CSA Called today, apparently I have been overpaid!!

mcscoty1973

Hi all.

Subject says it all. CSA called me today saying that I owe them 13,350 that has been overpaid. I was shocked as I have never claimed for anything that I wasn't supposed to get.

The CSA claim stopped in Febuary this year and my son who is now 18 left school last June but was registered with Careers Scotland who never found him a job, until he got one this year in may.

Child Benefit was stopped in September last year and I was surprised to be told by the CSA that payment would continue until he turned 18 which was in March this year, so I just carried on oblivious to anything being wrong. In March the CSA wrote to me telling me that the CSA claim was now stopped and the last payment I got was in Febuary. 7 Months later finding out I have been overpaid is ridiculous, and I can't affored to pay it all off in one lump sum so agreed a payment pland with them of 50pm so it will take 2.5 years to clear!

I have read that if you are registered with something like Connections CSA payment can continue, and I am under the opinion that Careers Scotland is the scottish equivalent of this government scheme.

Can anyone offer any help or advise on this please, as it might be that I dont owe anything at all.

Any help would be great.

Thanks you. :-)

kevin137

The best thing you can do right about now is to contact the CAB, they will be able to advise further on the legal options you have, and as it could be specific to Scottish law, it may well be slightly different to what the UK law is. I know they have some differences.

The down side is that you will have to pay it back, never an easy thing to do, however, you may also be able to raise a formal complaint and get some of it down... It is clearly there mistake, And if YOU notified them of the CB stopping in september, when it actually stopped, then it is there negligence that caused this. It may be worth trying to chat to your local MP about this as they do have some influence, but the long and short is that there mistake will cause you hardship, and you are stuck with it... ;(

Try and look at it from the other side as well... The child's father was not due to pay it, so is owed the money, and he will get it back at the rate you can afford not at the rate he paid, and he will get it back without interest... That is not fair either. But that is just how it is...

mcscoty1973

Hi Kevin.

I understand that any overpayment should be paid back and I am not disputing that. I would expect the same thing if it happened the other way around.

What I am unclear on really is that my son had left school, was working with Careers Scotland to try and get a job, looking at college options, applying to the army etc and at that time he was not able to make any claim for benefits because he was under 18 so got nothing at all. Now it would appear that not only was he not entitled to benefits, he was not entitled to CSA money either. Am I missing something here, because that clearly sounds wrong.

kevin137 wrote: »

The best thing you can do right about now is to contact the CAB, they will be able to advise further on the legal options you have, and as it could be specific to Scottish law, it may well be slightly different to what the UK law is. I know they have some differences.

The down side is that you will have to pay it back, never an easy thing to do, however, you may also be able to raise a formal complaint and get some of it down... It is clearly there mistake, And if YOU notified them of the CB stopping in september, when it actually stopped, then it is there negligence that caused this. It may be worth trying to chat to your local MP about this as they do have some influence, but the long and short is that there mistake will cause you hardship, and you are stuck with it... ;(

Try and look at it from the other side as well... The child's father was not due to pay it, so is owed the money, and he will get it back at the rate you can afford not at the rate he paid, and he will get it back without interest... That is not fair either. But that is just how it is...

MissMoneypenny

mcscoty1973 wrote: »

Hi Kevin.
What I am unclear on really is that my son had left school, was working with Careers Scotland to try and get a job, looking at college options, applying to the army etc and at that time he was not able to make any claim for benefits because he was under 18 so got nothing at all. Now it would appear that not only was he not entitled to benefits, he was not entitled to CSA money either. Am I missing something here, because that clearly sounds wrong.

Did you apply to get your child benefit and child tax credits extended, when he joined Caeers Scotland as people on Connections seem to have to do? I'm not sure on Scottish laws and whether you could have continued these benefit claims, but as a starting point, I was just wondered if you did and were turned down?

kevin137

No you are not missing anything, from 16th b/day CSA is reliant on the payment of CM for assessment purposes, rightly or wrongly and i have always argued that the CSA is not legally tied to CM that it may only be used as a qualifying factor, that it is not ALWAYS used as a qualifying factor.

The reason i suggest using the CAB is simple, if he is registered with a care service for any reason, normally for a disability, this may outstrip the qualifying purposes of the CM and actually leave you still able to claim. This may also not be the case, but you need decent advice from specialist people in the know for your circumstances.

I wasn't suggesting you had a problem with repaying, far from it, especially when it really can make things far more difficult for you in the future. But i think under the circumstances, and with a correctly worded letter, and copied into your SMP and a meeting with him, you may well find that the CSA will pay back the full amount direct to your ex and you repay the CSA, you could try fighting about this together if on talking terms. It will carry more weight with them..

So as an example, you would write that there mistake causes the money to be owed and that it will leave you unable to pay bills and that you should be given more time to pay, the full amount at £50 a month if £13350 is correct would in fact take 22.5 years...

If he wrote that as they made a serious case of maladministration, that he holds them fully responsible and that he requires immediate payment of the full amount within 28 days or he will seek legal action against them. And that he in no way holds you responsible, as you had correctly notified them of the changes in circumstances, and expected it to end, but was given advise that it was still due.

This way, you show a united front and to would be hard for them not to look incompetent and hard to be fair to you both. Which is why both letters, and the involvement of the MP would carry a great deal of weight.

Try to speak to your ex, and explain fully what this will mean for your son if you had to pay back quicker, and that you want to pay it all back, but that if you draught the letters will he sign and post to them to speed things up for both him and you in getting a satisfactory answer...

If you and he keep copies of each others letters, it would help as well, as they may say that they didn't receive etc, or that was never said to us etc and also good the MP understands that you are both affected by this...

mcscoty1973

Hi Miss Moneypenny

Strange you should ask about the extension, I have just found out about it and was reading up, and the CB site states you qualify for an extension of up to 20 weeks if you are registered for the careers service in scotland which he was.

The trouble is that I was blissfully unaware of this requirement in the first place and was never advised that I had to do this. I doubt they will acknowlege it retrospecivly.

I calculate that I was paid 24 weeks extra which equates to the 1,350 I was alleged to overpay. This would mean that CB owes me 330, and I would have been entitled to 20 extra weeks of CSA meaning that 4 weeks were overpaid which would mean I was overpaid by £225 factoring in the outstanding 330 of CB means I am owed £105.

What are my chances of at the very least getting CSA to recognize that I should have been entitled to the extra 20 weeks and reduce the overpayment to the realistic figure of 225?

Please say yes...please...please :-)

Thanks for your help.

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

Did you apply to get your child benefit and child tax credits extended, when he joined Caeers Scotland as people on Connections seem to have to do? I'm not sure on Scottish laws and whether you could have continued these benefit claims, but I was just wondered if you did and were turned down?

kevin137

That clarifies the amount owed anyway...

In your original post it says £13350, a huge difference to £1350...

Again, get hold of CAB they will be able to help in a backdated claim for any service you may be entitled to and will know a lot more about how these things work...

mazza111

I think it depends if it's classed as full time education. I got a call from the CSA last week informing me that now my child has left school I would no longer be entitled to my CM (£5)/week. So sorry for his poor father having to continue to pay this.

mcscoty1973

Hi Kevin,

Yes I put the wrong amount in my first post, apologies. If I owed that much I think I would probably have taken a heart attack.

I am hoping that possibly writing to the CSA and explaining the situation that they might realize that if I am successful in getting a back dates claim, that I do only owe 225 and I am more than happy to pay that to clear things up. I wonder what my chances are, the CSA dont have a good reputation for being reasonable.

Hopefully someone will come along and say if they think I would have a chance in backdating the claim.

Thanks for your info. I will see about CAB. Unfortunately where I live I would have to travel 90 miles to get to a CAB office, even though one is only 10 miles away. The reason I am told is because we fall under a different council juristiction...The world is mad I think!!

kevin137 wrote: »

That clarifies the amount owed anyway...

In your original post it says £13350, a huge difference to £1350...

Again, get hold of CAB they will be able to help in a backdated claim for any service you may be entitled to and will know a lot more about how these things work...

mcscoty1973

Hi Mazza1111

They dont need to be in full time education to make a claim for an extension, they only need to be registered with the careers service in England, Scotland or Wales, or be in a specific training course and then your entitled to 20 weeks extra. I wish I knew this earlier.

mazza111 wrote: »

I think it depends if it's classed as full time education. I got a call from the CSA last week informing me that now my child has left school I would no longer be entitled to my CM (£5)/week. So sorry for his poor father having to continue to pay this.

mazza111

Ah k, didn't matter to me as the wee yin's still in FT education. Not that I would miss the £5 ofc, just that don't see why he shouldn't pay it, it's hardly breaking the bank