CS1 or CS2 - can the CSA close my case without notifying me?

millican

I've been separated from my child's mother for 10 years (we were never married) and have always paid maintenance for their upkeep and have been involved in the child' life consistently. I am not what some would accuse as being a father who doesn't care.

My payments were always made directly to the mother and I kept a record of payments made. Unfortunately a number of years ago the CSA became involved and payment began to go through them which was fine with me but they then said I hadn't been paying maintenance and owed arrears that totalled over £7,000. Although each letter they sent to me gave me different amounts of money.

No amount of explaining to them, filling in forms, and sending copies of my receipts, and a latter from the PWC saying I had paid her would convince the CSA otherwise and I still had to make the payments. Every month I was paying £300 arrears and £140 child support which did not leave me in a good finanical position. After writing and signing a letter to the CSA the PWC refused to give the CSA permission to close the case and cancel the arrears. It didn't help that she had been telling her benefits office that she had been receiving no maintenance from me and so was being paid more benefits from the government that she was entitled to - effectively comitting benefit fraud but of course the government never wants to do any harm to single mums.

The arrears have now been paid off and the CSA encouraged us to make a private arrangement rather than processing the payments through them; we were both happy doing this but at no time were we told that our case would be closed and neither of us asked for the case to be closed.

After being made redundant I kept the CSA informed so they were aware that payments were not being made,and they said they would add this to my case file.

I have now started working again and have been trying to set up a private arrangement with the PWC - the same money as before - but she wants more that that even though I am on the same wage with the company who did make me redundant in the first place. She then made threats to go through the CSA to see if she could get more money than I am currently paying.

I had been under CS1 as the case had been opened before 2003 and when I rang the CSA to tell them I had started work and payments would be resuming privately but there was a disagreement in how much I was paying and needed advice on how much I should pay I was told I was on CS1.

The following day however I was told that I am now on CS2 as a new case has opened against me. CS2 leaves me in a worse financial position than CS1 as it doesn't take into account rent and travel. Under CS2 I would be left with £100 a month to spend on food and leisure.

What I would really appreciate is some advice as to how I have moved to a CS2 when I was told I was on CS1, and whether the CSA should ever have notified me that my case was closing because they never have and I've never asked to close my case.

I would assume when they advised us to go on a private arrangement they chose to close the case then but they have never told me that and in any phone corrspondence I have had with them they have always spoken like my case file was still open.

I really can't afford payments of 15% of my income and it annoys me that my former partner has a lot of money to spend on ipads, iphones, £100 hair straightners, tattoos and a car when I can't even remember the last time I purchased a luxury good!

Any advice would be much appreciated as I'm really at my wits end with this.

romanempire

millican wrote: »

My payments were always made directly to the mother and I kept a record of payments made. Unfortunately a number of years ago the CSA became involved and payment began to go through them which was fine with me but they then said I hadn't been paying maintenance and owed arrears that totalled over £7,000. Although each letter they sent to me gave me different amounts of money.

First off you need to get a copy of you file. It will cost you £10 and take a few weeks to come through (mine took only 2 weeks but my case has only been open a couple of years). Details and template letter in the sticky at the top of this forum.

Once you have that you can then figure out how the arrears arose. From what you tell us there should not have been any arrears if you were paying the assessed amount from the start of the CSA case. It will also help you with some of the other questions you have.

Do NOT rely on what the monkey at the end of the phone says. They frequently lie, mislead or just plain don't understand what's on their screen. You can phone 6 times asking the same question and get 6 different answers. Deal with them only in writing, sent recorded delivery.

Regarding your CSA1/CSA2 query. The PWC can close their case for 12? weeks and then open a new one which will then automatically be a CSA2 case. Nothing you can do about it. Their failure to communicate is not unusual. All the more reason to get your file so you can see where they went wrong and maybe correct it.

millican wrote: »

I really can't afford payments of 15% of my income and it annoys me that my former partner has a lot of money to spend on ipads, iphones, £100 hair straightners, tattoos and a car when I can't even remember the last time I purchased a luxury good!

Welcome to the brave new world where the meaning of father is merely sperm-donor and income source drone.

R.