CSA Query

Sparkles79

My ex has arrears of £10.5k towards our son, the CSA were looking at legal enforcement (liability orders etc) as he is unwilling/unable to pay a larger sum than £60 per month towards arrears. Basically he has fiddled his earnings since 2006 when the CSA caught up to him. He goes full time then part time and then self employed to reduce the assessment until he gets caught out. The new assessment gets done and backdated when another few grand of arrears gets added to the running total which is how we have got to £10.5k.I phoned CSA on Thursday to find out what was happening with the legal enforcement as it has been with them for near on 4 months, only to be told that half way through August the case had been referred to criminal compliance. I was promised a call back from the criminal compliance team within 48 hours, but fully expected that to never happen! However, on Friday morning I got a call back from a gentleman from the CSA, he has stated that he could not give me many details but that they expected to have face to face contact with my ex husband within the next fortnight.He has told me that they are not happy with my ex husband and are looking at it being a case of fraud, I was asked to supply a photo of my ex and I may need to be visited for a witness statement? I stated that I was wary of whatever revenge my ex may have as he was previously violent and the man assured me that there would be no issue as he will be arrested and taken to the police station.The assessment is to be redone and will be going up significantly and they are still looking at pursuing the court action for the arrears.Really, I am looking for some general advice - I know that the CSA never move that quickly, so I cant help but wonder why criminal compliance are looking at arrest and prosecution after having the case for 3 weeks or so? Also does this mean there is a light at the end of the tunnel with regards to the arrears, why do they they a witness statement from me.....Has anyone been through anything similar? I have been told that they will contact me again within the next couple of weeks to give me an update etc but I am being impatient!Thanks to anyone who has read through all this, I am aware that its lengthy!

sarahx1

Hi there, what a nightmare. My case has been to criminal compliance because my ex went self employed and refused to provide his earnings. They did face to face interview and he told them where to go, then they instructed him to turn up for an interview under caution which of course he failed to attend. The criminal compliance can take weeks to sort, I would be asking your case worker what is going on and explain the violence in the relationship and you are obviously apprehensive and scared. Can totally relate, my ex was violent too.
With regards to the arrears, can take a while for LO to be obtained although believe now CSA are doing adminstrative LO in house so may be quicker. Once these have been granted, they then apply for a third party debt order which gives them the power to take money from bank accounts and put charges on properties. All these take 2-3 months to complete. I have just gone through the commital to prison stage which is after the all the above and this process took 5-6 months, had 4 adjournments tho. You will need to be very patient over the next 12 months before you start seeing results especially if he is non compliant all the way through.

Sparkles79

Thanks for the reply, I am wondering what has occured to have criminal compliance get involved and act so quickly. The case was with them a couple of years ago and I heard nothing for 6 months, when a reassessment got done.I am wondering if they are going after him after finding something out whilst going down the legal enforcment route, like he has not declared income to HMRC etc and thats why they are so keen.

koolmummy

There are 2 main reasons why a case would be referred to criminal compliance.

1. Failure to provide information as to income.
2. Providing information regarding income that is false, i.e saying income is £150 per week when the reality is £500.

Failure to provide information is fairly easy to deal with, the criminal compliance officer will attempt to go out and see the NRP face to face and ask them about their income. If they don't get any response then they may prosecute on the basis that it is an offense not to provide the requested info when asked.

Providing false info that would benefit the NRp takes longer to deal with as the CC team have to gather evidence, it can take over 2 years to deal with this sort of case in my experience. Again if they find evidence they can prosecute, in most cases they don't although I understand they are having a bit of a purge at the moment.

Hope this helps.

kinksfan

that seems a little unfair, if the CSA do not prosecute in the cases where there has been fraud ie understating earnings then it provides incentive for the NRP to do just that...... bit like me going through a red light, being caught then saying sorry and going through green light at same traffic lights next time..... wouldn't be much of a sanction to get motorists to comply with the law