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How easy is it to cancel a clerical case and start afresh??

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3 1/2 years ago I went to CSA as ex was messing around with our arrangement. It went clerical as they supposedly somehow doubled his earnings:confused:

Anyway, a year later , after getting no further with the CSA despite constant chasing, and ex not paying a penny because Id gone to the CSA, me and ex came to an agreement for him to pay what he owed from the previous year over the next 2 years along with what he owed. As long as I closed the case.

Id not heard a thing from the CSA in this time apart from a letter saying the office dealing with it had been changed which I got in october last year.

This agreement came to an end earlier this year.

I assume that because we got a letter that the case was never closed.

Now, the ex is messing around with payments again so I want to try the CSA again but just want to start from scratch .

Is this possible and how easy is it?

I emailed them over a week ago asking someone to contact me, and after some to-ing and fro-ing they told me they have forwarded my email to Bolton (!!) so now Im waiting as I know if I ring them on their 0845 number I will be passed from pillar to post
:hello:
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Comments

  • N71
    N71 Posts: 384 Forumite
    You need to ring the CSA and ask them if the case is currently open or closed.

    If its been successfully closed, theres no problem starting again and opeing a new one. However, it sounds to me like the case wasn't closed, but there was a problem on it which meant it was referred to clerical. On its long journey to clerical, as you were getting paid directly, you won't have been phoning the CSA to chase and the CSA won't have been phoning NRP to chase payment.

    If its never been closed, you'll need to tell the CSA exactly what arrangement you came to, and detail all of the payments he's made directly to you, otherwise he'll have a huge arrears bill.

    If you decided to close the case now, and open a new case, as soon as the CSA put yours & his details into the great computer system, it would drag up the closed case and link the new one too it. As the old one is with Bolton, the new one would have to go there too.

    As you've had your email forwarded to Clerical at Bolton, someone may now get the case out, and see whats been happening, and hopefully contact you......but don't hold your breath. There are big changes happening at Bolton at the moment (its a good thing!), and some clerical cases are going back to the CSA to be dealt with.

    If you try to close the case and try to open a new one, it might make matters more complicated!

    I'd say the best thing to do is keep phoning until you get to speak to someone who has your case papers to hand, explain exactly whats been happening since you last heard from them. They'll knock all the payments he's made, off the arrears that have been building up. The should also ask if there have been any changes in circumstances for yourself or your ex so that they can reassess the case to bring it up to date.
  • Does anyone have a direct geopgraphical telephone number for Bolton, or a direct email address?
    :hello:
  • N71
    N71 Posts: 384 Forumite
    Hi again - I haven't got the number to hand, but i'll get it for you tomorrow.

    I noticed a few days ago there was a thread with the bolton number on, but i can't seem to find it now.

    I'll post it as soon as I get home tomorrow afternoon!
  • macaroni
    macaroni Posts: 448 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Photogenic
    I eventually got telephoned ..........from falkirk!!!!

    Case is still open so my choices are:

    1.Keep it open and carry on as it is - according to them the payments wouldnt be much different to what Im getting (apart from I dont get paid when they visit him)
    2.close the case, but, if I went back to them in the future it would still be clerical
    3.Get him reassessed and go through the palavar that entails(both with csa and with ex)

    The lady at falkirk had already spoken to NRP who had explained what had been paid over the last few years. she said he was fine after Id asked her if he seemed angry!

    I think I should leave it as it is... I am surprised this is an option for me though....any thoughts?
    :hello:
  • N71
    N71 Posts: 384 Forumite
    Good news is that your case is with the Falkirk Clerical Team, who are experience CSA staff (unlike Bolton Vertex).

    I suppose the decision is yours.

    At least if the payments, even if the amount doesn't change, would be coming through the CSA and would be regular for you, and you wouldn't loose out when kids stayed with him. And if he messes about with payments, you can get onto the CSA to chase it for you.

    If it were me though, i'd ask for it to be reassessed. It would be done by the Falkirk Clerical team and would be quite an easy procedure for them to bring everything up to date. At least then you know you'd be getting a fair amount of maintenance.

    Good luck.
  • Whichever Clerical Team your case is with, the case should be handled and assessed correctly and you have a legal right to appeal against any assessment within a set period which should be notified on all assessment and decision correspondance from the CSA.
    Remarks as above do nothing but cause further problems for the CSA as a whole and then places parents such as myself in positions where as they feel their case is not being dealt with correctly.
    My case with the CSA had to go Clerical and went to Bolton, I rang every week and after about 10 weeks it was assessed and when it arrived I disputed some of the information used. As mine is an old rules case it apparently is worked out differently and include my housing costs. When my assessment came through housing costs stated nil. I had given all my housing costs in 1999 when my case started and apparently according to Bolton Clerical, it was used in all assessments until 2003. Someone at the CSA, not Bolton, had removed my housing costs from the 2003 assessment. As neither my ex or I have moved since 1999 we have never been requested for new housing costs so why it was removed is a mystery to all. It turned out I had overpaid for 4 years. However, as this money is for my children I have already told my ex if they take the money back off her, or reduce the payments because of their error, i will give her it back, after all, it wasn't my children's fault someone messed up.
    I have been told by Bolton (and I don't know how true this is) but unlike the caseworkers at the normal non clerical CSA, the caseworkers at Bolton have to put their work to "Quality" before the assessment can be classed as correct. To me that seems like it has to go through a few channels before it gets assessed. I questioned on how then did they miss my housing costs and was informed that unless there is a reported change, the details are used from the previous assessment. To me it seems a better idea to have a few different departments / teams checking before setting my assessment.
    I am not political, but as the csa is a government agency, i am sure if Bolton were not experienced then the government would shut them down. I am also sure what happened to me with the non clerical csa is also rare.
    The csa (clerical and non clerical) do an important job and as with anything else are likely to cause the odd mistake. I think they get enough bad press without adding to it.
    Every parent has a moral duty to provide financial and emotion support to their children... Lets all remember that when we are throwing the mud around.
  • http://www.saynoto0870.com/companysearch.php click on the link and it as the local csa numbers. i use it all the time to get through to birkenhead and havent been charged the higher rate. just click on the link for search an alternative number and in company place type csa and a list of numbers should come up.
    hth
  • frugallass
    frugallass Posts: 2,320 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Bolton01 wrote: »
    The csa (clerical and non clerical) do an important job and as with anything else are likely to cause the odd mistake. I think they get enough bad press without adding to it.

    they do do an important job - the problem is they don't do it properly !

    odd mistake?

    my case has a catalogue of mistakes and so has hubby's - they tend to blame everything on each other or on 'the computer system'

    Falkirk are no better than any other 'team' in my opinion - they're rude and arrogant and have a stinking attitude. I've only ever spoken to one nice person at Falkirk and I'm still convinced she was the cleaner who picked up a ringing phone !
  • lol.. maybe...

    No matter what agency / company etc etc... they all make blunders, but it seems if the job the company or agency do affect money that comes to us, every blunder can be a major disaster..

    I have heard stories of Working Tax Credits cancelling awards because someone has just enquired about what would happen if they cut their hours.. We receive Working and Child Tax Credits and i know if someone is the tax credit office cancelled ours in error, we'd be well and truly up the creek without a paddle...

    I have heard of companies taking too much from a direct debit, then the customer getting charged by the bank... all well and good the DD Guarantee, maybe you get the money back and the charges refunded... but not straight away, the bank needs to investigate first... God help you if it was on a friday of a bank holiday weekend....

    Anything to do with money can be a tender subject, and i'm not a great fan of the csa, but they do a job that has to be done, because if it wasn't there would be far more many parents not getting support from absent parents.

    No one deserves to be dealt with by rude or arrogant staff, and if you receive that sort of service from any company / service /agency you need to complain in writing, as most companies have to log and respond to a written complaint.

    Anyway, I hope your case does get sorted out, i got lots of great advice from the CAB and it helped... But all i can suggest is that when it is eventually assessed is that you check you agree with all the figures used to calculate your maintenance.
  • Bolton01 wrote: »
    lol.. maybe...

    No one deserves to be dealt with by rude or arrogant staff, and if you receive that sort of service from any company / service /agency you need to complain in writing, as most companies have to log and respond to a written complaint.

    They should receive my complaint (all four pages of it) in today's mail :T and I await their response.

    I doubt that my case will ever get sorted but in the meantime I intend to make them work for every penny they earn.
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