Help!!!

Allerton

Hi

I separated in 1996 with 2 children. For 2 years, I paid all the bills getting heavily into debt. Eventually I could do it no more & the CSA became involved.They took 16 months to decide how much I should pay & I naively thought the previous two years would be taken into consideration. They weren't.

In 2003, I was made redundant & lived on £54 a week for 10 months. The CSA claim i did not inform them, though my MP rang and were informed I had. They continue to hound me for this period. When I returned to work I robbed 'Peter to pay Paul' just to keep my head above water. Eventually the CSA caught up with me and a DEO of £560 was implemented. After 31/2 years, the CSA decide the arrears were not being cleared quicly enough andwere granted a Liability Order in what can only be described as a farce (Old boys network!).

In January of this year my DEO increased to £622 and now I am being threatened with prison, loss of driving licence - essential if I am to carry on working and pay off arrears. I now take home around £800 to live on.I have been to the CAB, written twice to the PM, seen my MP, & been to the local welfare benefits office. I cannot afford a solicitor, and been told I cannot get legal aid to fight the CSA. No solicitor seems willing to challenge the CSA. I know I have been naive and made errors of judgement, but to date I have paid the CSA in excess of £35k not missed a ayment in nearly 5 years and feel I am being hounded in order for them to meet targets by an organisation that change their rules when it suits them. The stress is indescribeable.

Please can anyone who has suffered similarly advice on what I can do. Who are the CSA accountable to? Is there an independant body who will mediate for this kind of problem or provide support and advise?

Many Thanks, I will be grateful for any help.

786

You are not going to prison or having your driving licence taken away.

To do this they have to take you to a Magistrates Court and the magistrate is not going to do that if there is a DEO in force. I can't see the CSA would actually go to the Magistrates Court to enforce the Liability Order because of the DEO.

If the situation is unbearable with the DEO in place, you may have to consider becoming umemployed or self employed.

dizzydusty

Hi Allerton,

Can I just clarify a few points in your post.. I know they will be clear to you but perhaps not so to someone reading your post.

You said you were unemployed and on benefit in 2003, did you pay child maintenance then? If you did was it direct to the PWC or via some other means?

"They continue to hound me for this period. When I returned to work I robbed 'Peter to pay Paul' just to keep my head above water. Eventually the CSA caught up with me and a DEO of £560 was implemented. After 31/2 years, the CSA decide the arrears were not being cleared quicly enough andwere granted a Liability Order in what can only be described as a farce (Old boys network!)." This reads to me as if you didn't pay (hence the question above) but I dont want to assume. However, as you say the CSA eventually caught up with you, did you not inform them that you had returned to work?

Kellogs is the expert on CS1 as I think thats what you will have been assessed under as your case was from 1998. But CSA only applies from when the case was opened so they wouldn't take the previous two years into account.

I cannot understand why the CSA are disputing the time you were on benefit though. CSA and DWP computers are linked via National Insurance Records (NIRS) therefore they would have received notification via NIRS that you had claimed benefit and also that you had signed off to return to work. What I can't say for sure is whether or not the CSA would act on these notifications to invoke a change of circumstances or whether or not they would expect you to let them know. (I know about NIRS as I worked in a benefit office over that time and we used to get notified of changes of address etc via this system from changes input by CSA!)

The argument could be that you did let the CSA know as you informed a relevant department of DWP (i.e Jobcentre when you signed on) that you were unemployed and subsequently when you started work. CSA was part of DWP at that point in time. Again this would depend on what was accepted by CSA as a notified change of circumstances.

It may work, it may not but I suppose its worth a try.

RedSky

CMEC is a quango with limited accountability and working at arm's length from Ministers. Your only option may be to make as much noise as possible to whoever will listen whether by complaint, tribunal, ICE, MP, Parliamentary Ombudsman, Ministry of Justice or whoever.

markeymark

786 wrote: »

If the situation is unbearable with the DEO in place, you may have to consider becoming umemployed or self employed.

forget this advice, what will that achieve??? total nonsense

how much are your arrears? have you got your DP files
can you prove somebody informed the CSA you became unemployed? if your MP informed them it should be in writing somewhere, get a hold of that

kelloggs36

What evidence is there on file that you notified them of your unemployed status? As Markymark says, you need to get your data protection file to be able to see this. What was the assessment in place? what are the total arrears? For you to have paid £35k in arrears and still be paying, your assessment must have been huge - or an IMA. Did you provide them with your details so they could assess you properly?