CSA any help or advice appreciated!

clou4

Hello, I'm completely new to this forum, i googled for advice on my situation and it led me to here.

I am a student living with my mum and stepdad. I have never received more than £100 maintenance per month from my dad who left when I was 2. He didnt pay from 1992 until 2004 and these arreas have been wiped, (csa cant tell us why).


my stepdad has a child from a previous relationship, from when he met my mum in 1997 he was paying £550 per month for his 1 child. This caused him and my mum to get into over £30,000 debt, as they had to pay for food shopping on credit cards etc.

In 2003 my stepdad changed jobs, so the csa payments stopped. He didnt contact them to tell them he had changed jobs. I know and he knows now that this was completely wrong and his child needed that money. But he tells me he didnt know what else to do, to get out of the debt situation.

You would of though that the csa would be pretty quick to pick up on this and the payments would start up soon after. However there was no contact, we didnt change address or telephone number. Then a month ago my stepdad received a letter from the csa, demanding £40,000 arreas, for the 6 years missed payments.

Since the csa payments stopped in 2003, my stepdad and mum have set up an IVA so that they will be debt free by 2012.

When my stepdad received the csa letter he rang them and they said unless he could pay the arreas now, he would be paying them monthly for 17years. Then they told him that he would need to pay £650 a month for the child until she left education (she is 14, so this could be until she is 19).

The mother of the child has very kindly said she doesnt want the £40,000 arreas, which we are very grateful for. However we need a solution to this £650 a month, none of us can understand why one child should need £650 a month to live on, just from one parent. The mother works full time. My stepdad has tried to negotiate with the csa to a more reasonable amount but they wont budge.

They have told him to stop paying the iva and declare himself bankrupt. then the £270 iva can go towards the csa payments, however he still needs to find £380 from somewhere. Today we received a letter saying he will receive a deduction of earnings on december 14th.

Sorry for such a long post, we just dont know what else to do, its causing a huge rift in my family.

I hope I have stuck to all the posting rules.

onetomany

omg i dont no what to say but sending you a big hug, i wouldnt rush into going banrupt check out the iva/banrupt forum, for advice on the iva and hopefully some one will be along soon with some good advice

clou4

thank you...im going to have a read of the bankrupt/iva forum.

yeah hopefully someone will have some advice....a lot of people seem to be in similar situations.

thanks again :T

onetomany

what i carnt undersatand is if the x is saying shes not bothered about the arears why carnt she close the case and them both come to a private arrangement?

clou4

We asked the csa to send a letter asking about a private arrangement on our behalf but they refused. They were very rude about this and basically refused to contact her at all about a private arrangement or even contact her and give her our details so she could contact if she so wished.

We received the casefiles that we requested and in it they forgot to delete the mothers address (breach of data protection we believe), so we sent a letter to that address asking about a private arrangement, she hasn't replied.

shell_542

How do you know she doesn't want the arrears if she's not contacted you? Did she tell the CSA that?

If she has told the csa that she doesn't want the arrears, what is the £650 a month based on? His net income now? Has there been a new assessment to see how much he should be paying as of now or is the £650 based on old details?

Kimitatsu

Hiya

I have been pondering this one (as you do!)

Firstly the two cases are not linked. If you want to find out why your arrears were wiped you need to ask for a full copy of your file under a data protection information request. There is a letter on the NACSA website (www.nacsa.org.uk) that you can use, I would point out though that it is your mother that gets the maintenance not you so she needs to ask for it.

Your stepdad must be on CS1 so the person you need to PM for a breakdown of how it is worked out is kellogs36 - she has the formula and understands it like none of the rest of us

Your stepdad already had this child when he met your Mum and the CSA stance is that the first child should be maintained regardless of any subsequent children there are in the family, hence the asssessment of £550 per month. The fact that your Dad did not tell them of his change of circumstance at all means that he has never been reassessed and so the original assessment stands. It is the responsibility of the NRP to inform the CSA of any changes that may affect his assessment - either up or down. Did your Dad inform them that he had moved in with your Mum and yourself? There would have been some allowance made for this at the time had he given them a change of circumstances.

The CSA does not always pick up on missed payments unless there is a request from the PWC :rolleyes: that however does not mean that there is not a continuous assessment and subsequent arrears still ongoing.

I have to say for your stepdad to be assessed at paying that amount of money for one child he is on considerably more than the minimum wage and whilst I am not going to go into debt issues he was aware of the liability some years ago and so should have made some provision for it.

The only way for the assessment to stop is if the PWC closes the claim and then you can come to a private arrangement or she can make a claim under CS2 which would be 15% of his net income although this would still not take account of any debts that he has. The CSA is not allowed to contact the mother on your behalf, it would be a breach of data protection - the fact that you have already written to her at that address could leave you open to claims of harrassment should she not want to be contacted. I would suggest that if she has not replied you do not contact her at that address again.

If your parents have an IVA that is lasting 9 years then I would look at the way that it is set up. Current legislation means that they should be lasting a maximum of 5 years, and his priority payment is to his daughter not to his debts. Even if he should choose to become bankrupt the liability will still continue to accrue as CSA payments are exempt from a bankruptcy order.

clou4

she told the csa that. but apparantly she can change her mind at any point and ask for them.

its 40% of his income. They have assured us that what he has left is enough to live on, this includes rent, council tax and the governments basic food allowance. However as the stepchild I am not considered as a part of this allowance because I am over 19, even though I am living at home and in university.

We just dont understand why £650 is needed for a 15year old from just 1 parent, when 3 adults are expected to survive on around £850 a month.

We really dont want to get back into debt.:eek:

clou4

Kimitatsu wrote: »

Hiya

Did your Dad inform them that he had moved in with your Mum and yourself? There would have been some allowance made for this at the time had he given them a change of circumstances.

I have to say for your stepdad to be assessed at paying that amount of money for one child he is on considerably more than the minimum wage and whilst I am not going to go into debt issues he was aware of the liability some years ago and so should have made some provision for it.

he CSA is not allowed to contact the mother on your behalf, it would be a breach of data protection - the fact that you have already written to her at that address could leave you open to claims of harrassment should she not want to be contacted. I would suggest that if she has not replied you do not contact her at that address again.

If your parents have an IVA that is lasting 9 years then I would look at the way that it is set up. Current legislation means that they should be lasting a maximum of 5 years, and his priority payment is to his daughter not to his debts.



Thank you for your reply, firstly the csa were informed that he lives and is married to my mum.

He was aware of this but the amount just seems excessive, and I know the cases are seperate but it seems as if my stepdad is making up for the money i dont receive from my biological dad, and paying for his own child. He has no objection to paying but if the amount causes him to get into debt surely it is too much?

We already had her address but we werent sure if it was the same still, then they left it on there so thats how we confirmed it.

and finally the iva was for 5 years i believe, they didnt start the iva until 2007.

thanks again

shell_542

If they are taking 40% of his income then it sounds like he is paying the arrears.

Kimitatsu

clou4 wrote: »

Kimitatsu wrote: »

Hiya


Thank you for your reply, firstly the csa were informed that he lives and is married to my mum.

He was aware of this but the amount just seems excessive, and I know the cases are seperate but it seems as if my stepdad is making up for the money i dont receive from my biological dad, and paying for his own child. He has no objection to paying but if the amount causes him to get into debt surely it is too much?

We already had her address but we werent sure if it was the same still, then they left it on there so thats how we confirmed it.

and finally the iva was for 5 years i believe, they didnt start the iva until 2007.

thanks again

Thanks for the clarification )

Unfortunately because your Dad was earning good money when the assessment was made and was under CS1 that is why the amount is so different to what he would be paying now.

The view of the CSA is that regardless of what subsequent debts they have the priority is for payment of the child that was there beforehand. I cant say its a fair system (we have battled through both systems and there are flaws equally in both) but the assessment is made by giving a certain amount of protected income, then taking off housing costs and money for any subsequent children. As you have said you no longer come into that equation as you are now out of full time education, and your parents no longer recieve CB for you (if they do then you can be included in the calculation!)

The debt to the CSA is a priority debt and so comes before any others, it would only be reduced if he could prove financial hardship (ie he would lose his home or would not be able to afford to travel to work) that they woud reassess it. Any subsequent non priority debts are not included in the financial hardship rule, which is why the IVA is not taken into account.

I would suggest that you see a debt adviser (see my signature) and see what recourse you have to either reducing the payments to the IVA or paying the CSA over a longer period of time (have to say that this looks unlikely)

The CSA are entitled to take up to 40% of your disposable income (what is left after they have taken off your protected income and housing costs etc) for payment and arrears. I would be asking the CSA for a breakdown of what you are paying and ensure that they have taken the arrears off so far - if the NRP has confirmed that she is happy to leave them lie for now.

I realise that you think this is unfair but the NRP should have had this money since 2003 and the assessment was made on his ability to contribute to the upbringing of his child. That assessment should have been appealled at the time if he thought it was too much (although it does seem a lot :rolleyes:) and any other departures requested such as debts from the marriage or excessive travel costs to work, having the child to stay etc.

Sorry I cant be of more help.