CSA ARREARS- Please Help!

Ciaemo

Hi, sorry for lots of info. I hope you can offer some good advice – thanks in advance…..

· My husband has a child from his 1stmarriage. He is on old rules.

· Since Dec 2004 he has been asking for a paymentschedule because he did not know how much to pay. He gaveup midway through 2005.

· During 2005 he became unemployed (ill health) andhe started working again in March 2006. Hehad not heard from CSA. He did notinform the CSA about these changes. Hewasn’t really with it with his illness and because he didn’t hear anythingwrongly forgot about the CSA.

· Since 2007 he has been on NIL assessment and isa carer to our 2 disabled children. Heearns £58 per week in carer’s allowance.

· We enquired about any arrears in 2007 and wereadvised that all was ok and we would have had a letter if there were any.

· 2013 – Last week a letter came from the CSA advisingthat he owes £9,000 in arrears from 2005-2007. No payment schedule has been received since Jan 2004 and this is thefirst correspondence since 2007’s letter confirming NIL assessment.

· We enquired as to where this came from. In Mar 2012 the CSA realised they made anadmin. Error. and that the amount heshould have been paying in 2005-2007 should be twice as much. They also confirmed that no schedule has beensent out for 2005 onwards.

· No attempt has been made to chase the debt.

· I have submitted a subject access request.



Any advice would be welcome. Does anyone know:



1. Under any circumstance will the CSA allow us tosubmit the true circumstances of 2005-2007? If we had known at the time what the payments were we would havechallenged the amount. The assessment ismade on earnings of £330 more per week.

2. We are really concerned about being able to paythis back at an acceptable rate as my husband is only claiming carer’s. How much can they take? Can anyone advisewhat length of time the CSA will allow?

3. The CSA have advised that this is their fault,is there any grounds for getting the arrears reduced?

4. Are the CSA supposed to do assessments every twoyears?

5. Would CSA know if my husband changed jobs or wasunemployed because of their links with the Inland Rev?

Many thanks

clearingout

1. Not sure - but if it doesn't go the way you want it to, the involvement of your MP may yield positive results. Or it may not.

2. If he's on benefits, no more than £5 a week - although this is due to increase (if it hasn't already? anyone?). The CSA steer is 2 years to pay back arrears. However, this is a steer not the law.

3. No. If the money is owed, the money is owed.

4. No.

5. No. There is no automatic link between the CSA and the HMRC - one doesn't update the other. The CSA has access (and I assume vice versa) but there is nothing automatic about it. You may need to search out evidence of your husband's unemployment, benefit claims etc.

Being ill or not 'with it' isn't a defence in CSA terms. If the money is owed, there will be nothing at all to be done about it.

On the face of it, yet another child financially sidelined in favour of the 'new' family. Sigh.

Ciaemo

Hi - thank you for your speedy response!!

PreludeForTimeFeelers

1. Generally speaking, the CSA can only assess based around notification dates/reassessment requests from either the NRP or the PWC - an exception to this is on/off-benefit changes. You said he was unemployed in 2005 - was he claiming benefits at the time? If so, they should be able to calculate his assessment more accurately, call them and give them the dates he wasn't working.

2. Deduction from benefit is still £5, this won't rise until the MPs decide whether to put it up to £7 or £10 per week. There's even talk about it rising to £7, then phasing in the increase to £10 per week (I wish they'd leave phasing alone!).

3. Not really - if the deb is due in part to the Csa not chasing things up then they'll sometimes let the NRP pay back the debt over a longer period of time.

4. Nope - the clients should be taking more of an interest in ensuring the assessment is accurate and up-to-date.

5. The CSA can get info from HMRC when they've been asked to do a reassessment, but this info usually just confirms the employer and start date. For self-employed NRP's it should show their most recent tax declaration.

Sensemaya

Contact your MP asap and ask for a complete account breakdown from day 1 of the case.

If they contact you again just say you don't want them contacting you by phone and the matter is in the hands of your MP. This will create a nice paper trail.