Arrears Start Date Query

marie67_2

Could someone clarify when CSA payments are due from.
I applied online 13th November 08 and telephoned on a weekly basis throughout december 08,january 09,february 09,march 09,may 09 and april 09.
Throughout these months i was told it was stuck in the system then had had to go clerical, then that no case worker had been asigned,then that it had been esculated.It wasn't until i wrote a written complaint was it finally dealt with and i recieved my payment schedule in May 09, 6 months to sort in total.
The arrears were backdated to 20/01/09 rather than Nov 08 when i first applied.
On querying this i have been told they only backdate to the date the NRP makes contact with them (this being Jan 09) and not from when you first contact them.
Could anyone confirm this as it seems very unfair for my son to have waited 6 months through the CSAs system errors and then to wait further for the NRP to respond.
many thanks

Dancing_Shoes

It is correct that payments start from the date they speak to the nrp unless the nrp has been non-compliant unfortunately. Has your ex not paid you anything in child maintenance?

marie67_2

Many thanks for the reply, i have recieved payments through a DEO from may to date, the arrears from january 09 were added to may,june and julys payment although for some reason i recieved a letter from the falkirk office this week stating another small amount in arrears, not sure when from.

Dancing_Shoes

Has the nrp been non-compliant? Did they explain why it took so long to get in touch with him?

marie67_2

from what i can gather he was non compliant from november 08-january 09 and had decided to drag it out a bit, then made contact 20/1/09

marie67_2

the csa have also informed me that they could get no reply from him on all occasions they telephoned and no call back from messages left

Dancing_Shoes

If he was non compliant then they should be going from the date YOU made contact or the date they first tried to contact him (that is what we were told happens when an nrp is avoiding their calls) otherwise lots of people would just merrily avoid their calls to avoid being assessed:rolleyes:
Have you asked to speak to a more senior member of staff? If not then I would do so as you are effectively missing 2 months money!!:mad:

kelloggs36

The effective date is the date they initiall attempt to make contact, either by phone or by letter.

Dancing_Shoes

Is that when the nrp is non compliant?
Our date was the date they spoke to the nrp. Anyway, to the op you need to ask your caseworker when this date was as this is clearly the date your payments should be calculated from. Let us know how you get on;)

sarahx1

They have 4 weeks from when you put in your request to make contact or attempt to make contact, if they failed to do this then you can ask for a special payment for the time period in between(Dec) and they will pay this. I put in my request for maintenence on 22 March 05 put they did not contact him until late August 05. They admitted they had too many cases to deal with and I got just over £1600, asked for lost interest to be added and got a consolatory payment for phone calls I had to make.
Give it a try, just goto their webpage and email your complaint under the contact us section.

Good Luck

marie67_2

Many thanks for the info,i will definitely be following it up.I mentioned it to a lady from the falkirk office and once i told her that i had all the dates written down ie phone calls, when it went clerical etc she advised me to write a letter with this info to my csa payment office and ask they review it.