1st post & help!

seedyh

Evening people..

Yet another question on when payments should end.

My son turned 19 at the end of October 2009 and I was looking forward to the payments stopping. I wrote to the CSA a couple of weeks beforehand to make sure they were aware.. today I received a letter stating what I would be paying (via DEO) from 01.01.2010 onwards! needless to say I'm in shock.

He stayed on until 6th form did his A levels and is now doing a free college course. I was under the impression that everything should've ended as soon as he hit 19?

Am I mistaken?

Many thanks in advance for any info.

shell_542

You are not mistaken. Child Support is only paid up to 19 max (atm). It sounds like someone's made a balls up. I would ring asap tomorrow and asked for clarification over the telephone and also a copy in writing.

seedyh

I shall do.. I've always been warned off ringing them and to do everything via recorded delivery postage, but this needs sorted asap indeed.

Thanks for the info

missbunbury

If you have high arrears, you may still be paying those off. As far as I know, the arrears are payable in full regardless of the age of the child they relate to. I've come across cases where people are still paying when the child is in their twenties.

seedyh

I did have £10k of arrears.. a nice made up CSA figure. I finished paying these off a couple of years ago, although it took 4 months to get them to stop taking the extra each month!

missbunbury

You're going to have to speak to the CSA about it to get clarification I think - most people on here suggest doing so by letter only but my suggestion would be to call them to request a full account breakdown in the hope that they'll be able to explain straight away for your own peace of mind, then if you like you could also put the request in writing.

pd001

missbunbury wrote: »

You're going to have to speak to the CSA about it to get clarification I think - most people on here suggest doing so by letter only but my suggestion would be to call them to request a full account breakdown in the hope that they'll be able to explain straight away for your own peace of mind, then if you like you could also put the request in writing.

Hmmmm
Tend to disagree here.....about phoning the csa that is.
But if you do insist on phoning them, then ALWAYS follow up with a letter..by recorded delivery of course

terryw

pd001 wrote: »

Hmmmm
Tend to disagree here.....about phoning the csa that is.
But if you do insist on phoning them, then ALWAYS follow up with a letter..by recorded delivery of course

Always is a long time but got to agree with that on something as relatively as this you really really do need to do this in writing.

missbunbury

pd001 wrote: »

Hmmmm
Tend to disagree here.....about phoning the csa that is.
But if you do insist on phoning them, then ALWAYS follow up with a letter..by recorded delivery of course

I think the whole recorded delivery thing is a bit over-rated to be honest. Apart from anything else, the person who signs for the letter is not likely to be the same person who actually needs to deal with the contents of the letter, so you get a false sense of security from knowing the letter has been received even though the letter itself may not have got to the relevant person.

I once signed for a letter that arrived at my house, only to notice after the postie was gone that the letter was addressed to the guy six doors down. It turned out the letter contained his divorce papers (before anyone starts, he told me that when I took the unopened letter down to him!) In that case, had I decided to hang on to the letter, it would have been assumed to have been received and that could have caused all sorts of problems.

CSA_Help

I have telephoned them twice this week to make sure they have actioned things that have been lurking about for oover a month .I sent in a complaint letter last weekend and it still hasn't been recorded as been received .

Kimitatsu

missbunbury wrote: »

I think the whole recorded delivery thing is a bit over-rated to be honest. Apart from anything else, the person who signs for the letter is not likely to be the same person who actually needs to deal with the contents of the letter, so you get a false sense of security from knowing the letter has been received even though the letter itself may not have got to the relevant person.

The point that pd001 is making though is theat if it has been sent recorded then you have a record that it HAS been recieved by the CSA, so when looking at complaints and maladministration they cannot claim that you have not sent it.The onus is on you to ensure that the item is recieved by the CSA therefore a recordable method is really the only way, especially when dealing with a change of circumstance.

If youa re reporting a change of circs, the CSA will only take it from the date they were informed (so if they lose the letter/gets lost in the post etc etc) then the onus is on you to prove that it was sent.

Personally I send it by fax and recorded letter so that I know they have it, a fax takes 2 days to hit someones desk, a letter can take up to 2 weeks as they are not opened on site. They are opened at a bulk centre and then distributed to the relevant offices - which might explain why so much goes missing :rolleyes::rolleyes: