Can CSA take what NRP owes me off what I pay them ?

rb211

Hello the situation is I currently pay CS to my ex for our daughter, and she is supposed to be paying me for our son.

The problem is she is non compliant and as yet has not paid a penny.

My assessment is a lot more than hers, so can anyone explain why it's not just a simple matter of taking her payment off what I pay.

Does anybody know ?

barahs

of course i can!

the CSA call it offsetting and dont like to do it. I call it ineptitude. The CSA will pick off the easier parent "generally the working one i.e you and i" and tend to not enforce any issues with the non paying other parent.

I raised the exact same scenario as you a few weeks back (our cases sound similar) divided children etc. And was bluntly told we will not offset. So in a nutshell it meant pay up and suffer, oh and no we will not chase the other parent either for what he owes you.

but they are more than happy to haunt me through work etc etc

no fairness at all in these cases.

Crellow4

The simple solution would be for the parents to sort this out themselves! There is no facility for the CSA to offset one maintenance liability against the other. They can offset arrears which accrue but cannot nett off the 2 liabilities.

rb211

If we could sort things out between ourselves we wouldn't need the CSA would we!

It seems fair enough to me that should one parent become non compliant that off setting is a sensible action

Crellow4

It's too easy to blame the CSA though. The legislation does not exist to cover this scenario.

rb211

@crellow will you point out anywhere in this thread where I have laid any blame with the CSA?

Marisco

Crellow4 wrote: »

It's too easy to blame the CSA though. The legislation does not exist to cover this scenario.

I would have thought that there was someone in the whole of the CSA, who can work out what the PWC 1 should pay and what the PWC 2 should pay, then if one is non compliant, take one amount from the other, how hard is that? Why does it need legislation to work out a simple sum? i.e if the PWC 1 owes £375 and the PWC 2 owes £180, but doesn't pay her dues, then the PWC 1 should only pay £195.

CSAworkerx

Marisco wrote: »

I would have thought that there was someone in the whole of the CSA, who can work out what the PWC 1 should pay and what the PWC 2 should pay, then if one is non compliant, take one amount from the other, how hard is that? Why does it need legislation to work out a simple sum? i.e if the PWC 1 owes £375 and the PWC 2 owes £180, but doesn't pay her dues, then the PWC 1 should only pay £195.

Sounds easy enough, but as mentioned, we have no legislation to do this, It has been done mind you, and is still done, IF and ONLY IF, both partys agree to offset agasint each other, but seeing how usually one person owes a vast sum, due to being non-compliant, you wont get that confirmation needed, as they failed to respond to the 10 letters allready sent and the 50 phone calls, but like i said, it can be done.

However we as caseworkers cannot just do the logical thing and offset at will.

rb211

Marisco wrote: »

I would have thought that there was someone in the whole of the CSA, who can work out what the PWC 1 should pay and what the PWC 2 should pay, then if one is non compliant, take one amount from the other, how hard is that? Why does it need legislation to work out a simple sum? i.e if the PWC 1 owes £375 and the PWC 2 owes £180, but doesn't pay her dues, then the PWC 1 should only pay £195.

Now Now ! Marisco we'll have none of that common sense on here !!

rb211

Thanks CSAworker I will suggest it

ankspon

CSAworkerx wrote: »

Sounds easy enough, but as mentioned, we have no legislation to do this, It has been done mind you, and is still done, IF and ONLY IF, both partys agree to offset agasint each other, but seeing how usually one person owes a vast sum, due to being non-compliant, you wont get that confirmation needed, as they failed to respond to the 10 letters allready sent and the 50 phone calls, but like i said, it can be done.

However we as caseworkers cannot just do the logical thing and offset at will.

It amazes me how many letters we had saying the CSA had been trying to phone us but could not get through.So we asked for our file and there was NO attempts to try and phone us on the days and times you supposedly tried.