CSA Arrears Trouble

Rivergreen

This is a bit of a long story that has dragged on for far too long, so bear with me.

Background: In 2003 I had a child at a fairly young age with my ex-partner and we split up when my daughter was only about 6 months old. Mainly due to my ex becoming violent though we weren’t really happy together anyway.

After that I was seeing my daughter as much as I could but my ex was bitter and controlling and contact was far from regular. She would only let me see my daughter at her house and if we ever had any disagreement then she would stop me from coming round for weeks/months at a time. Eventually, I obviously got fed up of this as I just wanted to see my daughter and in 2005 started legal proceedings through the solicitors to get access and then my ex stopped me seeing her at all. She lied and said it was me who was violent and made out that I was a drunk (I did drink regularly - at weekends like a lot of people in their early twenties!) so I had to start off seeing my daughter for 1 hour a week in a local contact centre, which was horrible being treated like you couldn’t look after your child. It’s built up over time and I now have her every weekend and on Tuesdays, take her on holidays, etc which is brilliant and both of us love it! Seeing her excited little face when shes running up to me each time I go to collect her has made all of this worthwhile. Things are civil most of the time with my ex aswell. It’s just the CSA getting in the way!


As far as my CSA problems go, when we split up I was paying my ex money each week for maintenance but when it went to the solicitors she stopped me seeing her completely, so out of desperation more than anything I refused to give her any money until she let me have access to my daughter. It was around a year before I saw her again, during which time I became depressed, couldn’t sleep, etc - its one of the hardest things ive ever had to go through and consequently I lost my job after being off with stress twice and constantly being late. I was then going from job to job as a temp and whenever the CSA rang me I would tell them my job but they took so long to set anything up I would be somewhere else by the time anything had been done. I never realised debt was being accrued. Once I got access again I started making payments directly to my ex and things settled down and we were both happy with that.

Then the CSA got in contact demanding thousands in arrears, which was a bit of a shock to say the least. They started taking 40% of my salary leaving me without enough to live on even, and my ex wasn’t receiving anything as she is on benefits, so we were both worse off. They were taking it directly out of my pay which my employer was charging £1 a week (weekly pay) so I set up a direct debit to save myself £4 a month. They never took anything! I left it for a few months to get my overdraft back in the black and reverted to transferring money direct to my ex up until the law changed in October 2008 when we made an agreement between us and she wrote to them stating she didn’t want them to act for her and didn’t want them to chase for any of the debt.

The CSA said the debt had to paid and I owed nearly £6000 because most of the debt had been worked out on a job I had worked at for about 3 months during which I was working 60-70 hour weeks. It had been worked out at this rate during most of the times I was out of work or on job with lower pay and when I made an appeal it was rejected because I didn’t appeal at the time – which was 3-4 years ago.

I rang them and went through my story, telling them how I didn’t pay during the time I was paying the solicitors as I literally couldn’t afford it (I still have around £2000 worth of legal fees to pay off on credit cards). But that I want to do the right thing and pay what I should have paid back then, I wrote to all my old employers and got details of everything I earned and figured out what I should have paid. I haven’t got the exact figures with me but it came to around £2500! I sent this all off to them and said I was happy to pay that amount but they wouldn’t even look at it as I didn’t appeal at the time. Is there anything I can do? As it stands I am paying 15% to my ex and 15% to my CSA of my weekly salary. But it just seems so unfair, I know I was stupid back then by not paying but I offered to pay off the correct amount and even sent them copies of everything so they could see it for themselves but no, they’re just taking my money.

I couldn’t afford to pay my rent so declared myself homeless and after 6 months of staying in various spare rooms of friends and family I have been given a housing association flat, on which the rent is £86 a week, I enquired about benefits but as I am working (have been in a job I like for nearly 2 years) they couldn’t help as I earned slightly too much, they basically told me I’d be better off not working, but what kind of a life is that? As it is I don’t know if I can afford it but have accepted the flat.

I am at a loss of what to do. Is there anyone else I can appeal to about the debt? There’s so many dads that don’t take responsibility it seems like they punish the ones that do. I just want to pay what I rightfully owe!


Sorry this is so long. I hope someone can help.


Also a note to any dads out there fighting to see their children – never give up you will get there in the end, your children need you!

Wasteland_Drifter

If you think an assessment is wrong then you can appeal, but there are time limits, 30 days to appeal against a decision, 13 months to appeal to tribunal and if you are told you cant appeal then you can apply to the upper tribunal where time limits can be disregarded.

You can also stop any further debt accruing, have your daughter to live with you, she seems pleased as punch to see you,. You can sign on JSA if you are not working.

If you want to ask the court to grant residency, and you feel you have sifficient grounds then you don't need a solicitor, just go to a county court and ask for a form to apply for an audience with a Judge. If you are on benefits complete a Form EX160 and claim fee remission.

The 40% for one daughter seems rather high, I think you need to speak to an expert.

Blob

As for out of time applications, write tothe CSA with your complaint and tell them that you are going to take the case to ICE. They will then reply with this in mind.

ICE will do their report and in the event that they upho;d your complaint the CSA will have to fix it and pay you for the problems that they have caused. It will only be about £25, but better than nothing.

Good luck

marksoton

Well for a start your ex has committed benefit fraud. Do you have proof you told them of a change of circumstance ? i.e when you changed jobs.

kelloggs36

Once they have done an assessment it will stand until such time as you notify them of a change in circumstances. If you are saying that you had an assessment but didn't pay it and didn't tell the CSA at the time of your job changes, then there is nothing you can do as the onus is on you to notify them of your circumstances if they change.

Rivergreen

Thanks for the replies. What is the ICE? I have already appealed to the CSA but didn't at the time, which seems to be the problem.

I have no proof of when I informed them of my job changes (though I have requested Data protection act info from them to see if they have records of the phone calls) and sadly for me I didn't inform them every time I changed as nothing was being done when I did inform them anyway.

kelloggs36 wrote: »

Once they have done an assessment it will stand until such time as you notify them of a change in circumstances. If you are saying that you had an assessment but didn't pay it and didn't tell the CSA at the time of your job changes, then there is nothing you can do as the onus is on you to notify them of your circumstances if they change.

Yes, this is basically it. So as it stands I have to pay £3000-4000 extra than I am meant to have paid, even though I have proof of what I earned and am happy to pay the correct amount. Fair enough I was a bit stupid/naive when I was younger but I don't know how they can justify it. All they say is that I should have appealed at the time, I was hoping there was somewhere else I could appeal as this really stings, especially as I got in debt paying the legal fees to get access in the first place.

CouponWoman

Many years ago I had a benefit problem when my husband was made redundant. I was aware the job centre owed us money but could not get them to cough up, I went to see our local MP and a letter from him was sufficient to get it sorted. Try it, it might work. good luck

Actually this problem made me aware of what was happening with the benefit system and led to my finding a really good job.

NOVASTAR

Rivergreen - I have no advice myself except when I was looking into the CSA last year on behalf of my OH, there was a website called NACSA which was reccommended. Perhaps try them as they are dedicated to advising on such matters. There is a yearly fee of £45, but worth a look into. http://www.nacsa.co.uk/
If you scroll down to the bottom of the home page they give an email address to enquire then you can make up your mind whether or not to subscribe.
Good luck!

Blob

ICE is the Independent Case Examiner, the address will be on the letter from teh Complaints team in the CSA.

kelloggs36

They can justify it because that is what they have to do!

Blob

If you go to ICE and have sent the evidence in before you go to them, and the CSA still ignore it then they will have to justify their actions to them, and that wont be easy for them to do.