Unable to sleep coz of the csa

2nd_family_workin_hard

Can anybody help me???
I am a '2nd family' under the csa and 7 years ago my partner lost his job and informed the csa of this. We never heard anything from that day until Feb this year when we got a letter out of the blue stating that we owed £7000 and unless it was sorted within 7 days it would go to the bailiffs.

We telephoned them straight away at their request and made arrangements to pay on going payments plus £70 a month towards the arrears. They only problem my partner having is that he doesn't have a bank account so asked for payment slips to be sent - they never arrived!!! So we sent them 3 emails requesting the same and still no payment slips!!!
In these emails we also requested a breakdown of how the arrears caluclation was made to check if they were right!
Me and my partner both work and have 2 small children - but during these 7 years he has at times been unemployed through being layed off and then i have become the main earner even though i only work part time.
So we intended to dispute the arrears because at one point during these 7 years he didn't work for almost one!

The questions i really need answers to are:

Will eversheds take what the child support agency intended to - the ongoing maitence and arrears?
Did the child support agency deliberatly not send the slips because in one of our calls to them they said that nobody would take responsibility for our case - therefore this would go to the bailiffs - the easy option for them because i know it was late but we now intended to sort this out once and for all?
What is the maximum % the csa can take out of my partners wages - the worst case senario including the arrears?
The assessment figures where based on when we had a lower income and higher living costs!!
We have not been assessed for four years!
We are on CSA 1 rules.
Also, i know that eversheds are now in charge of our case and the CSA will not speak to us but we want to dispute the amount for the times that my partner was unemployed - is this worth doing?
Do i have to tell them my income - it is £9000 a year what is my own protected income?

Please Help Me i am out of my mind with this debt.

kelloggs36

I will answer more fully later, but you need to double check that they had the info that he wasn't working as they should have done a new assessment at that time as a nil one and then either a new one when he started working, or a new one now,depending on when they were notified that he was working again.

kelloggs36

The first thing you need to do is to put in writing and send recorded delivery a request for an ACCOUNTS BREAKDOWN. It will take time to get one, but check online that the letter has been signed for and then call them and ensure that you speak with the ACCOUNTS department dealing with your case. Ask them again for a full accounts breakdown and ask them how long it will take to get it. Call them after the time has passed that they said it would take - do this every time.

I would assume (hopefully somebody will back me up here) that they only send the arrears to Eversheds and will continue to collect the regular maintenace themselves.

Under CS1 rules the max they can take is something like 40% of wages, perhaps a bit less. It is 30% max for regular maintenance but in many cases is nowhere near this.

You do not HAVE to tell them of your income but it may be detrimental not to do so, as they cannot calculate your protected income and therefore you may be paying more because of this.

I am curious how the arrears built up too if they acted on the information that your partner was not working - did you not get a nil assessment after this? If not, then it would look like they never acted on the info, or never received it to act upon, in which case this is how the arrears have accrued. In order to check this, you need to ask them for all the info they hold on you under the data protection act. You will then see if they got the info or failed to act upon it. If you can prove they failed to act then they should wipe the arrears and you could ask for compo for their maladministration.

If he gets a Deduction of Earnings Order, then he has to be left with 60% of his takehome pay which is a protected income, but not the same as that in the assessment.

2nd_family_workin_hard

Hi Kellogg
Thanks for getting back to me so quick,
To answer your question yes Eversheds only take arrears they said we have to wait for the csa to collect maitenence!!!! Which i doubt will ever happen because they have failed us time and again so far!!! So whilst we pay our arrears we will be getting nowhere because the debt will still be rising with them haha feel like crying really!!!
Also, after speaking to eversheds they say that it's a non-negociable 3% of arrears, they haven't even asked what we earn - they want £220 per month again not including maitenence, which if we paid this we would be better of not working - seriously - we don't want to do this as we are hard working people and we do want to get this debt sorted once and for all, but we have to think about our two children too.
So is it negociable?
We have already done what you advised in Febuary asking for all our information and we sent this recorded delivery they have recieved it as it was also confirmed in a call! But this has been ignored also!
I also presume that they didn't act on the info, but as my partner has worked since did we have a legal obligation to inform them we he did work again, therefore this being pointless anyway?
We are only interested in the year he didn't work and getting this years arrears taken off. Would they do this or would they charge is more and reaccess the whole period?
I know i am going on but you info is really helpful!!!
Thanks again
Hayley

kelloggs36

Hi - go direct to your MP and get him/her to request an accounts breakdown. They are very much more likely to respond to them. Whilst you are at it, ask them to ask why arrears are not negotiable.

Keep the regular maintenance in an account ready to pay when it is requested, that way you won't go further into arrears in reality as you will be able to pay it when it is requested.

You definately need to ask for a Data Protection print off all info held as this will prove whether they received the notification that he was not working. If it is proven then they have no choice but to revise the assessment as they should have done it at the time. Then the new assessment can only be done from the time that they contacted you again to ask for info - only recently. Ask for a Face to Face interview ASAP to discuss this with them - they have 40 days in which to provide you with the required info by law.