CSA - Incompetent or supporting FRAUDulent Claims??

cozzie

Another chapter in the ongoing farce that is our dealings with the CSA.... Any ideas or help would be gratefully appreciated. Apologies for the length, but, lets be honest, nothing with the CSA is simple now is it?

2 qualifying children, QC1 at college studying 1yr course, QC2 unemployed - simple (??)

QC2 signed up for college course after finishing school (09/10), but, only attended for 1 day. Their major error.... Telling their Dad (NRP). At the same time, they also happened to mention that their Mum, (PWC) had encouraged them to 'just sign up for anything' and that QC1 had also been encouraged to do the same since leaving school (for the past three academic years), which they also did dutifully and 'failed to mention' if not also blatantly lied about their attendance and lack of EMA to the NRP - Which suggests that they were prepped by the PWC to do so.

Obviously, with all of the trouble we have had with the CSA and the PWC, we immediately informed the CSA who wrote to the PWC and requested confirmation of QC1's attendance for the previous 2 years (she's actually happened upon something she enjoys his year and is attending). The PWC was given a 2 week deadline in which to so, which was extended by a further 2 weeks after they failed to do so. This second date came and went, so, we contacted the CSA only to find that we had to remind them to do their job and follow up this deadline. Their response was to write to the PWC and extend the deadline again, albeit with a threat to close the claim if they failed to reply with the required information.

Today we received a call from the CSA to inform us that upon further investigation they have decided that even if the PWC states that the QCs have not been attending, the NRP is still entitled to maintenance as ChiB has been paid during these periods. Our argument is that if the PWC is capable of 'forgetting' to inform the CSA of any changes of circumstances and 'forgot' to reply to so many letters then surely they are capable of 'forgetting' to inform the ChiB of the same changes in circumstances.

The biggest laugh however is that apparently, even if the QC attends for just 1 DAY they qualify as a child in further education for the FULL TERM! In our case this adds upto amost £1k for 1 child to go to college for 1 day - value for money no?

A slight ray of hope... The CSA may investigate if it can be shown that the QCs showed "intent to not go back to further education". How on Earth can anybody show this?

We are ringing the ChiB tomorrow and explaining the situation, so, any help and thought would be appreciated so much.

TBC..............hahaha, will it never end?

Blob

Appeal the decision and put it in the hands of a Judge and let them try to talk their way round him, I think not. They are not stupid and will let rip on occasions if required.

AnxiousMum

as for 'intent'.....did they purchase books for the course? If they did, this would show intent. It would be interesting to see what made a child decide in just one day that the course was not for them......I would think that any PWC would be insisting that they gave it more of a try than that.

Have you tried talking to the kids about their career choices/educational choices? Sounds like not just money, but some parental guidance is needed as well.

applecharlotte

When my other half (nrp) informed the csa that his eldest hadn't been to college at all for the last 2 years ( not done anything since leaving school) the CSA told us that unless the PWC told them that there was nothing we could do. Needless to say - she didn't tell them and we continued paying!! It turns out she had been claiming JSA for 6 months while we continued to pay CSA because PWC hasn't informed them.

oesd31

The biggest laugh however is that apparently, even if the QC attends for just 1 DAY they qualify as a child in further education for the FULL TERM! In our case this adds upto amost £1k for 1 child to go to college for 1 day - value for money no?

This is from the child benefit website



What counts as 'relevant' education for Child Benefit?

Your child will need to be in full-time, non-advanced education. They would need to have enrolled or been accepted onto the course before their 19th birthday.
By 'full-time' we mean an average of more than 12 hours a week in term time is spent on:

• tuition
• practical work
• supervised study
• taking exams

It doesn't include breaks for meals and homework.
'Non-advanced' education includes the following:

• GCSEs
• A levels
• NVQ/SVQ level 1, 2 or 3
• BTEC National Diploma, National Certificate and 1st Diploma
• SCE higher grade or similar

This isn't a complete list. If you're not sure whether your child is in relevant education you can contact the Child Benefit Office for further advice.

If they are only attending college 1 day per week how can this be classed as full time education when this has to average 12 hours a week. If CB not payable then no CM is payable.

cozzie

UPDATE....

Apparently, if the QC goes to college, even for just 1 day and then quits, the PWC is still entitled to full maintenance for that term as they can just say that the child 'intends to return to education in the following term'.

Some good news though - our housing costs have finally been implimented after 16 months of waiting, (although only backdated for 6months)!! (I kid ye not - we shall wait for the actual implimentation and then appeal) but, during their re-assessment they have still managed to forget to remove the Carers Allowance.

Not bad - only taken us 16months to sort out some of their mistakes (plenty more to go), which have cost us £70pw and still seeing errors of £35pw!! At least we are chipping away at the fictitious arrears!

Just out of curiosity...How do overpayments work with regards to the PWC allowance?

Honest_broker07

I had a similar situation, but they woudln't even tell me which college she was supposed to be attending, but told me if I could get a letter from the principal saying she'd not attended then I Wouldn't have to pay anymore.

I somewhat let rip as there are 20 or more colleges etc within travelling distance and writing to each as a parent to formally request my child's attendance record would be painfully slow.

I guess I was lucky in that the guy on the other end agreed to give me the first 2 letters of each name of the college ( honestly they can't tell you but can hint ). So I managed to get hold of the principal and he wrote and said she'd attended to sign on for the course but never attended a day at college, so I managed to get her taken off0