csa backpay-very confused - very long

boobless

Hi

I am asking a longshot that one of you good people can point me in the right direction.

My sister and her partner had 2 children, the relationship broke down when the youngest was 2 (1995), my sister then started to receive social security and when CSA came into force her ex partner had the payments taken from his wages - i have no idea how much.
My sister and the children had no contact with the father, he simply disappeared into oblivion.

sadly in november 2005 my sister passed away and the children came to live with me (11 and 14), I received child benefit and guardians allowance (£18per month) for them - I could not supply any information as to their fathers whereabouts and was given legal guardianship.

Now the children are 21 and 24 and their father has reappeared from who knows where and they have regular contact with him, which is fine with me they are adults now and have their own lives and choices BUT the eldest has asked me if i know when his dad has to stop paying CSA back payments as its his beleif he has been paying £350 per month to me since 2009, the father has shown paperwork to prove that he has been paying this money but it has not been payed to me. I have never had a single penny from him for the children.

I am so upse, is there anyway i can establish who this csa money has been paid to, it equates to 21,500

many thanks

Crellow4

If the money is being taken from wages/bank account Dad will need to contract CSA. If you have not opened a case against him, you will not be ble to establish anything via CSA - they will not engage with you.

PreludeForTimeFeelers

There's a good chance that these debts were to the Secretary of State. The dad should be asking for a full account breakdown though, this would show what his payments are towards.

Cally_Smart

I would think it was to pay back the Secretary of State as until April 2010 (when total benefit disregard came into place and pwc were allowed to keep all Child maintenance)any money recovered from the non resident parent(nrp)was paid back to the Government to compensate for the Income Support received by the parent with care(pwc).I think you were allowed to keep £10 of the money a week as an incentive to chase up the nrp I guess! If it took that long to find him as he was 'off the radar' so to speak,the arrears would have mounted up ,hence them getting it back off him still. I hope there is some recompense to come for you, the legal guardianship money would not have been a great deal to look after the children on.
Tell the Dad to get his Data protection file for £10 (it has to be him that asks for it ,obviously)and it gives you all the information they have on the case-he can even ask for the telephone recordings of calls to/from them on CD.
My children didnt see their Dad until they were almost adults,I just got on with bringing them up & he got on with his life! I didnt 'run him down' to them as it can affect their confidence & now as adults they have a relationship with him(Oh the joys of facebook!) & I hope he is trying to make up for lost time.
Regards, Cally

FBaby

Did your sister work at all during this time or was she claiming income support benefit. I believe that even if she was claiming income support the entire time, she would have been entitled to keep a small amount of that money. It might not be £21K, but it would still be something.

If however she wasn't claiming income support, then the full amount should have gone to her and ultimately to you afterwards assuming you received child benefit for them. The issue you might have though is that it might be that you should have made a claim to get that money. In which case, if money was taken from him but the original claim ended because of your sister's death, he should have stopped paying until a new claim was made, so it might be that he is entitled to the money back rather than it going to you.

krashovrload

Cally_Smart wrote: »

I would think it was to pay back the Secretary of State as until April 2010... ...any money recovered from the non resident parent(nrp)was paid back to the Government to compensate for the Income Support received by the parent with care(pwc)

++

This was always the bit I had an issue with - I could never quite understand how my £70 a week in maintance would help improve things for my son when the Government 'took' £60 of it because his mum was in receipt of benefits...

The situation didn't help either of us.! I lost about 1/3 my income and the PWC saw almost none of it...

++

Cally_Smart

Oh I didn't think of that possibility.CSA should have been sympathetic & told you about the children's mother & the case closure if so but then sympathy is never the CSA's strong point is it ?I hope, if he does gets something back, he gives you a generous amount for what you did bringing up the children.

shoe*diva79

krashovrload wrote: »

++

This was always the bit I had an issue with - I could never quite understand how my £70 a week in maintance would help improve things for my son when the Government 'took' £60 of it because his mum was in receipt of benefits...

The situation didn't help either of us.! I lost about 1/3 my income and the PWC saw almost none of it...

++

Is this a serious post? You lost about a third of your income so the tax payer didnt have to pay the costs of bringing up your children.

krashovrload

shoe*diva79 wrote: »

Is this a serious post? You lost about a third of your income so the tax payer didnt have to pay the costs of bringing up your children.

++

My issue is that at a time when his mother probably could have used £70 a week she didn't get it as she was in receipt of benefits...

Maybe we should have reached a private arrangement but she still would've had to declare that as income - wouldn't she?

Forgive me for not recognising that child maintenance wasnt anything of the sort.!

++

shoe*diva79

krashovrload wrote: »

++

My issue is that at a time when his mother probably could have used £70 a week she didn't get it as she was in receipt of benefits...

Maybe we should have reached a private arrangement but she still would've had to declare that as income - wouldn't she?

Forgive me for not recognising that child maintenance wasnt anything of the sort.!

++

Everyone can use extra money. Maybe your ex should have got a job and earned her money? That way you wouldnt have had to reimburse the tax payer for ensuring a roof over your childs head etc..

lazer

krashovrload wrote: »

++

My issue is that at a time when his mother probably could have used £70 a week she didn't get it as she was in receipt of benefits...

Maybe we should have reached a private arrangement but she still would've had to declare that as income - wouldn't she?

Forgive me for not recognising that child maintenance wasnt anything of the sort.!

++

Why should the state pay to support your child when you can?

I think that was the right system - the current system is a joke where the PWC gets to keep all the maintenance received and get means tested benefits on top without the Maintenance counting as Income.

If you were still together then your income would have been counted in the household income.