Paying back father who made fraudulent claims

fedupmumandkids

My child was planning to work after leaving school in 2020 but due to lockdown this couldn't happen, the job was unavailable. She couldn't claim universal credit as was still 17. I still received CSA payments from her dad for her and my younger 15 yr old, which were vital for her upkeep, food, energy bills etc especially due to lockdown where these costs massively increased for me.
A year later my kids dad falls out with them. Within a month I received a text saying my CSA payments drastically reduced. Basically now receiving half of what I should for 1 child. I am paying him back arrears. This i can only assume is the money paid for my 17 Yr old during 2020 lockdown. 
No explanation from the CMS service or as to when the payment will go back up. 
I am angry that he can demand money back that fed and clothed his child when no other income was available to her.
He is abusive so I dont have contact. This feels like financial abuse. He also fraudulently claimed twice that the kids stayed with him at weekends so his CSA payments would be reduced. This again felt like financial abuse. They have taken no action on this. Why? But they can immediately penalise me at his request? 
For the record he has never had his children overnight, sees them about 5 times a year for a few hours at a time if theyr lucky. I need help to complain about all this.

Spendless

What is child that left school in 2020 doing now? CM would only be payable whilst they are at sixth form/college. If they'd been able to start a job in 2020 instead of going into further education then  payments would have ceased then. I don't know what arrangements were made for those that couldn't start work due to covid, but I'm guessing unless they were enrolled in some course from September 2020 then the payments would reduce to just being for 1 child. 

fedupmumandkids

They started working a year later when turned 18 but for that year from summer 2020 the money from her father was the only money I had for her. Seems cruel that he can demand it back because he falls out with them? 

Spendless

fedupmumandkids said:

They started working a year later when turned 18 but for that year from summer 2020 the money from her father was the only money I had for her. Seems cruel that he can demand it back because he falls out with them? 

I don't think it's a case of he's demanded it back because he fell out with his kids (even if that's what instigated it) but more that he wasn't eligible to pay it. I do sympathise, I have a daughter the same age and though she was at college, she also struggled to find part-time work due to the pandemic until till last summer when she turned 18.

Let me understand the timeline though. What part of the UK are you in?. There's different educational systems and I'm  unfamiliar with all of them, but assuming you live in England/Wales, what year did she take her GCSEs? After that maintenance would be payable when child went to sixth form/college but not if they went on to do an  apprenticeship, only if they continued with their studies.  Child would have been eligible to claim Universal credit once they reached 18 I believe if not in education. 

fedupmumandkids

It was for the year from when she was 17 to 18, nothing was available to her. Job fell through due to covid, too late to apply to college or even go back to school. To young to claim UC or anything else. So no income, no way of me providing for her. His support was all she had. And yes 100% he disputed it when he fell out with them, which shouldn't be allowed. He was happy to pay it before then. Its controlling and a form of financial abuse that so many excuse, including the CMS.

Does anyone have any advice on how to complain about his fraudulent claims?
 

Spendless

fedupmumandkids said:

It was for the year from when she was 17 to 18, nothing was available to her. Job fell through due to covid, too late to apply to college or even go back to school. To young to claim UC or anything else. So no income, no way of me providing for her. His support was all she had. And yes 100% he disputed it when he fell out with them, which shouldn't be allowed. He was happy to pay it before then. Its controlling and a form of financial abuse that so many excuse, including the CMS.

Does anyone have any advice on how to complain about his fraudulent claims?
 

It doesn't sound fraudulent though  That's my point. Between 16-17 if she was still at school/college then CM was payable. Once the summer was over and she'd stopped attending he didn't have to pay it.

 The only way round this would have been for her to continue with her studies. enrolling on something else if her initial course had finished or she wasn't interested in continuing it. Leaving school/college summer 2020 CM should have been paid until the beg of September 2020. That's not too late to apply for a college course. I've known friend's kids apply in September. My own swapped courses after attending her initial course for a few days and deciding it wasn't the right one for her . Ok, some courses likely to be full but not every one. 

Your daughter was meant to be in education or training until she turned 18.  From this link

  https://www.gov.uk/know-when-you-can-leave-school     

England

You can leave school on the last Friday in June if you’ll be 16 by the end of the summer holidays.

You must then do one of the following until you’re 18:

• stay in full-time education, for example at a college
• start an apprenticeship or traineeship
• spend 20 hours or more a week working or volunteering, while in part-time education or training

Once the job fell though if she wasn't able to find another one, then she needed to return to education. Then you would have been entitled to any child related benefits for her and ex would have need to continue to pay child  maintenance. 

For your younger child and the older one when he was eligible to pay for her. I suggest contacting CSA about the claims of weekend stays. 

MalMonroe

Hi, if you have the time, have a read of the info in the following links -

https://childmaintenanceservice.direct.gov.uk/onlinerevive/public/contact-us

https://www.gov.uk/manage-child-maintenance-case/making-and-getting-payments

https://www.gov.uk/manage-child-maintenance-case/nonpayment-what-happens

and this -

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/receiving-child-maintenance-via-the-child-maintenance-service/receiving-child-maintenance

If the amount you receive is changed for any reason, you are supposed to receive official notification.

You need to contact CMS and ask questions to find out exactly what has been going on - get all the facts before you start making accusations (i.e. "It's controlling and a form of financial abuse that so many excuse, including the CMS".) But maintenance payments should stop when a child is 16 anyway, unless they are still in full time education.

You said, "No explanation from the CMS service or as to when the payment will go back up." - if they haven't explained anything then you need to take matters into your own hands - contact them to ask for an explanation (details in the links above).  

Who has told you that you have to make repayments? Was it an official notification? Are proper financial records being kept? Or was it just the one text message - and if so how do you know it was official?

The fact that any parent 'falls out with' their own children is really quite abhorrent to me.  And whether or not your ex has indeed been childish enough to fall out with any of his children has nothing whatsoever to do with his responsibilities to them. 

poppy12345

I see nothing fraudulent here at all. She left full time education so no further payments we payable. What you should have done was report the changes to CMS that she had left full time education.

fedupmumandkids

The fraudulent part i am referring to is the fact that twice he has tried to reduce the payments by reporting to the CMS that the kids stay with him part of the week every single week. This has never happened throughout their whole life, he only chooses to see them for a few hours at a time a few times a year.
If I made a fraudulent claim I'd probably be taken to court but nothing has happened despite me raising it as a fraudulent claim.

Also she couldn't go back to education, it was too late to apply we were told. I have contacted the CMS several times for an explanation or payment plan but get no response, just told to check my account which has no details. Phone line staff also say they can't help.

fedupmumandkids

poppy12345 said:

I see nothing fraudulent here at all. She left full time education so no further payments we payable. What you should have done was report the changes to CMS that she had left full time education.

Not what I was referring to as fraud.

fedupmumandkids

MalMonroe said:

You need to contact CMS and ask questions to find out exactly what has been going on - get all the facts before you start making accusations (i.e. "It's controlling and a form of financial abuse that so many excuse, including the CMS".) But maintenance payments should stop when a child is 16 anyway, unless they are still in full time education.

You said, "No explanation from the CMS service or as to when the payment will go back up." - if they haven't explained anything then you need to take matters into your own hands - contact them to ask for an explanation (details in the links above).  

Who has told you that you have to make repayments? Was it an official notification? Are proper financial records being kept? Or was it just the one text message - and if so how do you know it was official?

The fact that any parent 'falls out with' their own children is really quite abhorrent to me.  And whether or not your ex has indeed been childish enough to fall out with any of his children has nothing whatsoever to do with his responsibilities to them. 

He financially abused us for years so this isn't an accusation its a fact, he tries to reduce the payments regularly via threats or fraud, claiming they live with him when they never have etc or threatening me to "drop" the CSA money or he will never see the kids again or he will make my life difficult. Not that he sees them much anyway. Have also had the opposite, begging me to "drop" the CSA payments and in return he promises to see the kids more than a few times a year...but only if I drop the csa case first.
Go figure!