CSA claim against ex has been turned around to a claim against me

Soubrette

As far as I can see, you are fighting a battle of three front - the child benefit office, the csa and your ex.

How old is your daughter? Do you have any evidence that she lives with you, is she registered at a local school/GP and/or dentist for example. Do you use a local childminder who can confirm that you drop her off and pick her up? Do you have bank statements showing any money that you have spent on her or do you recieve child tax credits for her? These kind of things need to be gathered together and sent to the Child Benefit office - always use special delivery and keep copies of any correspondence sent.

Now to the CSA - you need to phone them and tell them that all correspondence must be in writing, you in turn must write to them and explain the situation regarding why you are disputing child maintenance payment. Ask them to write back and tell you their procedure for you disputing any child maintenance payments as your child lives with you. Make it clear that child benefit is in dispute and that your daughter lives with you.

Think about joining Families need Fathers, it's not just for Fathers and there will be people who are in your situation. Their experiences may help you.

Now to the NRP, you need to deal with him or he will harrass you like this continually (bdt1 and his wife have a nutter PWC - nutters don't stop) Does he have any access at all? Do you have any mutual contacts so you can find out what is going on in his head?. Try and get half an hour for free from a solicitor to see what the law says about this kind of harassment, there may be something you can do, maybe not but it's worth trying to find out.

Good luck

Sou

OhDamm_2

The CSA have finally got round to closing the case against me since my ex decided to tell them that he no longer wanted anything (don't get me started) and they closed the case on 15th June.

They set up a DEO with my wages which I went mad about since I asked for it to be paid through my bank direct debit and since I shouldn't have been paying them at all. That was the choice given to me on the assessment form. The excuse was that the case went clerical a month ago and they can only use DEO's. They didn't send anything to my wage dept until 26th June to tell them the DEO was no longer viable so my wage dept took money from my wages as we get paid on the 26th and it was too late for them to stop it.

They're not allowed/can't refund the money but they get till the 19th July to get the money to the CSA (according to a member of the clerical team for the CSA) Once the CSA receive it, whether the case was stopped or not they still have to pass it on to my ex regardless of the circumstances.

I think you can imagine my reaction to that. Basically I'd have to ask my ex to return it and that's never going to happen. I stated that this was in fact theft. Money had been taken from me that shouldn't have been and because they'll give it to him even though the case was closed I stressed that it was THEFT. She went quiet.

The member of the clerical team, who remember only deal with all paperwork was tapping away at her computer telling me that she'd work some magic and try and get me the money in a round about way. Imagine my surprise when she told me what my bank account number was because it was on her screen. Everything was on the system. I was told that when it goes clerical it means it's no longer on the system :mad:

Anyway, I have to ring them on the 19th July to make sure what she's put in place goes through so I can get my money back. I won't get the actual money till about 2 weeks after that because I have to consider it going through the system etc.

I've never heard so much !!!! in all my life. I wish I could take them to court for theft. I don't think I'll be waiting till the beginning of August for money they took off me in June.

kelloggs36

What is happening with the Child Benefit? Have you got it back yet?

OhDamm_2

No Kellogs, I've only just received a letter from the independent adjudicator telling me they received my 2nd complaint which I sent over 3 weeks ago :mad: and they'll let me know in due course if they can take the complaint on board. Best of that was that I sent a complaint to them ages ago and they wrote to me telling me that I wasn't at the stage of being able to complain to them and sent my letter back to child benefit so I ended up with 3 letters all in all from Child Benefit telling me the same thing, rubbish! I was absolutely at the stage of using the adjudicator but they said not so they just wasted more time and I don't hold much hope of them doing anything either.

Child Benefit are an absolute joke and just point blank refuse to acknowledge their mistake. It's all in black and white, I think they just like pushing peoples buttons once you make a complaint in that they know how time consuming the complaints procedures are and I seriously think they believe people will get fed up at some point and just go away.

The CSA are the same, once you complain, they make it hell for you and take as long as possible and that side of things the local MP can't do anything about. They literally can and do whatever they want regardless.

marshmallows

I would love to know why they awarded him it in the first place, normally even when there is a 50/50 scenario they keep the child benefit where it is so if he doesnt even have the child 50% of the time god knows how he got that

OhDamm_2

Marshmallows, he got it because they didn't follow their procedure and took his information only whilst never sending me any correspondence. They didn't get it done in the 16 week period they have to investigate either, it went on for 20 weeks and when I rang to find out what the hell they were doing they kindly told me someone had picked it up saw it was 4 weeks overdue and just processed it so they'd already awarded him the money the week before that phone call I made.

They did no investigations in the situation here with me and now they're trying to cover their !!!!!! because they know they've dropped a clanger. This is what I'm fighting at the moment. My MP is also astonished at how they could make such a mistake but that doesn't really help me. Their complaints procedure is so time consuming it's unreal.

Once they gave the Child Benefit to him the CSA were straight on my back for maintenance because the CSA go off who holds the Child Benefit and you can bet your bottom dollar he was going to put a claim in. I can't even begin to tell you how I feel. I put in a claim to the CSA to help them retrieve maintenance from my ex and he turned the whole thing round. Child Benefit have no idea of the trouble or upset their mistake has made and even when told, they don't give a toss because none of them are at the end of their mistake.

They sent me a form to fill in after they'd awarded it to my ex and they had no intention of taking it off him and admitting their mistake. They then had the Comissioner look at the case as fast as they could without allowing me to appeal and he said unless there was a significant change the money was to stay with my ex. Corrupt? Hell yes. Once the Commissioner has made a decision there's no appealing, it's final and they had no right to send it to the Commissioner but they did. They did all this to avoid saying, yes we made a mistake, don't believe for one minute I'm ever letting this go.

gratefulforhelp_2

OhDamm wrote: »

I know the calls are recorded, I've asked for all transcripts which they have 40 days to do because the person I spoke to refused to let me speak to a manager, refused to give her name and shouted at me to start with. I have no problem in being polite and courteous but what are you supposed to do when they carry on like that before you've even had chance to say what it's all about. She eventually got someone to call me back because she knew she was in the wrong.

I've had that, its an outrage, was it Bolton by any chance?

OhDamm wrote: »

They set up a DEO with my wages which I went mad about since I asked for it to be paid through my bank direct debit and since I shouldn't have been paying them at all. That was the choice given to me on the assessment form. The excuse was that the case went clerical a month ago and they can only use DEO's.

They have lied to you about this. They can and do take money other than by DEO when it is clerical.

OhDamm_2

Well, I spoke to the manager of the CSA clerical office 4 days ago to find out where my money was because it still hadn't been paid back into my bank account. He looked on the system and said, it's just sat there. I asked what he meant by that and said sat there doing nothing? Yes he said so I lost the plot again to which he said give it 3 days then ring me back if it's still not there.

Rang him back today and I got the old, I've just walked through the door let me log and and see what's what and I'll ring you back in 15 mins. He didn't ring me back but he got someone else to. He knew I was going to explode and clearly couldn't face me. His underling couldn't see where my money was on the screen so I had to ring the receipts and payments dept. I told her to ring it for me because I was sick of paying for calls ringing them to get my money back but wouldn't you know she wasn't able to do that because they don't ring that dept internally. When I did ring receipts and payments I was told that my money had been sent out to me on the 19/07/10.

I asked why it wasn't in my bank then and unbelievably she stated they'd paid me cash through the post :eek: Well I know I shouldn't but I lost the plot again. Then she changed her mind and stuttered she'd read it wrong but that they'd received my money from my employers on the 30/06/10. I then got her team supervisor tell me that they'd actually sent me a cheque out on the 19/07/10. I asked why it hadn't gone straight into my account like they said it would and why they'd had it from 20/06 and made me wait till 19/07 and she unbelievably then told me my money was nowhere to be found on the system.

Right so how could they pay me by cash or cheque? I've never heard anything so ridiculous in my whole life. It gets worse. Suddenly she admitted she could see it on the system it's just that when they tried to pay it out it had been rejected. I asked her what the hell she was talking about and she asked me if I'd been on any benefits at all.

I asked what she was asking me that for and no I wasn't, I work and always have.Then she tried to tell me that I might not get the full refund of my money if I'd had benefits because I'd owe the State.

:mad::mad::mad: I won't go into detail about what I said but the upshot of it is, she doesn't know why the system rejected the payment to me and she has to get someone to get back in touch with me and it will take 3-5 days. I then find that I'm not actually talking to receipts and payments but the Bolton branch. So far it's been to Birkenhead, Crewe, Falkirk, Stockport and now Bolton.

I knew something like this would happen. They're so quick to take money off you and I wouldn't mind, the case was closed and they had no right to take it in the first place. Look how quick they are to give it back knowing you've got your own bills to pay eh....bloody never.

It's my money!!!!!! Sorry for ranting, it's put me in such a bad mood having spoilt my day and now I'll be festering all the time I'm waiting again for them to just give it back to me. Why's it so hard for them to do? Why do they lie through their teeth to be caught out time and time again. When you complain, someone apologies for the way they've tried to treat you like an idiot and they go and do it all over again

I don't think anyone would believe me if I didn't ask for a transcript of that phone call. I had my phone on speaker and my mum just sat there with her head in her hands.

bdt1

I believe you as do many others on here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately for us

Been there, situation always slightly different but inefficiencies/failing of CSA mean life for the victim totally scre***d remains the same - FACT!

AMAZING, I too have a public sector job, and as a professional if I made as many mistakes (or in fact any), I would be in front of a professional and employer disciplinary board to explain my actions, the CSA seem immune from this - make as many mistakes as you like, wreck as many lives as you like , and hey it's all in a days work - tally ho!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PlayingHardball

OhDamm, feel for you! Put in a written complaint and demand a consolitory payment. Suggest £100 would suffice for your agro - I got that twice, and can totally understand your frustration at the constant errors. (obviously £100 would never suffice, but I think thats the top they normally give)