Back to square one!

fiestafolie

HI all. Just wondering if any of you have had similar problems. My son is 14 years old and through his childhood I have only ever received regular maintenance when a DEO was set up in 2004 via the CSA. This lasted 2 years and then ceased when my ex finished legitimate work.Arrears had also built up during this time and after many months of chasing him by phone, letters, a liability order and even debt collectors being sent to his house, I still received no money. I resigned myself to the fact that I would never see any money.About 2 years ago I then out of the blue received a small amount through the csa and after ringing them was told that my ex was now on benefits and this was a nominal amount that was being taken via his benefits as contribution. Whilst the amount was not much (£6 a week) at least it helped towards some of my son's after school clubs. I went on to recieve this amount for about a year and then it ceased last December. This prompted me to ring the CSA to find out why and accordingly my ex was asked to complete forms to be reassessed due to what was clearly a change of circumstances. I recieved a letter in July to advise that my ex needs to pay £233 a month, although to date have recieved nothing. CSA have advised they cannot request a DEO again as ex is now working self employed (This has been verified) , although they do have other measures they can use to enforce payment.-Taking money from his bank account, Driving licence withdawal, passport withdrawal or even jail! Arrears now stand at over £4k and are continuing to rise and still I am struggling to financially raise my child while my ex drives around in a Jag! I thought changes to the CSA this year were supposed to improve things and that their enforcement procedures were going to be more robust, ultimately resulting in children getting money far more quicker, but I just now feel I am back to square one! (I have tried the mutual private agreement route in the past, but this ended with again no money being paid, hence the reason I had to use the CSA!)

CSAworkerx

Deo is our best tool, obviosly cannot be used if self emp, has the collection sceduele been run? it sounds like you have recived the assessment letter but if the sceduele has not been run then you wont have recived anything yet.

786

Driving licence withdawal, passport withdrawal or even jail!

Believe CSA not attempting to use these due to due to Karoonian case.

See page 36

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/232316/csa-qtr-summ-stats-jun13.pdf

dannyneil

Many NRP's are forced out of work and into self employed work due to the CSA's draconian work ethic, whereby a DEO is put in place that does not allow the NRP to support his new family so I take my hat off to your ex for securing a self employed role.

It seems as though your ex has successfully moved on with his life, got himself a good job which allows him to treat himself to a nice car, it's such a shame that pwc never seem to move on.

shegirl

dannyneil wrote: »

Many NRP's are forced out of work and into self employed work due to the CSA's draconian work ethic, whereby a DEO is put in place that does not allow the NRP to support his new family so I take my hat off to your ex for securing a self employed role.

It seems as though your ex has successfully moved on with his life, got himself a good job which allows him to treat himself to a nice car, it's such a shame that pwc never seem to move on.

Shame the can't be bothered to pay for his first kids!Kids come first

fiestafolie

Shame he can't be bothered to pay for his first kids. Kids come first

Totally agree with you 'Shegirl'
I have, as you say'Dannyneil', 'moved on' with my life and as mentioned was surprised to have received the small amount via benefits that appeared out of the blue. Yes it is nice that my ex can treat himself to a new car but what sticks in my teeth is that OUR child is effectively having to PAY for it, as he has to go without because I can only manage basic things to raise him as my ex does not contribute his fair share, when he should do.

it sounds like you have recived the assessment letter but if the sceduele has not been run then you wont have recived anything yet.

Yes I think the schedule has been drawn up as it gave a date as to when I should receive the first payment, which was July.

CSAworkerx

dannyneil wrote: »

Many NRP's are forced out of work and into self employed work due to the CSA's draconian work ethic, whereby a DEO is put in place that does not allow the NRP to support his new family so I take my hat off to your ex for securing a self employed role.

It seems as though your ex has successfully moved on with his life, got himself a good job which allows him to treat himself to a nice car, it's such a shame that pwc never seem to move on.

not sideing with anyone, but the fact we attempt to contact an nrp multiple times before a Deo would be put in place would suggest that if you simply ignore your legal responsabilitys, it will come back and bite you.

I always compare it to not paying your council tax, Accept we simply dock your pay, not put you in prison.

Crellow4

I suggest you push for a Liabilty Order - this will cover the debt for a fixed period. This debt can then be recovered during enforcement methods - bailiffs, charging orders, deduction orders etc This will not be a quick process though.

fiestafolie

I suggest you push for a Liabilty Order - this will cover the debt for a fixed period. This debt can then be recovered during enforcement methods - bailiffs, charging orders, deduction orders etc This will not be a quick process though.

How does a liability order work though and when you say fixed period does it 'run out' after a certain length of time? My ex already has a liability order from 2006 when the debt stood at some £1600. Would this still be in place or does a new liability order have to be made for the increase in debt that has arisen since then and which is still continuing to rise? Sorry I'm not too clever when it comes to legal terminology. Thanks for your advice though CSAWorker and Crellow4

Csa_Survivor

CSAworkerx wrote: »

not sideing with anyone, but the fact we attempt to contact an nrp multiple times before a Deo would be put in place would suggest that if you simply ignore your legal responsabilitys, it will come back and bite you.

I always compare it to not paying your council tax, Accept we simply dock your pay, not put you in prison.

Sorry, but in my case that's absolute nonsense so I assume it will be for thousands of others too!
The DEO that I had was issued within 3 weeks of me receiving my ONE letter asking me to give you a call, and I had not gone anywhere and still live at the same address now!
Briefly, a few years ago the CSA just stopped taking my DIRECT DEBITS out my account so I was not avoiding payment, it was down to CSA error, they couldn't even get that right
Anyway, moving on, CSA later realised their mistake and wrote to me during the last biggest postal strike we had a few years ago, so I received a letter 12 DAYS after the date on the top of the letter which gave me 14 days to get back in touch, so in effect I only had 2 days to play with!
Cant remember all the details but there was no way I could use those 2 days to get back in touch as I was having a hectic time at work back then, so I think my intention was to probably sort it out the following weekend at my earliest possible convenience.
However, before I got chance to do that the next letter saying they were putting a DEO in place came through the letterbox, this was all done, start to finish, within 3 weeks of my ONE, I repeat ONE and only letter asking me to call them and get back in touch!
And the explanation why they even wrote to me that ONE time asking me to get in touch: The benefits agency database had showed that I was not receiving benefits so they had to assume I was working, NO KIDDING SHERLOCK!, I had never stopped working and was still in the same job I always had been. So, as you can all see, it does not matter if you try to do the right thing, even when you have a direct debit set up, somehow they even mess that up!

Crellow4

A Liability order ratifies a debt for a fixed period in time, eg from 01/04/13 to 01/09/13, further debt will accrue from 2/09/13 - make sense? There will be a need to apply for further L/O's unless a payment arrangement is made.