CSA opinions please

Christmasiscoming

Please can you give me your opinion with regards to the following: -

17 years ago when the CSA first came out, we had a letter and form to fill in approx about the November, we filled it in and sent it straight back. When they eventually got round to assessing us (in the June) they assessed it at £72 per week (my husband was on approx £220 a week) and backdated it right back to the November.

Anyway we stopped paying maintenance when his daughter reached 18 but are still paying the arrears off at £50 per month. At the time we did appeal the amount and got it reduced to about £35, but they never took the amount back right to the beginning.

anyway my question is, the only reason i continue to pay this is i am scared they may reassess us and get us to pay more than the £50 per month if we stop it. We are not trying to get out of paying, we always paid and never missed a week but I do feel this part was wrong in the first place

anyway thanks in advance
x

astonsmummy

I dont understand your question?

Glad

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borders_dude

astonsmummy wrote: »

I dont understand your question?

The OP hasnt made it clear.

Christmasiscoming

sorry didnt make myself clear

i want to stop paying these arrears as I think we were assessed wrongly at the time. My question is do you think there will be consequences from stopping paying i.e. being reassed and paying a bigger monthly payment or do you think we will be able to appeal the arrears

regards

Minimum_Wage_2

Hello Christmasiscoming,
In the summer of this year my works sent a handful of us home for 3 weeks with 1 days pay for each week. we couldn't claim JSA due to us not being out of work, we couldn't claim any other benefits due to us working only 8 hours a week. Now instead of our works putting these 3 weeks into one monthly pay slip they spread it over 2 months which meant that my wages were lower than normal and the CSA couldn't take there money. i tried getting help with rent reductions from the council but they weren't prepared to do anything as it was only a short period and that they had to see my wage slips which i dont get till the end of each month. In that time the CSA reassessed my account which brought me onto the latest Addition of the CSA and now they are taking about 500 a month off of me for the next 6 months to catch up. I have tried talking to them and they are taking it back at the highest rate possible to which they will not drop it due to the only way they have been allowed to take it back. They also told me that the only thing that they have to consider now is the tax and national insurance and that nothing else like living comes into it.

With rent arrears, other bills to pay, living costs and what they are now taking off of me i am finding it extremely hard to keep my head above water. This Christmas i am unable to even by my own children anything for Christmas so i wont be celebrating Christmas this year but that doesn't help the way that i feel when i look at my kids and know that they wont be able to have anything from me this year.

shell_542

There could be a chance if you flagged it up with them that you could end up paying more a month. At the moment they are having a crack down on arrears and are trying to get them all paid back in the shortest time possible. They could well assess the arrears to be correct then say they want them all back within 1 or 2 years. Depending on the amount left, it could mean your payments increase. You obviously need to weigh up the risk of that happening and how important it is to have an investigation into whether the arrears are correct or not.

Do you know how much you have left to pay?

Christmasiscoming

£4500 :eek:

astonsmummy

Sorry but if you were in arrears then you have to pay, why was the arrears so much?

Christmasiscoming

the arrears rose whilst we were appealing the £72 approx assessment (I cant remember the exact ammount it was such a long time ago), we were advised to pay 2/3 of it whilst appealing and it went up and up, we won the appeal but it never got took back to the beginning,

the only trouble i have is that i didnt keep all the paperwork, you know what your like when young if it happened now i would have every last bit!

shell_542

Did they tell you how these arrears came about at the time? Are these arrears supposed to be what accrued between the November and June when you were initially assessed? £50 a month, over 17 years, with still £4500 left to pay ... that's £14700 of arrears accrued in 7 months! Or have they been adding up for another reason over the years that you haven't mentioned?

If you brought it up with them then you could end up paying between £375 and £187.50 a month if they choose to recoup the arrears within 1 - 2 years.

Astonsmummy, that's not necessarily true. If the OP is in arrears that are true, then they have to pay. If they are arrears calculated incorrectly by the CSA then surely they shouldn't?

Cross post.