desperate for csa advice- please?

teresacat

Quick synopsis- my OH has been paying £48 a month child maintenence to the CSA for a son from a previous marriage. Last week he received a letter stating that these payments were ending as the child had left home (he's 20). This Tuesday we received a call from the CSA asking for a credit or debit card number in order to clear the arrears. When OH asked the amount, they stated £12,387. (Apparently he never paid anything until he moved in with me and I put him on the Council Tax- don't get me started on how sick that makes me feel, but he's getting the brunt of that from me, so won't pour it all out here!!).
The CSA have said they are going to put an attachment to earnings order on his wages. He brings home £900 a month (£950 if he can get overtime). He pays the rent at £500 and the remaining £400 pays off 4 lots of other debt (£170 a month), car insurance and petrol to work. But the CSA say they will take £480 a month, which doesn't even leave enough for the rent. I earn £153 per week and pay all household bills, food, insurances etc so have nothing to spare.
CSA say they have to have the arrears cleared in 2 years and if he packs his job in they'll come into our home and take everything. When he tried to explain that he wouldn't have a home because he wouldn't be able to pay the rent, she just said "that's not my problem".
OH belongs to a union and is making an appointment with a legal advisor, but I just wondered if anyone could offer any advice?
This is a new scenario for me in that I have never been in debt myself, and suddenly "we" are in a position where even the rent can't be paid due to payment of debts.
Thanks in advance.

marshmallows

how long has he been paying maintenance for?

I would get him to ask for a breakdown of his case

teresacat

He has been paying for approx. 12 months now.

Donedoingdebt

The CSA are being very strict with payments of arrears over the last year or so. However, this 2 year limit is in fact, a guidline & target set by the CSA & is not set in law at present. However, it's one thing knowing this & it's another to actually try & fight it. Some of the CSA experts may give you some better advice on subsequent posts.

marksoton

You say he was not paying when he should have been. It may well be worth checking that the arrears figure is correct, however if he was not paying for a number of years it could be more than possible that amount is due.

TBH if it is there is very little chance the CSA won't hammer him for 40 % of his wage. By ignoring the payments he should have made he is far from in a strong position to negotiate payment periods.

teresacat

Many thanks for your help. Will await the outcome of solicitor's appointment, but it doesn't look as though the CSA are willing to extend their two year pay-back time!

pd001

teresacat wrote: »

Quick synopsis- my OH has been paying £48 a month child maintenence to the CSA for a son from a previous marriage. Last week he received a letter stating that these payments were ending as the child had left home (he's 20). This Tuesday we received a call from the CSA asking for a credit or debit card number in order to clear the arrears. When OH asked the amount, they stated £12,387. (Apparently he never paid anything until he moved in with me and I put him on the Council Tax- don't get me started on how sick that makes me feel, but he's getting the brunt of that from me, so won't pour it all out here!!).
The CSA have said they are going to put an attachment to earnings order on his wages. He brings home £900 a month (£950 if he can get overtime). He pays the rent at £500 and the remaining £400 pays off 4 lots of other debt (£170 a month), car insurance and petrol to work. But the CSA say they will take £480 a month, which doesn't even leave enough for the rent. I earn £153 per week and pay all household bills, food, insurances etc so have nothing to spare.
CSA say they have to have the arrears cleared in 2 years and if he packs his job in they'll come into our home and take everything. When he tried to explain that he wouldn't have a home because he wouldn't be able to pay the rent, she just said "that's not my problem".
OH belongs to a union and is making an appointment with a legal advisor, but I just wondered if anyone could offer any advice?
This is a new scenario for me in that I have never been in debt myself, and suddenly "we" are in a position where even the rent can't be paid due to payment of debts.
Thanks in advance.

Here is a good piece of advice

Never deal with the csa on the phone, ensure that everything is put in writing.
Tell them, by way of a letter that you do not wish to deal with them over the phone. Send it by recorded delivery
Never phone!
Always write!
When you write to them send EVERY letter by recorded delivery and print off the delivery reports from the Royal mail website!
If they phone you....never speak!
(once they have introduced themselves, DON'T be rude to them, just put the phone down) They supposedly record some / all phone calls for staff training purposes so....dont be rude.
Keep copies of all communication, yours and theirs, don't lose anything!
Build a paper file! Do not lose anything
If you have the time scan everything into your pc so that you have a backup of your paper file


They will lie to you on the phone. I have underlined the first lie that you have been told.
You must insist on everything in writing!

As 'marksoton' has said in a post above, they will try to take 40% of his net take home pay in order to pay off the arrears, and will eventually set up a deduction of earnings order to achieve this.
They could actually try to take more than 40% of his net take home pay so be very careful here! In reality they are not allowed to take more than 40% but they may try.

In my case they took just over 50% of my net take home pay and it took many months to get it sorted. In the meantime I was made homeless because I could not afford to pay my rent......I still am without a permanent home.

rita13

Hiya,

My Brother Has A Similar Situation - Over The Past 19 Years They Have Continually Increased The Amounts He Had To Pay - Mostly By Extortionate Amounts Even Though He Very Rarely Received Increases In His Wages - He Is A Labourer On A Building Site - Every Time We Received These Increased Amounts We Wrote Asking Them To Justify The Increase When His Circumstances Had Not Changed As They Could See From His Wage Slips They Asked For - Not Once In 19 Years Did They Ever Reply To Us. All We Got Were Phone Calls And Letters Basically Saying Pay Up Or Else. Then About A Month Ago He Received A Letter Saying That Payments Had Now Ceased As His Son Was 19. About A Week Later He Received A Letter For Back Payments Of Almost £14,000. As You Can Imagine This Is A Stupid Amount Of Money To Ask For, So Being Thoroughly Fed Up With The Whole Business We Wrote To Our Mp And With A Brief Outline Of The Problem And Sending Copies Of The Letters We Received Ask Her To Look Into The Matter. She Is Now Doing This - They Have To Report Back To Her As Well As My Brother - And Whilst They Are Looking Into This Threats Of Court Action Have Been Halted. We Are Still Waiting For A Reply From Them But I Will Post The Outcome. We Also Sent Wrote To Them Informing Them We Had Written To Our Mp Asking Him/her To Look Into The Matter - And We Told Them In The Letter That We Wanted All Communications From Them To Be In Writing.

Sensemaya

teresca and rita13

MP should become involved immediately - rita - I know you have already- and you should be asking for a complete account breakdown. Please see sticky link for further advice about dealing with MP. Assistant / parliamentary hotline / paper trail etc.

The 2 year payback is not set in the legislation. It is just CSA guidelines. Don't let them bully you.

Sensemaya

teresacat wrote: »

Will await the outcome of solicitor's appointment, but it doesn't look as though the CSA are willing to extend their two year pay-back time!

Is the solicitor a CSA specialist? I would try the MP before forking out money on sols, unless it's Stephen Lawson. James Pirrie does not take on legal aid cases, just in case you are eligible for it.

pd001

Sensemaya wrote: »

Is the solicitor a CSA specialist? I would try the MP before forking out money on sols, unless it's Stephen Lawson. James Pirrie does not take on legal aid cases, just in case you are eligible for it.

Why does he seem to get lots of mentions on here? Is he that good?
If he is...I wish I could afford him