CSA taking to much,what can I do

Dissillusioned

I wonder if any could offer a bit of advice,the CSA are currently looking to increase my weekly maintenance by a massive amount,to £78 a week,not including arrears of nearly £3000,although I have never missed a payment,not one,they have said these arrears start from Jan this year,I have no idea why they have picked this date.
My wage has gone up since my initial assesment,but I didnt know I had to inform the CSA I just kept paying every week that amount.
My point being I only take home roughly £1000 a month,with £430 rent and council tax,thats not to mention any other bill,Im only just managing on what I get now.There £320 a month bill will send me under.
Im at my wits end,I agree with paying to support your children but why must they force NRP`s into poverty to do this?
Its such an unfair system,its should be means based.
I am NOT trying to evade payment( I never have) I just dont want to be screwd into the ground,it should be a fair amount that you can afford and wont leave you on the brink of ruin.
That a Goverment dept can do this seems unreal.
I have rung up and tried to reason with them but they dont want to know.They couldnt care less about NRP`s.They just said they will get a DEO if I refuse to pay.
Its not going to be worth my while to work,and iv never been out of work since I left school.
Im an honest,hardworking taxpayer,why are they trying to ruin me? Do I just pay up and literally struggle on? Is there ANY way I can get it reduced to a more managable level?
Im sorry if this comes across as "poor me",I just dont know what to do.

786

Go self employed if possible.

Unemployed / sick for a while may be better if you are getting too stressed.

speedster

if you cant afford to live, then it's simple. inform the csa that you will be unable to continue working as it will leave you below the bread line, therefore you will be ending work on --/--/09 and could they reassess you on the benefits you will be recieving from that date.

chances are, they'll agree to a payment plan. if they don't. stuff them. jack work.

Loopy_Girl

Sterling advice there:rolleyes:....786's mantra seems to be 'go self employed'...

And jacking in work would mean that you would be liable to a sanction of up to 26 weeks for JSA and should the CSA consider that you have given up work to avoid payments then there are repurcussions there are well.

So don't do that either:rolleyes:

What you DO need to do if find out WHY you're payments are increasing.

You say there are arrears of £3000 - is this the arrears you are saying that they are saying are from Jan?

You don't have to inform them that you wage has went up unless they ask you. When was your last reassessment?

How much were you paying before?

How many kids it is for?

You need to give more info so that you can be helped more. Whilst I appreciate it's a stressful time, we need as much info as poss to help.

Is this a CSA1 or CSA2 case?

786

"786's mantra seems to be go self employed"

Works for me.

Even if the OP leaves his job voluntarily, he can claim hardship allowance which has to be given after 2 weeks.

Better than topping yourself.

Dissillusioned

Loopy_Girl wrote: »

Sterling advice there:rolleyes:....786's mantra seems to be 'go self employed'...

And jacking in work would mean that you would be liable to a sanction of up to 26 weeks for JSA and should the CSA consider that you have given up work to avoid payments then there are repurcussions there are well.

So don't do that either:rolleyes:

What you DO need to do if find out WHY you're payments are increasing.

You say there are arrears of £3000 - is this the arrears you are saying that they are saying are from Jan?

You don't have to inform them that you wage has went up unless they ask you. When was your last reassessment?

How much were you paying before?

How many kids it is for?

You need to give more info so that you can be helped more. Whilst I appreciate it's a stressful time, we need as much info as poss to help.

Is this a CSA1 or CSA2 case?

Loopygirl,thanks for your considered response.

Yes,they are saying the arrears are from Jan,dont know why its this date,
Iv not missed a payment.I was assesed earlier on this year,I was paying £7 a wk before as was on low wage for many years,this increased over time but has gone down again by £200 or so a month,so I have sent off new figures for them to look at.
Im hoping they will be a little more reasonable,but reading the horror stories on here,Im not holding my breath.
There will be wanting the arrears on top.
Its 1 child under CSA1.
I have played fair with the system,all I ask is they play fair to me in return,but given there history with male nrp,I doubt it.

Loopy_Girl

786 wrote: »

Even if the OP leaves his job voluntarily, he can claim hardship allowance which has to be given after 2 weeks.

Which isn't as much as JSA, and he can't claim LHA and CTB if he in not in receipt of JSA so these arrears will build up and also the CSA arrears will also continue to build up. And it could take weeks for the JSA claim to get sorted and he could STILL get sanctioned.

As I said, sterling advice:rolleyes:

speedster

sometimes SE can be the only way out of the prospect of being plunged into poverty.

the main reason being that they cannot DEO you if you are SE. they are stuck with what you offer or proceed with other enforcements.

i pay my arrears off at a rate which will take 4 years to clear. they did demand more quoting their "law" regarding 2 years clearance of arrears. i simply told them that if they could supply me with the relevant legislation which proved this "law" then i would up my payments.

they cant provide it, cos it doesn't exist.

speedster

Loopy_Girl wrote: »

Which isn't as much as JSA, and he can't claim LHA and CTB if he in not in receipt of JSA so these arrears will build up and also the CSA arrears will also continue to build up. And it could take weeks for the JSA claim to get sorted and he could STILL get sanctioned.



As I said, sterling advice:rolleyes:

ah, but if the csa take what they are going to, he'd be in a minus figure anyway.

the benefits system is probably the best place to be for the OP as they will not let you go into minus figures.

speedster

and let's face it.

he'd just be another one of the thousands of nrp's forced out of employment.

Loopy_Girl

Dissillusioned wrote: »

Loopygirl,thanks for your considered response.

Yes,they are saying the arrears are from Jan,dont know why its this date,
Iv not missed a payment.I was assesed earlier on this year,I was paying £7 a wk before as was on low wage for many years,this increased over time but has gone down again by £200 or so a month,so I have sent off new figures for them to look at.
Im hoping they will be a little more reasonable,but reading the horror stories on here,Im not holding my breath.
There will be wanting the arrears on top.
Its 1 child under CSA1.
I have played fair with the system,all I ask is they play fair to me in return,but given there history with male nrp,I doubt it.

Okay....CSA1 is a little - okay, alot - more complicated than CSA2. Unless you are asked by the CSA you DO NOT have to tell them that you have had a wage increase so you have done nothing wrong. The fact that they have asked you now and you have sent the relevant info is also fine and an assessment should be made on that wage.

The huge problem here is this 3K that seems to have appeared out of nowhere...If it's from this Jan then it's essentially £300pm which, if you were only paying £7pw, clearly doesn't add up.

As this is clearly going to cause hardship then we need to act fast. If you can, I would suggest you get in touch with your MP (preferably in person), google for your area to find him/her. They have a hotline to the CSA and things do seem to move quicker when MP's are incolved. It has to be ascertained where this 3K has came from. At the moment they are saying they are going to take 31% of your income which is within their guidlines but if you are not due it then it shouldn't be paid obviously.

You need to get your MP on the case and ask them to get a WRITTEN breakdown of where the arrears have accrued from and also your new assessment. If there are arrears of any sort then your MP should be able to help to get a reasonable payment plan.

Something is clearly not adding up to go from £7pw to 10 times that...first thing tomorrow, you need to get the ball rolling with MP and then you will feel better as well as you are being proactive and trying to resolve it.