Child Benefit ended but Child Support still taken! (Started this thread again)

Csa_Survivor

Hi Everyone
I will stick to the facts so that I don't get timed out on here yet again today!
I recently contacted the CSA to find out if Child Benefit was still being paid to the mum as my child has turned 18 and someone told me that the CSA can do this now, which I don't think was always the case was it?
Anyway, they can now check within minutes and I am guessing there must obviously have been some mistake by the CSA because in the same phone call my liability to pay Child Support was stopped straight away, they E-mailed my employer to stop the DEO a few days before I was paid and now I am no longer paying and my wages are all mine again, this was all done in the same phone call! Now, get ready for this, it turns out Child Benefit was stopped in Sept 2011, yes 2011 so it looks like I have paid 2 years longer than I should have done!!!!!!!!!!
Right before I carry on I must point out that the DEO was the result of a CSA error, don't get me started on that right now, Ihave always paid for my child, over and above my regular payments and would never have dreamed of shirking away from that, I could not have done that, now, moving on...........
The letter I received a few days later says......"This liability for child maintenance ended on 01-09-2011" and it also says "The reason why the application is no longer in force is as follows, the other parent does not have the qualifying child or children living with them"
Surely I should get every penny back , even if my child went to live with their grandparents but still went to college it should have been up to them to apply for the Child Benefit and then open a new CSA case in their own right, thanks for reading and any help will be much appreciated.

PreludeForTimeFeelers

That is correct - any payment made by you after the date the liability has ended will be refunded (assuming there are no other kids or cases).
You can't assume this was a CSA mistake though, if the PWC didn't intro them that child benefit was no longer in payment, and you haven't been proactive about checking in the past few years then they don't just check these things randomly themselves.

Cally_Smart

Lucky that you queried it ! You could have gone on paying for another 2 years (CSA payable till 20 now if in full time education)paying and not been any the wiser ! I wonder if they would have given it you all back if you hadn't contacted them or anything!

Crellow4

If neither parent told CSA that the child was no longer in education, then it would be assumed that it was! All overpaid monies would be refunded as soon as the correct facts were identified.

Cally_Smart

We told CSA 4 times this year that full time education had finished so we should be in line for repayment when they check with college that they didnt attend the courses they were supposed to be on then!Presumably the CSA has the power to do that.

Csa_Survivor

PreludeForTimeFeelers wrote: »

That is correct - any payment made by you after the date the liability has ended will be refunded (assuming there are no other kids or cases).
You can't assume this was a CSA mistake though, if the PWC didn't intro them that child benefit was no longer in payment, and you haven't been proactive about checking in the past few years then they don't just check these things randomly themselves.

Thanks for the feedback PreludeForTimeFeelers, I know where you are coming from with that, but as I touched on in my post I believe that the CSA checking Child Benefit status is a relatively recent thing. It was only by word of mouth I found out at all. I have paid Child Support for years now, and I am sure that years ago they could not do this, and as they never inform you about anything in writing , how would you know, how many of you reading this have been physically informed by the CSA for example that a "child", I use the term loosely, qualifies
now possibly up to the age of 20 in some cases???????????

CSAworkerx

We can check child benefit, Have been able to for a good while now, as for taking minuetes, yes and no, Ive waited anywhere from 5 mins to 3 days for a check to come back.

Now, onto your case, As liability ended you are entitled to a refund, Now, this would be dealt with by another team, and im probly going to get shot down here, but i was under the impression if lib ended and monies was owed, we asked the pwc to pay them, Soemone correct me if im wrong please.

As for "checking" we check when were asked to, Not shifting the blame at all, if anyone is to blame its the PWC for not informing us, which would actually be illegal if she knowingly defruaded the agency, however she didnt, she defrauded you the nrp, So on a legal basis im not sure if anything can be done to claim the money back that way, i assume it can be.

I do tell people with QC's 16+ to phone in and check CHB is in payment every few months, especially around september time as thats when it usualy starts/ends.

@cally, if we have told you full time ed has finished, then surely the chb has finished making ure lib end? We dont contact colleges, well, ive never done/seen it atleast, It sounds like your case should be closed if we have told you the QC is no longer qualifying.

Cally_Smart

If the pwc didnt tell the CSA the child has finished college, & kept taking the money they know they are not entitled to, surely they are defrauding everybody. After all the law says that 'ignorance of the law is no defence'.It is up to the individual to check they are allowed to keep that money !You can be sure that pwc is quick enough to want changes when they benefit from them! She has had it she should repay it ,we had to struggle already through her claim for 'arrears' when we paid all along!

PreludeForTimeFeelers

In situations where an Nrp is due a refund, the refund comes from the SoS - the CSA will recover the overpayment from the PWC but this has no relation on how much/when the Nrp gets a refund. I know that some things changed since I worked on the frontline, refunds used to be able to be authorised at a caseworker level, now depending on how much the refund is for, higher management authorisation is needed. If there have essentially been two years of overpayment then it'll have to be signed off at quite a senior level.

It's over 4 years since I started there, and Child Benefit checks could certainly be requested then, the only potential delays were that there was only one admin person in the office who had access to the relevant Govt system, so it depended on their working pattern.

CSAworkerx

I didnt think SoS could issue refunds after the income support change, as for chb checkers, there still very rare, maybe for every 40 caseworkers there is a checker

Csa_Survivor

Cally_Smart wrote: »

Lucky that you queried it ! You could have gone on paying for another 2 years (CSA payable till 20 now if in full time education)paying and not been any the wiser ! I wonder if they would have given it you all back if you hadn't contacted them or anything!

Hello again,
The problem is that it is now several weeks on since I contacted the CSA and I am still waiting for my money back, the Operator I spoke to said that should I be due any refund they would contact the mum to retrieve it, I told them that once they ran into a brick wall with that nonsense I want it back from the Secretary of State!, I am not fussed where it comes from, I put it in much more polite terms though.
The other point I was making was assuming my child has actually been on a qualifying course perhaps for the last 2 years at college, surely the grandparents should have applied themselves for the Child Benefit and Child Support in their own right, because as stated in the letter I received, Child Benefit ended and so did my liability to the mum in 2011. Since Sept 2011 up until 2013 it appears the mum has still been receiving my payments ( I assume CSA passed them on, would not be surprised if they didn't though! ) even though according to my letter my child did not live at the same address as the mum!