CSA say they have made an overpayment of £1800. Help please

cjj_2

Hi
Recently the csa wrote to inform me that my ex had overpaid by £2200. Some of that amount was arrears but some according to them was an overpayment. Ex was phoning them regularly to tell them ds was 18 and at uni and he shouldnt still be paying. Because they carried on paying me monthly I pressumed it was arreas. They now want the money back. We are a low income family and money is very tight. I telephoned them and they said I could pay back so much a week/month and said it was caused by them having a backlog of claims to deal with. I feel this is unfair as they made the mistake. Anyone been in a similar situation with the csa. If so what happened. TIA x

karenx

Well it's money you shouldn't of had and you knew that so why didn't you put it aside when you got it and when they asked for it back it was all there.

cjj_2

i didnt know it was a mistake as ex had been telephoning them to query it but they still made the payments and i believed it to be arreas

Marisco

If an NRP has arrears, they have to pay, why is this any different? Half the time the arrears are because of the fault of the CSA, but NRP's still have to pay. Do what NRP's have to do, negotiate with them a weekly/monthly figure that suits.

WYSPECIAL

If you genuinly had reason to believe that there were still arrears and that was what you were being paid and there was a delay caused by the agency you may possibly get some compensation if you complain.

However £2200 is a lot of money so your ex would have needed to be on a high assessment with a lot of arrears. What sort of timescale are we talking about?

cjj_2

the arears were from years ago or so i thought. I hadnt really looked into it much. I did think because he queried it and it was still paid to me after that that i was genuinely entitled to the payments . I was paid the full amount for 5 months after it should have stopped i believe. Thanks for your help

karenx

You should call them up to arrange a payment plan to pay it back

dt3887

surely you should have known that due to the childs age that you were not entitled to any more CSA, or did you expect the NRP to continue to pay for the rest of their life? its about time, in my opinion, that RPs are chased by the CSA for accepting money they are not entitled to, rather than just the NRP getting harrased

cjj_2

To be fair my child had gone to uni and I am still willing to support him so he does not get into too much debt ie he lives at home. So the nrp just walks away from this when he reaches 18 does he. Sorry didnt realise that was the case

duchy

Sadly yes-once at uni they are expected to use student loans and maintenance grants-however if you are on a low income so unable to support them -they are entitled to more than a higher income family (and your ex's income is ignored even if he's still slipping him a few quid)

dt3887

cjj wrote: »

To be fair my child had gone to uni and I am still willing to support him so he does not get into too much debt ie he lives at home. So the nrp just walks away from this when he reaches 18 does he. Sorry didnt realise that was the case

not saying nrp should just walk away at 18, but support does not have to pay that support through the CSA or to the RP,