Child Maintenance (CSA) questions (merged)

kelloggs36

kellyaicken wrote:

Hi...update...spoke to csa...He owes £8,000 in arrears for the maintenance, it is out of the csa hands now as they have been sending correspondance to him (albeit at the wrong address) so is now with a debt collection agency... When my partner mentioned about the wrong address, because he already had a case open many many years ago for maintenance of the 2 children he sees and supports now (via ex-wifes bank, not through csa) and an address for correspondence, the csa are saying that it is my partners fault that he did not inform them of his change of address.....even though all ex wifes payments are done between themselves and this case with absent child has nothing to do with his 2 other children!!!!!!! Hope this all makes sense, sorry just typing as I am thinking, am all over the place at the moment... Any further advice much appreciated!

I don't agree with what the CSA say now if what you are saying is absolutely correct. Let me just confirm though that the money your partner is paying to his ex via her bank account is not 'direct payment' which is basically, an assessment made by the CSA and paid direct to the PWC? I am guessing that this is NOT the case. I presume that case was CLOSED at some point? This is what you need to confirm. If the case was closed, then this new application is completely separate. How could your partner be expected to notify the CSA of a new address when there is no open case with his involvement?

If he were being asked to pay for his ex (to whom he pays direct) and he hadn't notified them of a change of address then fine. However, this is a completely separate person and they still have to establish that he received the MEF and if he can prove that he didn't then they can't enforce the arrears.

Can he get a letter from the Council to prove when they hold him resident for Council Tax purposes - this will prove beyond doubt the residence issue.

Don't just accept what the CSA tell you, they often tell you things just to shut you up and get you to forget it, but fight it.

kelloggs36

Oh, and they can recall the case from the Debt collectors, it is NOT out of their hands now.

Your partner can appeal against the assessment on the grounds that he has not been notified because of his new address citing the fact that the case which was (maybe still is) open is in respect of another PWC and because there was an ongoing agreement which had not broken down, there was no need to notify the CSA of his address. There is no requirement for him to tell them of his new address UNLESS they have requested it. He cannot be expected to know that a new application would be made, so it is unreasonable for the CSA to hold him responsible. They have the ability to trace - had they confirmed via the council responsible for his old address of his residence, then they would have established easily that he was no longer there. It is common practice for them to do this if in doubt of an address and as he failed to respond to the MEF, it would be reasonable for them to do some sort of tracing action as the address they hold cannot be relied upon in old cases. APPEAL, APPEAL, APPEAL.

kellyaicken

Thanks Guys, you have been such a support with my rattlings on... Right, The case with ex-wife is still open...This is because CSA have old address for partner, the reason it is still open is because they contacted her to say do you want to go from old rules to new rules, she said yes (even though nothing changed between partner and ex-wifes arrangement financially) he pays her by standing order £50 a week straight into her bank account. The £60 for childminder is paid direct to childminder. Now, I believe by law every time in the past that they have had correspondence with ex-wife , they need to inform partner by law, which they may well have been doing, but everything going to old address, hence never receiving anything. How do we stop this enforcement for the £8,000 though? The csa are saying it is nothing to do with them, because it is now with the debt agency, the debt agency (who are treating partner like £$%^ by the way, because they think he has been ignoring them!!!!!) just want to claim there debt back, hence, the order on earnings. They are not budging an inch and are holding the blame with him for not informing the csa of change of address. And now to top it all off the csa phoned ex of estranged child that alll this is about and she said that all she wanted from him was £40.00, after saying all those years ago she never wanted a penny from him, ever, surely if he had known that in the beginning he would have just given her the £40.oo a week, and then we wouldnt be in this mess. My partner has never not wanted to pay for any of his children, he is not that sort of man. She never wanted his money or for him to see the child and that suited them both. Now she is crying to the csa saying he has shurked his responsibilitys all this time!!! ARGH!!! Thanks for letting me rant....! xx

kellyaicken

Thanks again, will try and do everything possible, we are not gonna sit and take this, your help has been fantastic. My partner is going to talk to a solicitor tomorrow, to see if he can help in any way. I will keep you posted anyway. xx

kelloggs36

You need to make a formal complaint. As I have already said, the CSA cannot hold your partner responsible for failing to notify them of a new address in the case of a NEW claim. They have not made contact with him for a long time before that, and to be able to enforce a debt they have to have a confident address. He can prove the address held by them is not confident, and he did not receive the MEF.

The CSA can easily cancel the action taken in respect of the enforcement by asking them to return the case because of a mistake made on their part!

Last year, whilst working on complaints, I had a case where the CSA had not confirmed that an address on an NRP was confident and it got all the way to Court. The judge threw it out because of this. THe NRP had not received his MEF pure and simple.

Please ask your partner to ask the CSA the following questions:

1. What date did they send out the MEF?
2. What address did they send the MEF to?
3. What action did the CSA take in order to confirm that the address they held for him was a confident one?
3. What part of the legislation prevents them from recalling the case back from the debt collectors?
4. He wants to appeal against the decision, please send him the relevant forms within the next 7 days.


Can you confirm the following to me please? The case where the CSA contacted the other PWC was open all the time? What was the assessment that he should pay? Was it what he was paying, or did he come to an alternative agreement with her due to a nil assessment?

With regards notifications, it depends on what it is whether the other person is contacted. They are usually contacted to give them a statement, or info that both need to know, however, if they have been in contact with the PWC about payments, such as asking if payments were ongoing, then there would be no need to contact him at all.

Hold your ground - this is a new MEF in question and it has to be established that he received it. If he can prove he did NOT, then they can't enforce the arrears.

kellyaicken

kelloggs, my partner gets home from work in a few hours, its been so difficult all day to try and talk with one another whilst he has been in the office. I will show him all these threads and all the fantastic info you have passed on. I will get him to reply to these questions when he gets in, because I am not sure of some of the answers. Thanks for taking this under your wing and helping, I am truly grateful xx

kelloggs36

Feel free to PM me, and I can give you my e-mail address if you want to contact me direct. I will try and help as much as possible but to do this I need specific info - I'm not trying to be nosey!!

kellyaicken

Thanks, not sure how to pm....DOH! Sorry, but i will give you my e-mail and we can go from there, I will get the info for you tonight and mail it to you, just drop me a line at and then I can send the info to you. I know your not being nosey..lol..and am just so thankful of all your help. This has just hit us like a ton of bricks and out of nowhere...Thanks

kelloggs36

How to PM (for future reference!!!) You can click on the person's name in a thread and it will come up with a box of options. Click on the 'send a private message to ......' and there you go!! At the top where it says 'welcome kelly aicken', underneath it says private messages. If you have any, it will say the number that are in the inbox. Click on this private messages and it will take you there!! I will e-mail you now!

Mr_Falling_Star

Hello

First post on this website and its a rant and a cry for help. I was recently married in June 2006. I have gained two lovely stepchildren plus I still see my two kids from my first marriage. I have been paying like a good un though my ex does not see a penny of the money as she is on Income Support. When I was single I was paying £210 my mortgage was £259. I am now married, as I said, have two kids and a mortgage of £341. Now the CSA want £280 per month from me. I earn around £1000 per month, this has not changed a great deal in 5 years. I was expecting the amount to plummet now go up! Now I cannot even afford to go and see my kids who live a fair way away. In fact i think I would be better off on the dole. Can anything be done?