I don't understand....

Demonmeister

Hi All,

Long story short.... major bust up with ex..now taking me to CSA.

I did advise that I could pay £150 a month for the child and more if (on the rare occasions it happens) I get overtime...

She openly said "I want more"...so took me to the CSA...(this was after I'd paid her £150 and we had agreed that we would do this without involving the CSA).

Anyhoo, worked it out online (using EXACT figures from my payslip) that I needed to pay £49 a week.

They called me yesterday and said that my payment would be £52 a week (so the £198 like I worked out is now £208). Then the CSA said, ok..well on the 24th of July, we will take £208 and then it will go to £220 from the August onwards.

When I asked why, she said "Oh it's the way the system works it out...nothing I can do I'm afraid...

I did explain that £150 would be a struggle and that if I REALLY, REALLY cut back, £200 maybe...but another £20 on top for 'no reason' seems unfair. I asked if there were any arrears on the account and she said "No, you've called us back when we asked, given us all your details promptly and there are no arrears on the account.."

I do travel a fair way to work (costing me £200 a month) and I said that if they take more and more, I can't afford to get to work and then I'll be unemployed and won't be able to pay anything other than the basic amount. Their reply "Sorry... nothing we can do".

Before anyone says "move nearer", the times we are in mean that I don't have the luxury of doing my job nearer to my home and I would rather pay my way than live off benefits/JSA...etc.

So, someone who has never avoided the CSA, given all the info they need when they ask for it (always within 24hrs) now has to pay more than the online calculator says and more than £52 a week because of 'their systems".

Is this right??

:-(

Caz3121

you need to account for the fact that a month is not 4 weeks. You would take the monthly payment and multiply by 52 to get the annual figure then divide by 12 for the monthly
so £49 per week = £212 per month and £52 per week = £225 per month
So the additional is not "for no reason" it is to uplift 4 weeks to a month

DUTR

Demonmeister wrote: »

Hi All,

Long story short.... major bust up with ex..now taking me to CSA.

I did advise that I could pay £150 a month for the child and more if (on the rare occasions it happens) I get overtime...

She openly said "I want more"...so took me to the CSA...(this was after I'd paid her £150 and we had agreed that we would do this without involving the CSA).

Anyhoo, worked it out online (using EXACT figures from my payslip) that I needed to pay £49 a week.

They called me yesterday and said that my payment would be £52 a week (so the £198 like I worked out is now £208). Then the CSA said, ok..well on the 24th of July, we will take £208 and then it will go to £220 from the August onwards.

So, someone who has never avoided the CSA, given all the info they need when they ask for it (always within 24hrs) now has to pay more than the online calculator says and more than £52 a week because of 'their systems".

Is this right??

:-(

Assuming the CS is for one child, then the contribution will be 15% of your net pay (this is gross less tax, NI and pension contribution) so from your assumption your net is about £327 per week, also remember the CS is due from when they contact you the 1st time, so arrears will be mounting up immediately. The £150 per month offer is really £34 per week. The mistake many NRPs do is not adjust their budgeting from when the brown envelope lands, I would say my own case was straight forward and without evasion, still racked up 6 months of arrears though which took 18 months to clear. Another thing is keep everything in writing and stay off the phone

belsh_2

In my experience they disregarded my unusually high travel to work costs when they made the assessment.

Demonmeister

Hhhmmm... I see.

So really the online calculator is rubbish for working out payments..etc as they can change so much??

Oh well....

Secondly, when I was called up the 1st time by the CSA, they left a message stating they were calling for me regarding a 'personal matter'.

No probs there....then the next time they called they openly said "From the child support agency"...can they do this or is it a breach of DPA? My thought was that it was like banks, where they couldn't say "We're calling about your account with Halifax...etc".

They have basically told anyone in earshot of the answer machine that I have a child?

JUst curious about if that should have happened as when a bank calls they will usually not leave a message and just write.

Please don't get bogged down into "so you want no-one to know you have a child....etc" as everyone who needs to know (my family...etc) DO know, but it's the prinicple that they may have breached DPA and *could * have caused me embarrassment...

DUTR

Main thing is to get the assesment and payments started as soon as , since arrears are building up and thats what fooks people up the most, oh and don't forget to make sure the child is yours! Gets boring around here when guys are paying for years and then decide they are not so sure if they are the father.

catenorfolk

Demonmeister wrote: »

Hhhmmm... I see.

So really the online calculator is rubbish for working out payments..etc as they can change so much??

Oh well....

Secondly, when I was called up the 1st time by the CSA, they left a message stating they were calling for me regarding a 'personal matter'.

No probs there....then the next time they called they openly said "From the child support agency"...can they do this or is it a breach of DPA? My thought was that it was like banks, where they couldn't say "We're calling about your account with Halifax...etc".

They have basically told anyone in earshot of the answer machine that I have a child?

JUst curious about if that should have happened as when a bank calls they will usually not leave a message and just write.

Please don't get bogged down into "so you want no-one to know you have a child....etc" as everyone who needs to know (my family...etc) DO know, but it's the prinicple that they may have breached DPA and *could * have caused me embarrassment...

So where have they breached the DPA??? and how could they have embarrassed you???

Mips

catenorfolk wrote: »

So where have they breached the DPA??? and how could they have embarrassed you???

If he's knobbing some new bird, it wont do for the CSA to ring him up and mention a child :rotfl:

dimbo61

Request that you are only contacted by letter and write to them when you need to.
this leaves a paper trail and saves a lot of trouble.
Dont pay the EX any money except via CSA

pd001

dimbo61 wrote: »

Request that you are only contacted by letter and write to them when you need to.
this leaves a paper trail and saves a lot of trouble.
Dont pay the EX any money except via CSA

Totally agree with the above

When you write to them, you should send your letter by recorded delivery. Keep the recorded delivery slip and check, on the Royal Mail website, to ensure that it has been received by the csa the next day.
Build a paper file and never ever deal with the fools on the phone

It may suit your circumstances to make all payments to your ex via the csa.

Demonmeister

Dippy chick... don't know you and don't care too neither..

I don't appreciate your cavalier attitude to my situation.

If you had friends round and you had debt problems and I was from the bank and said "Hi, calling for Dippychick...it's xxxx from the repossession department" and all your friends heard, you wouldn't be very impressed and I have breached DPA by confirming on an open answermachine message that you are in financial trouble...etc.
Whomever I'm 'knobbing' as you so eloquently put it is of no concern of yours. I didn't ask for your opinion of me, I simply asked have they breached DPA by stating this on an open answer machine?
Thanks to the people who offered advice on getting things in writing...etc, but Dippychick I honestly think you should walk away from this post and give your silly opinions to someone who cares to them.
Talk about not offering value to a thread...
I'll go now and won't be checking back any further...hope other people with genuine questions don't get comments like above from Dippychick as it could really upset them...