much because the assessment hadn't been completed yet;

* my claim for special payment based on maladministration cannot be considered until I have been assessed, which won't happen until the application comes back from Newcastle in 6 - 8 weeks;

So, there we have it. Even two of the people I spoke to this morning have said it's pretty bad service, but one of them said it's still miles better than it used to be :rolleyes:

I better get in touch with my MP....

Merry_Gentry

Wonder of wonders, phone call has been returned. Situation is status quo - waiting on Newcastle. Thanks for all the assistance, and if I get any updates will let you know.

vippymini

mines also stuc in newcastle, has been
for the last 4 weeks

Blackpool_Saver

When my ex was still paying for the children he had with his first wife they did 2 calculations then added them together and paid us half each.....or something along those lines.....Kellogs do you know what I mean?

Merry_Gentry

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

When my ex was still paying for the children he had with his first wife they did 2 calculations then added them together and paid us half each.....or something along those lines.....Kellogs do you know what I mean?

Yeah that's how we originally understood it would work, hence the £250 for each of us.

Merry_Gentry

I had a phone call from the CSA. Basically, my claim has been escalated to a complaint, which means I get a named person contacting me .

Apparently there was meant to be a large meeting today to discuss the large number of cases stuck in Newcastle. It was cancelled because of the snow, but has been rescheduled for Tuesday. The hope is, once this meeting has been held, claims will get unstuck and fast tracked, but she's going to call me back on Wednesday to confirm.

With regard to my claim going back to August, she is going to look into a conciliatory payment, which is where things have gone wrong before your assessment and it is definitely the CSA's fault - like me applying and them losing my case, then not processing it for two months, etc :eek:

We discussed backdated payments, and because he will only be two months in arrears, they will expect him to pay those quite quickly. She said if it was more than that, or an especially large sum of money, they would spread the payments out over a couple of years, but since it's just two months worth (assuming this gets sorted by January), they would expect him to have put this money aside and be prepared to pay it as soon as possible.

I don't know if he's put any money aside - when I first heard that he would be in arrears I did tell him that, and the man from the CSA said they would call him and tell him - but I would have thought he would have been putting something aside each month knowing that this was coming.

He will be paying his first ex-wife most of what he's paying now PLUS what he will be paying me. His payments to her will be phased down, but they can't take a chunk of money off her without giving her time to sort out her finances, so this will happen over 2 years (I think that's what she said) !! He already knows this bit, because he got the letter saying that case had been reassessed, but I don't know if he put it together with him paying me on top of that

They also asked if he was a flight risk, or if he would give up working rather than pay the money for his children, and I said I didn't think so, but then there have been so many changes lately, how the heck do I know?!

So there you, my update to today. Hopefully they will have this meeting next week and I will have some good news to share.