arrears check them

jimbo4468_2

went through my old csa paperwork in august 2006 found i had recieved a payment from them for "overpayment" £126.00.. that was back in june 2004.
i have voluntry ded of earnings in place and when checking through found i was paying arrears from jan 2006 to present date april 2007 at £51.15 per month..
however in jan 2006 i moved in with my new partner who has a 14 yr old daughter and informed the csa...(big mistake)
my payments went from £41.00 per month to £234.89 which includes £51.15 arrears..
i am the only 1 working in our household...cant claim any benefits coz work too many hours.
however checking through paperwork found letter from 2004 saying "arears nil"
i got in touch with bolton csa in october 2006.
been waiting all this time for answer to wher these arears are from and how i aquired them when i am on d.e.o.?????
i have asked for proof of arears and still to this day they have not provided them... the accountant where i work has looked at the letters i have recieved over the years and said some are "illegal".
would advise everyone with arears to demand an arears breakdown..they must produce this to you when requested or refund you in full any payments made for arrears..will keep you informed how i get on...anyone in same situation let me know??????

stella40

They did a similar thing with me. I got an account summary which shows all the payments that I should have made and the payments I had made. It's difficult to tally the two figures up because the amount you should have paid is in weks and the amount you have paid is in months. They then total these two figures up and if theres a discrepancy then thats how much you owe in arrears.

I'd take the time to reckon up all the figures that they said you should have paid and what you have paid. In my case one of the payments that they said I'd paid had been missed out when they worked out my total payment figure. This added a further £400+ to my arrears.

If you've been paying a number of years it can be difficult to reckon up the figures, prob best to put them in a spreadsheet.

kelloggs36

On what grounds were the figures illegal? Not saying they weren't, just curious. But you are right to demand an account breakdown of all payments due and paid.

jimbo4468_2

:eek: if you recieve a letter asking you to pay for arrears only stating the amount you have to pay, not giving full details of any dates missed or not recieved then the letter is not worth the paper it is printed on.
the c.s.a. know this but dont care..
they know you will pay up.
however if you request a full breakdown (as i did 8 months ago ) and they fail to provide the nessesary paper work or proof then the payments have to be paid back.. take into account the c.s.a. DONT want to give you money back unless they have too.
i have been fighting for 8 months for proof of such arrears..they (c.s.a.) have never sent or given me any proof of these arears..so given the length of time they have had to sort this matter out, they have broken many rules and laws i.e. freedom of information act ( they store information about you on computer..so when you request anything from them they must be polite and give you the information).
in my case this hasn,t happened so they are in breach of the law as it stands.
i will keep you informed of my progress at each stage...

kelloggs36

I think you are being a bit strong here. Have you told them that you are asking for the information under the freedom of information act? If not then they are not in breach if they have failed to give you the answer. They are guilty of not providing the info, and I agree that they should have done, but you can go to your MP who can give them a bit of a kick to get them to provide it to you. Put it in writing, sent recorded delivery that you would like a complete account breakdown and then chase up after 2 weeks. It mostly takes much longer than that to produce it, but if you chase them it should arrive. The letter is not illegal, it is just does not provide all the information that you might want. You can always request an interview with them to discuss this exact matter and the Face to Face officer should be able to obtain the details ready for the interview.

Mr_Green_Genes

A small technical point. Personal information on computer systems is not governed by the Freedom of Information Act but the Data Protection Act. They have 40 days to respond. I have the office address if you need it. It's in Newcastle.

jimbo4468_2

:mad: i dont think i am being strong enough..
the c.s.a have said they are going to be hard on n.r.p...
as a N.R.P. I like millions of others have always paid and never argued about it(afterall they are my kids)i would not want them to struggle or suffer..however the c.s.a is governed by rules and regulations..
not providing proof of arrears when i asked for them 8 months ago is breaking every rule they have..including the(sorry wrote it wrong earlier) DATA PROTECTION ACT.
thec.s.a also state that the MINIMUM payment is £5.00 per child???
which i have documented proof to be wrong..
my partner recieves £1.25 per week which she hasn,t recieved a penny of..
13 years ago she was told she couldn,t get a penny off the absent father coz they couldnt find him (what ever)
we went to look at electoral register and gave them all info...letter came back 2 weeks ago stating she will recieve £1.25 per week..
SO THE C.S.A MAKE THEIR OWN RULES UP AS THEY GO ALONG.
SO NOT ONLY DO I HAVE TO PAY FOR MY OWN CHILDREN BUT COZ MY PARTNER SUFFERS DEPRESSION SHE CANT WORK AND COZ I WORK OVER 44 HOURS A WEEK WE CANT CLAIM ANYTHING..NOT EVEN CHILD TAX CREDIT...
SO FINALLY I END UP HAVING TO SCRIMP AND SCRAPE COZ THE C.S.A ARE CHARGING ME WAY OVER THE ODDS ( THEY ADMITTED THIS MONTHS AGO ) BUT STILL MAKE ME PAY FOR ARREARS THAT I HAVE PROVEN I DONT OWE ...BUT NEVER MIND..WHEN I GET IT BACK I WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO CLAIM COMPO OFF THEM FOR UNNESSESARY STRESS..
SOLICITOR GAVE THEM UNTIL 29/4/2007 12.00AM TO PROVIDE INFO OR RESOLVE THE ISSUE..
AS YET NO REPLY OFF THEM EXCEPT 2 EMAILS FROM BURKENHEAD SAYING THEY WERE DISGUSTED BY THE RESPONCE AND TIME IT HAS TAKEN..
BOLTON S.C.S.A HAVE BEEN ON THIS CASE SINCE OCTOBER NOT BURKENHEAD..
WILL LET YOU KNOW IF ANYTHING RESOLVED...

donnalove

working over 44 hours a week would not affect child tax credits, it is earnings. you should at least be getting 545 a year which is the basic element.

donnalove
xxx

jimbo4468_2

i will check that out and get back to you on it. donna thanx

janiegs

Also, the minimum isn't £5.00 per child. The current minimum payment on old cases is £5.80, but that would be split between however many children the NRP had, so in your partners case it means the NRP is liable for 4 children, each of whom are getting a quarter of the £5.00.

I realise this doesn't actually help you any, but it's probably right. Donna is right, tax credits go on earnings, not hours worked. If the CSA are charging you over the odds why hasn't a new assessent been done (not trying t be funny, just looking for information that maybe someone could help you with).

kelloggs36

Unless you have written specifically asking them to provide information under the Data Protection Act then they have not broken any laws. They have been lax and yes, you have a right to be annoyed about this. An accounts breakdown cannot be supplied under the Data Protection Act anyway because it hasn't been calculated yet and it is information they hold on you that is covered by the DPA. Have you contacted your MP to ask them to act on your behalf to request the accounts breakdown? You need to do this as they are more likely to get a response.

Janiegs is right - there is a minimum payment of five pounds per week, but if the NRP has children with other PWCs then that fiver will be split between them, so it looks like your wife's ex has other children that he must support and it also looks like he is on benefits which is why it is so low.

With regards your payments it is possible to get into arrears whilst paying on a DEO as they have to leave you with a protected amount of income 60% so if they ask for the full maintenace and you have earned less in a particular week it will take you below that protected amount, hence they take less money. THey try to recover it in subsequent months but it is not always possible.

Are your current payments based on the correct income at the moment?