So unfair!!

Little_miss_morrissey

I got a brown envelope this morning from the CSA and before opening it I
thought, yay eventually some money.

It was a letter to say I will be recieving £2.50 a week into my bank
account. My daughters father has deliberately gone onto benefits to
avoid having to pay anything and this £2.50 is only because its being
taken out of his benefit. I think its very unfair, what does £2.50 buy
nowadays? It probably costs them more than that to pay it into my
bank account.

Rebe

Hey,
sorry to hear this, never a nice situation.
Maybe you could try and resolve it without the CSA? He'd probably be far more willing to pay more.
Does he see his daughter often?

Little_miss_morrissey

We split up when she was 8 months old. He was violent and nasty and had me virtually a prisoner in the house so I was glad to get away from him. He was an alcoholic but made an effort to stop drinking when she was born but it went downhill. He even stole money from her piggy bank that she was given as a present when she was born to buy drink. He went to social services etc and said I was an unfit mother but they could see he was making up lies. They agreed to set up supervised visits so he could see her without me there and on the second visit he turned up drunk and was told by them that if he couldnt manage to stay sober for a couple of hours for her sake he couldnt see her and since then he hasnt seen her, no birthday cards, Xmas etc yet he knows where I live. I saw him in the street a few years ago and said I wanted money for her and he swore at me and walked off. He had been working but on this letter this morning it said he is claiming benefits and £2.50 a week is all I will be getting and it will be deducted from his benefit.

Rebe

Sorry to hear you had a rough time, you did the right thing removing yourself and your daughter from the situation.
All I can suggest is that if you have any doubts that he is back working again at some point, tell the CSA and they will contact him and look into it, as I've known a few people set up a deal with their boss to be self-employed so they don't have to declare anything etc but also so they can claim benefits as if they weren't working.

Maybe also contact the CAB and explain the situation as there may be some financial support open to you (assuming you haven't already)

My OH is paying through the CSA, however its his ex wife that was violent etc to him and children and has refused to let him see them, the CSA really are a pain and rarely seem to do anyone any good though!