Anyone had a case stuck in Newcastle?

pinkpig08

Hi all,

DH has been fighting for a shared care recalculation since last April. Each time she has been contacted, the PWC has denied that 1 of his 2 children with her stays at our house 1 night per week. We sent the CSA evidence in August, and shared care was agreed on 12th September. Since then we have had a constant battle trying to get the recalculation done. We have phoned 16 times, and each time someone has told us they'll do it and then doesn't actually do anything.

Today he had a letter saying the the amount payable hasn't changed! Phoned them and they said that when the 'case worker' did the recalculation on 9th Feb, there was an error and now the case has been sent to the 'technically stuck'???? in Newcastle, and could take between 1 and 3 months to come back!! They last contacted the PWC 3 weeks ago, when she denied it yet again. Why would they contact her if the decision had already been made in September? I could have told them myself that she would deny it!

So - what I would like to know is - what exactly do they do with the case at Newcastle, and how long does it take to come back? I don't trust CSA timescales one bit!

Feline_friendly

It sounds like it has gone clerical thanks to a system error. My case did this last month and is now in Newcastle. I was told it could take several months to be sorted. I have emailed my MP and he has made a complaint to them...not sure it will do any good, but i am still waiting.

DONTQUOTEME

It may be worth asking if an Incident has been raised with the incident managment team, if so it means they are looking at ways to fix it. Also if it's the case they cannot input the new assessment on the system, but they know what the new rate will be, can they not just work it out themselves and implement it clerically (it may be worth asking them). Thats quite common practice, as you'll be waiting forever to wait for newcastle to sort it out.

DONTQUOTEME

Sorry just re-read you post... Did they verify in writing they would allow shared care?If they agreed it on the phone the case officer should have documented the call. I would insist on asking who you spoke to and demand to be put through to that person. if they refuse ask (in writing)for a data protection print out, that will have documented phone calls (not transcripts though), but it will tell you what notes were made.

pinkpig08

They didn't agree in writing, it was over the phone. We've since phoned numerous times and it has been confirmed on several occasions that shared care was agreed on 12th September. I know who agreed it because we had a case worker do it just before they changed it all to task-based or whatever they call it. And he knows me as I've lost count of the number of times I've spoken to him about it!

I've also logged every call myself - what date I phoned and what was said, just as we're keeping a log of when DSD stays here.

markeymark

ive also been fighting for a shared care review, i have 2 daughters from different relationships, get them bot every 2nd weekend, got shared care awarded for my eldest but not my youngest! basically they have taken PWC's lies as fact ie its not an established contact!! this is just another part of my ongoing complaints to csa