CSA Complaints Letter
Here’s my complaint letter for the CSA. I don’t imagine it will do any good, but what the hell, it’s good content for the website if nothing else.
CSA Complaints
child support agency Birkenhead
Post Handling Section
2 Weston Road
Crewe
CW98 1ZR
Dear Sir,
I write this letter more in hope than in expectation but it is with some regret that I must complain about the actions, or rather inactions of the child support agency.
I don’t actually expect any coherent response, but I felt I should go through what passes for the ‘proper channels’ before escalating the situation to the public domain in a viral capacity.
I first telephoned the CSA and spoke to Shelly d’Coeur on January 9th 2007. I raised my concerns over the amount you had calculated that I should pay, with regards to the extra money I was already paying out because of my ex-wife. She assured me that my caseworker, Steve Gibson, would telephone me the next day.
He did not. Despite numerous efforts by myself to contact Steve Gibson throughout January and February he never answered his phone or returned any of my messages. Eventually, in March, Steve actually telephoned.
This was the one and only time I spoke to Steve Gibson.
Steve advised me that I should fill in a variations form and claim for travel expenses to see my children and for my rent in Manchester as it was work related. My house in Wales, which was jointly owned by my ex-wife and myself was still having its mortgage paid by myself. It was vacant at the time, and is still vacant today.
I filled in the form and returned it to Steve Gibson. I received a reply about the form, and then some weeks later in June I received a letter from Steve Gibson requesting my variations form, as he hadn’t received it. He had not only received it, but he had replied. This has been commented about on my website here: http://www.mrdaz.com/CSA-given-more-power/
In fact you can read everything that has happened to date on the website here: http://www.mrdaz.com/category/CSA/ – it chronicles the whole escapade, but doesn’t have all of the phone conversations yet…
The comments made on the reply stated that according to my ex-wife I returned home to work rather than to see my children, which wasn’t true, and that I couldn’t claim for rent on the flat where I work.
I have since learned from Nicky Tyler that the rules governing claiming for rental accommodation were changed in 2003, so when Steve Gibson advised me to claim for this rather than for my mortgage payments on our jointly owned property he was lying to me. Either that or he was incompetent in his job. Whichever the reason for his deceit, Nicky Tyler now advises me that as I have now only returned a completed variations form in November 2007 I cannot claim for any mortgage payments prior to November.
This again flies in the face of the lies Steve Gibson told me back in March. He said any payments made by me would be taken into consideration and would be backdated from my variations form.
In addition to this, my communication with the CSA has been hindered because of your refusal to speak to me over the phone. You have refused to do this because I record ALL of my phone calls. It is because I do this that you should be advised that I can prove everything I have said. Every phone conversation I have had with the CSA has been recorded. All of the broken promises, factual inaccuracies and lies you have told me have been recorded.
I imagine at this point that you’re feverishly routing around in your nostrils for that ‘hard-to-find’ bogie and wondering whether you can just toss this letter in the bin and make out that it never arrived. You can’t. It too has been posted on the website.
The last cock up from you was in October when you sent my correspondence to the wrong address, despite having the correct address on the system. I telephoned you to find out what was going on as you were supposed to be communicating with me via post but hadn’t contacted me. The compulsory deduction of earnings order you sent to my place of work was for too much, so I was forced to telephone you. I spoke to a chap named Ryan who admitted the most awful of incompetence on your part.
This phone call was the last straw and forced me to animate a video for it and upload it to YouTube. It has now received over 1,000 views: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=g6vqCGhJBK4
As you have lied to me about what I can claim for and have ignored the fact that I have been paying a mortgage on a jointly owned property from the date of your claim through to and including July you are over charging me for child maintenance.
You were 2 months late in replying to me through Steve Gibson’s incompetence when I originally telephoned you on January 9th, and then Steve Gibson lied to me about what I could claim for.
The CSA are wholly responsible for the mistake. Had you returned my call and advised me correctly when I first contacted you this would have been dealt with in January 2007, rather than still be ongoing in January 2008.
I demand a written apology from you and for you to correctly alter my deduction of earnings order to take into consideration the mortgage payments I have made on our jointly owned property.
I had requested from my ex-wife that I rent out the vacant property to cover the mortgage so I could pay her what my children required, but she refused. She instead insisted that I continue paying for the vacant property. It was for this reason that I was forced to cease the mortgage payments, for which there is a repossession hearing scheduled for January 21st.
Please take note of my address when replying to this, it’s the one at the top of the page.
Yours very nearly bankrupt due to the CSA’s unrivalled incompetence,
Darren Craig Jamieson
I'm an Affiliate Marketeer, SEO, web developer and all round Internet personage. I run a network of content websites on a variety of different subjects. I'm also victim to some of the worst luck in the world, and I tend to Blog about all of it here. 
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Mr Daz, Welldone! its a sad situation but I was laughing out allowed, Sorry.
I hope that it works for you,after all you only want a level playing field.
CSA ” Come on you could not make it up”
I have done something this week that would shame your organisation even further, and highlight the silly little people that work for and your pathetic system,but for the time being its my little secret!!
Good luck mate
Thanks, I was laughing when I wrote it. I’m sure it will be dealt with swiftly by the CSA as they screw it up and toss it into the bin.
I won’t stop though, it’ll just keep getting worse for them.
Let me know what you’ve done when you can, it sounds interesting. Might even be worth a guest post?
fair play to you!!!!!
i’m going through the complaints procedure myself at the moment and it is very long and depressing, i’m not expected them to act quickly on it, afterall it did take them 10 years to sort my case out, i just wish i could write letters as well as you, i bet they won’t forget you in a hurry!!!!
Thanks Lisa, good luck with your case. From what I’ve seen around the net about the CSA though you could be right in that they’re not going to act quick. They don’t seem to have any remorse for their actions.
If you’d like to air your complaint publicly, let me know?
How can someone have such bad luck? Sheesh!
Well…
You could try adjusting your attitude maybe and see where you get? I find that if you don’t lose your rag and not rise to the bait (you seem like a person who is a sucker for a hook with a worm on it going by this site) things have a funny way of leveling themselves out.
People are actually willing to help you if you treat them with a little respect, even if you think or know they are wrong. If customers of mine act like a-holes, I’ll tell you know, I’ll smile, but as soon as I’m out of the same room they can be damned if I’m going to go the extra mile for them.
I’m divorced with three kids, pay my support without crying about it, signed my house over to the ex to get her off my back, left her with our nice car and our life savings of some 35k. The main reason I let it all go was to make my childrens lives as comfortable as possible after the break up. I just plain ignored her when she was being a brat, and made it clear that the consessions I was making would never be for her, but for the kids. Try thinking of them instead of yourself maybe?
At least when they are old enough to understand what really went on you can hold your head up and say, “I did it for you”.
Stop being such an attention seeker, wallowing in self pity. Stand up, dust yourself off, let the past go and be a man for once!
Arguing over money and property with your kids in the middle of it all? Just what the hell are you doing man? You seem so proud to annouce to the world via this site that you drive a BMW and have a good job….money and possesions don’t make a man. They can break a man. And thats just what they are doing.
Let the house go, just pay what you should as support and forget about the rest.
Maybe next time you’ll think more carefully before having children, especially with regards to what can happen when it doesn’t work out. You’ll get no sympathy from me, you need a kick up and the arse to get on with it and stop your whinging.
Jules, having a whine at customers and having a wine about a government agency who have driven fathers to suicide are two completely different things. Get some perspective.
I can see from your tone you have never dealt with the CSA. I hope for your sake you never have to.
Thats just it, you can’t see.
Behaviour, breeds behaviour, and if I was carrying around as much anger as you seem to be, it would be very easy for me to have a pop. But I’ll refrain.
I paid under the old rules system (which was a damn sight more harsh) and now pay 25% under the current emperor’s new clothes system. I don’t see it as the CSA as ‘screwing’ me as you put it. I don’t like having to deal with strangers and divulge my private details, but they don’t keep the money. Its not really the CSA screwing you, its your ex. Unless she is on benefits and you don’t have much choice about them being involved, she can withdraw her claim and come to a private arrangement with you. And if what I’ve read on the Agency turns out to be true, in years to come it will be a lot smaller than it is now, and will actively encourage clients to come to their own ‘adult’ arrangements, even those on benefits won’t be obliged to sue them any longer!!
I went on a rant after my divorce and the truth of it is, I probably took it out on the CSA lot who took my phone calls for the first year or so after. Sure, some mistakes were made by them (trying to DEO me when I’d paid was a good one), but have you ever tried to arm yourself with a little knowledge regarding the Agency’s law? Its extremely complicated and I could see why someone who probably earns only 14-15k a year isn’t going to break their backs to learn the minuti of it. I tried and just ended up even more confused.
I think its rather vulgar that you would use someone elses suicide(s) to stress your own point, as sad as it is, these poor people probably had issues with a lot of other things in the lives at the time. Its the policy and law makers you really need to focus on, hassel your MP.
If you really don’t have a clue how to deal with them, or are having problems, try contacting ‘Child Suport Solutions’ or have you local CAB take up your case for you. Until you take a step back and take stock, I can see you having problems for a long time to come.
Good luck!
Jules, I’m not contesting the 25%, that’s the rules and I’m happy to pay that. What I’m contesting is the fact I’ve already paid that in her mortgage, I don’t have it to pay again. The way they’ve calculated it now I’m paying closer to 60%.
The money just isn’t there. I wasn’t angry at first, I was calm and cooperative. However being ignored for 2 months by Steve Gibson and then lied to has driven any cooperation that I may have had from me.
We all fight these battles our own way, my way involves mass exposure. It gets results.
As for referencing the father who committed suicide, I don’t think that’s out of order at all. I know how he feels when you’re left with not enough money to live on because some faceless organisation decides it is so and you have no contact with your children.
Hi thought that this site might be useful to you, it has the template for the letter requesting the data held by the CSA also some other interesting material.
http://www.onwww.co.uk/
Thanks for that Poppy, I’ll be sure to give it a mention!
[...] poster on MrDaz.com Poppy mentioned in this post about the CSA complaints website Name & Shame the [...]
[...] January 13th I wrote a complaints letter to the CSA outlining the scandalous and illegal way they have mishandled my case. I didn’t expect [...]
I have been dealing with the CSA since its conception since 1993 and was involved an an early stage with organising some of the early protests. What I know for sure is this is the worst piece of legisation ever conceived. I have through this legislation lost my job, been seved with two DEO’s, breakdown twice, suffered sex discrimination wholesale, my details given to a third party.
I have Given approx £85,000.00 to ex-wife in lieu of child support prior to 1993 under clean break agreement. And I was the main provider for my children, but because my ex-wife was on benefit and got the DSS on her side managed to get the boot in first. You might a well talk or write to your next door neibours dog when dealing with the CSA, NO ONE LISTENS OR CARES, Welldone Mr Daz on having the technical ability o demonstrate what the calls are like. PS had to move to Spain in the end. The CSA operatives should in my view be prosocuted for gross malpractice.
Hi Darren. I have read your blogs, listened to your recorded calls and watched your videos and am glad to see someone who stands up for what is right.
If I may, I would like to address some comments your other readers have left on this page:
I take issue with the so many comments slagging off women. Some of us are geniune people who are rightly attempting to get what our kids are due. My children’s father does not, has never and probably will never support his children financially or otherwise. I don’t want a shed load of cash out of him, frankly I don’t want anything out of him but principal overrides that. Through the CSA my children should be entitled to £40 per week. I tried a private arrangement with him, and asked for £15 a week, which I would have been content with OR for him to just buy nappies and go 50/50 on schoolwear for the oldest at the start of term. He refused to cough up. It wasn’t a one night stand, we lived together and he was the one who wanted to settle down with a family. I was happy to wait but compromised. We have two children. He also has a child from his first marriage whom he refuses to support. I’ve yet to see a penny from him, even using the CSA.
My ex was an abusive **** who beat not only me, but our pre-school aged little girl so quite rightly I refuse him access to the children for their own protection. I tried to re-initiate contact in a civilised manner, however he made it damn near impossible, threatening to harm the children if I did not comply with his wishes.
He is scum and has made our lives hell, yet I would never tar every man with the same brush because of his actions.
I appreciate some of you have had equally as rough a ride with women, and yes, of course there are some evil twisted witches out there who are simply greedy and want all they can get. But not all of us are like that, just as not all men are like my ex partner.
The CSA aren’t just shoddy to “non resident parents” (I hate that term, a lot of NRP’s don’t choose to not have contact), they mess up things with parents with care too. I know I’ve had no end of trouble with them. Yet I see the other side of it too. If they stopped chasing the genuine “NRP’s” like Mr Daz, who clearly wants to see his children and clearly has been providing for them, and started chasing the real people who refuse to support their children reasonably, maybe they would get somewhere. A start would be getting people’s details like their address correct!
Well done Mr Daz for ringing the CSA and getting them to admit their mistakes and for publishing the phonecall for all to hear. We should all take tips from this man, band together against the CSA, not make it a divide between men vs women. Some Parents with care are men, some CSA dodgers are women. At the end of the day, regardless of sex, the CSA fuck up just about every case they get and it’s not always in favour of the parent with care. I’m living proof of that!
You go Mr Daz!!
The CSA have a lot to answer to. I dealt with the CSA for 7 years and paid my ex partner for 7 years.
Yes us woman do have to pay to. I pretty much went through exactly what you are going through now. And it’s all very frustrating for anyone dealing with these people.
Keep your head up and ignore all the negative comments from the people who do NOT know what they are talking about.
Hope you get it sorted soom, probably in 20 years time.
Exactly, Tracy.
I’d bet on it that the majority of people who are posting comments along the lines of Mr Daz having an attitude have never had, or have easily forgotten about their troubles with the CSA.
As for Jule’s comment that “behaviour breeds behaviour” I have to agree. The CSA fucked up Daz’s case time and again, were rude, ended up costing him his house because of sending a letter to a wrong address. Their behaviour toward a man who had supported his children with more than the 25% they asked for, certainly breeded his behaviour into recording phonecalls and getting ratty with the officers. If they had handled Mr Daz’s case efficently like they are supposed to do, and did not break the data protection act then do you really think Mr Daz would have reacted in this manner? No, I don’t believe he would have.
I don’t blame Daz one little bit. He asked questions he had every right to know the answers to. Because of an error which may seem trivial to the CSA, this man faced having his home repossessed. I’d certainly say if I were in his position I’d be pissed off about it too, and I’d be ranting and raving, and I would most definately see about getting my phonecalls recorded – anyone who faced a situation like that because of someone else’s incompetence would be.
At the end of the day, the CSA are supposed to be providing a service (and I use the phrase very loosely). They are supposed to ensure children are supported financially, they are not supposed to cost children their house. Because of their “administritive error” (WOW, what a surprise, they used “administritive error” instead of “computer error” – aren’t they being imaginitive!), they COST three children, rather than supporting them.
In my opinion, whether you agree with it or not, it is my view and I will express it, Mr Daz acted rather reasonably towards the CSA, given their mistake. I can’t say I’d have been as restrained as Mr Daz was.
Great work Mr Daz,
I have had similar problems with the CSA and with my exceptions also.
I am currently paying around 30% of my income as oppose to the 15% due for my one child.
I have been awaiting 8 months now for my exceptions to be calculated, in this time I have wrote 7 letter to the csa regarding this matter as I refuse to speak over the phone (due to receiving conflicting information and Lies) .
As I am getting nowhere I have wrote an 8th letter to the Chief Executive and also sent a copy of the letter to my MP to forward onto them.
All my letters I have sent recorded, I keep copies and all recorded delivery slips.
My case is being dealt with by the Belfast branch even though I live in Yorkshire and my ex lives in Germany, (she has married into the British army)
I will read the rest of your site now and see if you got a satisfactory result to your case.
Oliver
PS a link to your CSA phone call video on YouTube was posted on the Fathers 4 justice forum, I found the clip v funny.
Hi Oliver, keep us posted on your efforts.
Sadly my case still hasn’t been resolved, as you might expect. Though I’m really pleased about the F4J forum having my YouTube video on it.
I’m actually going to make a few more of those. I have plenty of material.
I look forward to your new CSA videos and will post the links on the f4j forum.
Your welcome to come along to any demo’s and prostest organised by f4j relating to the CSA. F4J is currently planning for this fathers day with a “Flash/Cash Gordon” CSA theme, I can send you more details when available.
Good luck again with your case,
Oliver
.
Flash/Cash Gordon? That’s brilliant!
Please do send me the info when you have it. You can also post anything you want on the website CSAhell.com, just sign up there and add what you want to promote.
Cheers.
Mr Daz,
we need to obolish the CSA and use the budget for the courts. a marginarily favoured option.
i was assessed on worst case then submitted detail about my other kids recently seperated they charged me more, albeit the swines owe me £4k in over payment (a 6 year story). what can we do apart from pay them through out earnings beyond our control (totally wrong). there is no fairness, in the current system. i pay 50% for one child but have 5 in total, the others are now suffering cos of our inffallable system. One child get £114 per week but I get £60 and the dole even less… the system sucks.
kind regards
ste
Just ignore that idiot Jules. he seems to be just a pompous windbag.
well done mr daz
you are 100% right in wot ur saying. i am having problems with my arrears. in the last 5 months they have gone from £10 pw to £12 pw and on the 12th december there going up to £77pw, there is no change of circumstances, i am getting fobbed off with it is another dept dealing with my case, i am living with my current partner and our 2 children, with my maintenance and arrears i will be taking a net pay of £105 pw home, which is not enough to run our home. can u tell me how i go about getting this resolved
Hi Daz
Excellent site ,but here is a new one for you
I got a letter from csa to say that i have over paid and that THEY owe me money ,that was back in June 2008.
Well here we are 6 months later and after nunerous phone calls I am still waiting my refund (my case is over but they were still deducting)
Today ,after i sent an e-mail ,I have recieved 2 phone calls but I am still no closer to getting my refund .
The Excuse !!
They are having trouble with the IT Dept (what ? for 6 months ?I doubt it)
You see when they want us ,all sorts of threats are made , but when the shoe is on the other foot who cares? They dont !!!
My next step is my local MP
Like I say to them on the phone.Its not the money,its the principal
Cheers
Excellent ! I am on the other end of Csa my ex partner pays each month but the CSA take 21 working days to send this,i have arguments like yours on why does it takes this long unless they are bringing it by foot,but even then that would be quicker.
Good Luck
Well done Mr Daz.
without writing a “war & peace”
My ex husband was deemed as non compliant initially.
He was made to pay with deductions for a new partners child who was 18 years old. Although I provided printed evidence he was earning extra money, a paper tribunal said he had no case to answer to as he had “said he was not earning extra money”
I rang them to inform them of the childs 19th birthday 2 weeks before it happened. I was ensured it was being dealt with. Subsequent and frequent phone calls proved this not to be the case as the CSA were working 16 weeks behind. I finally received a schedule of payments in February 2009 with extra monies attached for repayment. This was not met and on calling was told he was made redundant and had no money. He was left £46.000 last year and has received redundancy. I am still awaiting a call as promised 2 weeks later. I hold the CSA responsible as this underpayment should have been initiated last year and repaid well before Xmas 2008.
It is a bad enough situation for anyone, but this man left me £70.000 in debt.
Thanks CSA…..for nothing
I recently moved house and a payment schedule was sent to my old address and therefore I had a phonecall on my mobile at work today bear in mind I told them about the change of address when I asked how they got my mobile number they said from credit records and proudly annouced themselves as ” we are like big brother” and proceeded to treat me like a criminal and stated I should be grateful that they chose not to send me a warning letter.This was the mistake of the CSA not me!! and all I had done was follow the current payment schedule unaware that another had been sent.I like many other non residents am happy to pay what I owe I just object to the mentality amongst CSA staff that all non resident parents are avoiding them when in fact I am a senior manager in the Civil service. Please believe me when I say not all Government Agencies are as bad as the CSA! the perosn that was treating me like a crim was probably at least 2 grades lower than me god it grates!
I am not best pleased to read all of the above comments about money not being returned by the CSA! This is the complaint letter I sent last week;
Formal letter of complaint.
I am writing to inform you that I wish to register a formal complaint against the Child Support Agency and the organisations complete disregard for parents without care (absent fathers who can and do pay).
Firstly I would like to state, that the treatment I have received from the CSA has been deplorable and I can only think that your staff are under so much pressure that they can not fully understand the complexities and effects of the assessments they make, I have telephoned many times and occasionally have been treated with the attitude that I am somehow to blame for my ex-wife’s circumstances and that because I work hard to provide for my family I am a target for increased financial demands merely because I work in London and am a Police Officer (Parent with care stated “Why shouldn’t he pay more, he earns more?”)). Only very rarely in the case of Mr Dave COUCH from the CSA have I ever been treated like the wronged party and made to feel that I have been doing all I can for provision for my child. On many occasions when I have been contacted by the CSA I have been asked to provide documentation, whether it is Pay Slips, Mortgage Account Summaries etc. Each time I have supplied the documentation immediately, then in subsequent telephone calls I have been informed that your organisation doesn’t have the documents on file and I am made to feel that I am lying that I supplied them in the first place. Each time a member of staff will state “Sir I have no record of the documentation on file” or “can you send it again as it will speed matters up”, but it never does!!!!!.
Consistently I have engaged with the CSA to reach a fair assessment of child support for my daughter. The CSA’s records show that in July 2007 I informed you of my housing change and costs that I was paying a Mortgage of £873.10 per month, but it’s taken until an Appeal lodged by me in June 2008 and then Court appearances until June 2009 to finally get an agreement that you have the documentation and that I have been paying a Mortgage since December 2006. This is farcical, I sent you my Mortgage Statements in June 2008 when you said I wasn’t paying a Mortgage, and therefore the CSA should know that I was paying a Mortgage. It is my contention that the Government body that is the CSA merely wants to hold on to my money wrongly and has been since December 2006 and that if I hadn’t appealed the assessment, you would be holding on to my money to this date (which you still are, and under UK law is “Retaining a Wrongful Credit” which is a crime, so should I now start arresting the head of the CSA???), a Judge at a Tribunal in Central London on the 24/06/09 made an order that my Housing Costs should be applied from July 2007 and therefore I should be recompensed for the overpayments I have made. Just to give you some idea why I think there are double standards in place, I missed a CSA payment in 2003 when I joined the Police Service, and the CSA telephoned me immediately and threatened to take the money from my wages if I didn’t pay, the staff were rude and I informed them that the non-payment was a mistake at the bank and paid the monies to them immediately. Why is it then, that when the monies are held by the CSA, there is no rush to pay it back?
I have reported each and every change of my circumstances to the CSA when they have occurred, which the parent with care cannot state because she was happy with the status quo of the monies she was receiving from me (£383.78 per month for one child), none of which have ever been used to give my daughter any form of material benefit. During the Appeal process the parent with care never attended any of the Court hearings; however she still had a right to be believed!!!!! Unlike me, a serving Police Officer, who gave evidence under oath, but that still wasn’t good enough. I find it absolutely astounding that the parent with care because she has a right to be believed can adopt a lifestyle knowing that any incorrect details she supplies will not be checked because by their own admission the Fraud Department at the CSA don’t have the assets to check each fraud claim (unlike the television advertising campaign stating differently).
At the Appeal Tribunal with the CSA representative present Neil THOMPSON, had a discussion about Arrears, apparently this subject is used to frighten people in to backing off from action against the CSA. There are NO ARREARS to consider and have never been therefore should any appear as if by magic then I will be taking issue very strongly. I recall having many arguments over the years about phantom amounts of Arrears that would be brought up to try and suggest again that I have been in some way remiss regarding paying for my Daughter – Let me reiterate, I HAVE BEEN PAYING WHATEVER I HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED TO PAY BY THE CSA, THEREFORE IF THERE HAD BEEN ANY ARREARS, WHICH THERE ARE NOT THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN INCORPORATED IN TO YOUR FIGURES?
What really is reprehensible is why, when the parent with care made a call to the CSA on the 13/10/2008 nothing was done about the request (Despite the department holding the relevant information) until you informed me on the 25/06/09 that there was a super cession on the account that needed to be dealt with, neither has anything been done since I called in March (Your records) regarding my wife not being in receipt of Maternity Pay of £117 per week thereby making my household financially worse off. This is a clear failure in the Departments duty to action requests, the very topic that was used as evidence at the Appeal that the CSA action requests immediately when they receive them (Neil THOMPSON’s words!!!!!).
I now believe that the CSA makes absolutely no sense at all and is not fit for purpose. It is merely a collection agency not unlike debt enforcement loan sharks, whose sole aim is to take money off people who can and are forced to pay, with no regard to how the money collected is spent. I can state as a matter of fact having spoken to my daughter, for whom this child support case was raised, “she has no bank account and no money has been saved for her, for her future education. Despite the parent with care being paid £400 per month for 7 years, the excuse my daughter was given was that the money was used to house and feed her. Her mother, the parent with care has brought my daughter up so well that she has been arrested by the age of 14 and she has been lied to about me, the parent with care claiming that “Your Father stole everything from the house when he left”. When I came to London in 2003, I arrived with a bag of clothes and some DVD’s and no money. I’ve fought to earn a living in the Police whilst paying horrendous child support payments to a woman who has four (4) children by three (3) different fathers, works cash in hand undeclared whilst claiming to only have one job.
I would like an apology for the treatment I have received and would like to have my money back that the Judge at the Appeal Court said I could have. I wont however hold my breath…..
The father of my 9 year old Grandson has three cars,pestigious models, wears only designer clothes and generally lives a lavish lifestyle. My daughter who lives in a rural are runs a broken down 11 year old banger He claims that he can afford only £4’80 per week and that his present partner keeps him – this has been going on for years. We know that he hasn’t had a job for at least ten years – no tax paid then either, we know that this is his third partner who’s kept him. Enough information has been given to CSA to address this problem but they simply shrug their shoulders and point out that validating the income of any self employed parent is impossible. WHY ? why should the taxpayer be forced to pay for the welfare and safety of a child be his father be a gigolo or not. WHY does not the Government who mandate the CSA not insist on measures to amend this state of affairs – WHY doe s not the Inland Revenue insist on books being scrutinised. We’re told by the CSA that they know that websites exist that give instruction on how to cheat inland revenue, their own children’s welfare. TV ads are currently warning ‘benefit cheats’ that they are taking steps to catch them – pity they dont think that I/R cheats should expect the same pursuance, or cheating parents. Perhaps they recognise their own intellectual ability to do this.
A concerned Gran.
PLEASE FOR OBVIOUS REASONS DO NOT PUBLISH MY FULL NAME – I’m quite frightened of this ‘man’
What can I say Mr Daz, it’s refreshing to know that I’m not the only frustrated person who has had dealing with the CSA. After keeping my partner for 14 years and bringing up our 2 daughters, my ex wife decided to get a job working nights in a supermarket, only to find that after a month she was having an affair. I divorced her but could only get unreasonable behaviour due to the lack of evidence, even though I had records of tx messages and witnesses seeing them together, I wrote a letter saying that she could have the new family car as long as I could keep the family home which we both signed and got witnesses to confirm that is was all above board. Now the fun part begins, within a fortnight she of our divorce she moved into a house with her new partner and my 2 daughters, whe I cae home from work one day I found a letter on my doorstep from the CSA saying that I need to start making payments towards my daughters upbringing. I phoned them and asked what the arrangments were when they told me the amount I explained that I couldn’t afford it because of my mortgage their kind responce was “thats not my concern you need to pay for you children!” anyway to cut a long storey short I lost my car, I unfortunatly lost my house, then she phoned the CSA to say that I wasnt having them overnight anymore (which was a lie I am having them 3 nights a week) but they wanted my daughters to clock in and out everytime I had them…now that i’m sorting myself back out with a new job and moving into my own home again, I called the CSA and they want back payments from the time I’ve been out of work, so I’m back to square one again and I’m wondering if it’s ever going to end.
Your site has given me some insiration and I plan to fight on and not let it get the better of me. I’ve made an appointment with my local MP to see where I sand with this lot, I’ll keep you posted…but for now thanx!!
D.I.V.O.R.C.E.
when my ex-wife filled for divorce on the divorce papers it actually said on the grounds that mr stevens changed his job for lower pay, nice to know what the woman i let into my life was only concerned about my money, after the divorce i lost my house and got left with all the home improvement loans credit cards etc etc all because my name was first on the application forms, right now i am payying out 136 pounds a week for 3 children because the csa decided that they would calculate my payments on a month where i did overtime and as i now dont have any overtime ime left with 220 pounds a week to try and live on and pay off the crap that i was left with from my divorce from over 5 years ago, so do me a favour go and kick some csa butt over your complaint ans i hope you get it all sorted out, i just hope the compensation claim you put in is enough to cover all the stress.
I feel for you, i have been saddled with their incompetence and lies for the last year and when i did eventually find someone who was good and nice enough and knew what they were talking about they left! (like most competent people in government run establishments)
I am still fighting them and now what i believe to be some form of personal vendetta with James Leebetter up in the assessment office in Preston, it has made both me and my wife sick (as no one can answer why the absent child is worth £104 a month and my children (two) are only worth £82 from the Government. putting morons in charge of or working for an agency such as the CSA is like putting semi automatic weapons in Nick Griffins hands… you end up with a blood bath of hate and misery throughout the country when working with idiots. ( I also tried the line “if I didn’t have to pay the tax amount i did to keep people like you in jobs i would be able to pay the fat lazy bitch of an ex who can’t be arsed to get a job with a 15 year old and a 10 year old at school full time”
Mr Daz,
Respect mate, NRP Dads everywhere know the routine, Keep up your fight. NIL ILLIGITUM CARBORUNDUM “Dont let the Bastards grind you down”
The CSA “cash stripping arseholes” have taken £562 more than they should have, from my wages in three months, in turn this caused me to receive £260 of unathorised over draft bank charges. Then just to cap it all, last month I was deducted £331 from my wages, I should only be paying £168 monthly, for the last time, as I set up a £168 bank direct debit and they took that two weeks later from the same wage, £499 in one month. Absolute Knob Jockey’s, I have had to use my local MP and the Parliamentary Ombudsman to sort it out, God knows when I will get out of my over draft due to them, because like most NRP fathers my wage budget is crucial to paying bills. The fact the children dont receive the sums taken is a complete travesty of justice. The most infuriating of case worker retorts i received was this “We are trying to help you Mr Cook, but we could just sit back and do nothing”
NO SHIT SHERLOCK after six months of over payments due to arrears I never had. Its a goverment money laundering scam, The figures must run into millions. The whole system is an absolute joke, I cant even phone them anymore, as I failed to pay my phone bill, hence the local MP and Parliamentary Ombudsman, who are dealing with my case inside a week of contact, so use them if all else fails fellas
I was divorced and part of the divorce agreement and financial settlement was that when my children turn 16 I would stop payments. The CSA have said they do not care about court paperwork as they are higher and can do what they want and they will take payments until my children are 19.
I have been dealing with the CSA and if a company ran like they do it would not be running for long.
I changed address and informed them of this. After a couple of years my employers the London Fire Brigade inform me that the CSA have contacted them for my pay details. I spoke to the CSA and they said they wrote to me and that I did not reply, turns out they wrote to my old address even though they quoted to me my new address. I then find out I now owe arrears of over £900 that I did not know about. I gave them proof that during the arrears period I gave my ex £1400 all my savings because she said she was going to loose her house. They said it would not be taken into account as I gave it to her, I tried to explain to them if I knew I was going to be hit with another £900 I would not have done it. I got nowhere with my complaint even though they said it was their mistake.
After paying off all arrears I have a letter saying I owe no more money. 5 years later I receive a letter saying I owe more arrears. The money is taken every month and I have never missed a payment what the hell is going on.
These are a couple of problems in a long list of errors by the CSA and it does not matter what you say its like talking to a brick wall. An agency meant to be there to help parents is totally inflexible and just pushes them apart and the ones that loose out are the children
Reading through all these emailsis quite encouragiung, ive just submitted yet another 40 complaint emails to the CSA regarding my case which has been on-going for 14 years. I have to say the CSA are absolutely useless, they dont respond to calls, emails etc. Ive been persistant with them and ive even received calls asking me not to block up thier server by sending repeated emails. Im sure they are going to be happy with me tomorrow when they check thier emails but hey who cares? I am a female who has supported her child since birth, i have a partner who has been fantastic in supporting my child, but unfortunately, the non resident parent seems to be getting away with everything he can. Own business, a life fit for a king, the CSA or Inland revenue dont want to respond to photographic evidence ive provided, and we taxpayers are even providing free legal representation to this idiot!
Reading all these comments is so disheartening.
My case has been ongoing since 1996 when I split from my kids’ dad. There was an initial attachment of earnings but he decided to leave a pretty well paid job rather than pay for his children. Since then he’s been self employed.
Dispite providing the CSA with addresses, phone numbers, places of work, photographs etc many times over the years they were unable to make any kiind of contact with him until the end of last year.
A liability order was granted early this year (the second one), the bailiffs have been round but as he told them everything is in his new wife’s name they left empty handed.
I have been told that even though they have his accounts, address etc, there’s probably nothing further they can do. This is a complete contradiction of advice I’ve been given in the past.
I have made formal complaints so many times over the last 13 years, yet when I complained to the Parliamentary and Health Service Obmudsmen, I got a reply saying the CSA had never had an official complaint from me.
I am now (again) going through the formal channel of complaining before going back to the PHSO.
In the meantime, my ex is laughing at me and the kids.
I disagree with some of the comments above by the way, behaviour breeds behaviour and all that rubbish. I too started off very calmly but tend to lose patience with them pretty quickly these days. I was told a few months ago that the person who answered the phone was ‘just as frustrated as I was’. I asked her if her ex owed her £30k too.
The lack of response, conflicting information and just plain poor service is apalling beyond belief.
Keep your chin up mate.
I had a similar case a few years ago that dragged on for around 10 months. I finally recieved an apology from the assistant head of the csa.
Fast forward to today and the gross incompetence has again reared it’s ugly head.
Thanks to the many, many similar posts all over the internet, I feel better prepared to deal with these fools, and am slightly reassured that I’m not alone in having to deal with these abject excuses for competent case workers.
Thanks for the post, albeit a while ago and I hope it’s finally been sorted out for you.
Maybe a facebook page or something would help people in a similar situation to put up with this crap and get some national visibility?
The feelings of hopelessness, frustration and anger may be easier to deal with if they’re shared…
hi i am a parent with care and am currently getting very frustrated with the c.s.a my last payment from my ex was received on the 28th of april and because he was refusing to pay this has now gone to a deduction of earnings order which i have been waiting months for in may i received a payment scheduale saying i would recieve my money on the 8th of may,
8th of may came and went nothing so called them to be told they have until the 19th of may to pay 19th came and went still nothing so i called again only to be told that what i had been told was incorrect and that they have until the 19th of the following month of taking payment to pay which would mean that the payment should be made on up to or on the 19th of june right? WRONG!! still no payment so again called to be told that it takes a while to set these things up and the payment scheduales that they print to be sent out are not right and confusing (their words) so i am sitting here just about to embark on yet another phonecall to the twats who call themselves the csa to see if finally this will be the month when i start to see some sort of money to help support our daughter,
i would like to stress im not a money grabber and my daughter was not the result of a one night stand so i could get myself a house and sit on my arse all day we split when she was 5 and i have always worked since i was 15yrs old never claimed a penny in my life i am now married work part time and my husband and i have another child my husband also has a daughter who he pays for without fail every month via the c.s.a which was sorted out quickly and has even gone up even thou my husbands wages have not he called to try an ask why that was 6 weeks ago he is still waiting for a call back suprise suprise so i am proof that the c.s.a are all round shit heads and seem to work for some but not for others
I too agree with Doneover’s comments above and my experiences follow a similar pattern.
I have been waiting for the CSA to pull their finger out for at least four years now.
First of all they lost my initial claim – apparently it was ‘lost in the post’ even though it was sent directly by my local job centre with a dozen or so other claims which probably did arrive. Also, if the job centre had posted it rather than sent it internally somehow, the chances of it being lost in the post is actually extremely rare, like one-in-a-million. I know this because I had many dealings with the Royal Mail in my previous profession in Law.
As such, due to the fact that I was told by the job centre to wait three months from making my initial claim before trying to contact the CSA for any information, I waited three months to be told that I had not made a claim and therefore had to start all over again, being told that my claim would not be backdated to the original time I claimed.
Ok, frustrating but maybe just an unusual mistake that couldn’t be helped? So I started again, made a new claim and four or so years later I am still waiting for them to do something, anything!
Like Doneover, my ex-husband was very abusive and violent and was prosecuted for assault against myself and harrassment (threats of violence) against myself and my (then aged 3) son. There was a period of time when he could not contact us as a result of bail conditions but after that, willing to give him another chance of a relationship with our child, I got in touch with his solicitor with a view to contact restarting on a formally supervised basis with a view to it maybe being unsupervised in the future providing that it was deemed safe.
Despite several letters sent to him to his address, his parents’ address etc, I heard nothing. After a year I gave up.
Since then, my son has been diagnosed with autism and other difficulties requiring frequent hospital trips, occupational therapy and full time support in school. Out of some sense of duty, I sent copies of medical reports to his parents so that he would at least know what is going on with his child. He still chooses to ignore his child, the worst fact being of all that he only lives 3 miles away from us and, unavoidably we occasionally pass each other in the street or Tesco. If he sees his son, he blanks him. Once even on his birthday. Thankfully my son no longer recognises him and his difficulties mean that he does not really understand much about not having a father in his life, otherwise I can’t imagine how upsetting that would be for him.
I have since heard that he does not believe in autism and thinks it’s an ‘excuse for bad parenting’. I definitely now know that it is a good thing he is not in our child’s life and want it to stay that way.
Ok that rant over, I know this site is not dedicated to people who want to moan about exes but more about the failings of the CSA but I feel it will give you a good picture of this guy and prove a point shortly…
Since the CSA finally processed my (second) claim they made a few relevant enquiries and then nothing seemed to happen for a while. I chased them for information and it later transpired that nothing had been done (not one piece of work) for over 4 months. This too, like in Mr Daz’s case was admitted over the phone by the Child Support Agency as a mistake on their behalf with profuse apologies (I only wish I’d had the foresight to record it myself!).
They then made a calculation 18 months ago (which is now out of date) that my ex should pay £8 per week plus £5 arrears. I accept that, at the time, this was accurate and I do not care if he is only supposed to pay 50p, so long as he pays it. You see, the money will not benefit my son much, but the principle that a man who has gotten away with so much in life (you couldn’t imagine the abuse he put me through for seven years) should be forced to do one right thing for once, is important to me.
After another instance of nothing being done for several months and another informal apology, the CSA finally started chasing him for money. He dodged them as much as he could but finally set up a standing order – SUCCESS! – er… no. He set up a standing order for £10 a month as he feels ‘this is all he should have to pay’.
The CSA agree that he should be paying the full amount deemed appropriate and apparently have ‘every intention to enforce this’ but for some reason, the last few years, they have not been doing so.
They have then continued to do nothing on the case for extended periods of time. I would add that as far as they can tell, each time, they are not waiting for any information and they know where he is etc so even they cannot see any reason why no action has been taken. I am flabbergasted, frustrated and very, very confused at this!
In the meantime, I heard word from several people that he had changed jobs and now earns a reasonable crust so it is likely that the calculation is out of date. I informed the CSA of this early last year but, again, nothing has been done.
Over the course of the last several years, I have called the CSA maybe 100+ times and on the majority of these occasions no-one has been able to give me any information nor work out who the mysterious ‘case handler’ is. I have been promised call backs on each of these occasions but only twice have I ever heard back from someone. On these two miraculous instances, I have had apologies and promises that finally, something will be done. Of course, this has never actually happened.
I am of course feeling extremely let down by the system. It is not possible for me to make ‘adult’ arrangements with my ex-husband myself due to issues of safety and therefore I put my faith in a system that categorically and consistently has screwed me over to the point that it is making me ill!
So my very, very long winded point is…I totally respect the guys (and gals) on here who pay towards the upkeep of their children and I am furious that the CSA can continue to persecute you when there are parents, like my child’s father, who actively dodge the system that the CSA appear to do nothing about. It is almost as if it’s because of your compliance that they make more of an effort to jump on your backs than attempt to pin down the slightly trickier ones who are horrible people to boot and deserve to have court orders etc against them. And the most upsetting thing of all, is that actually, it probably wouldn’t take much to get what they need from my ex, if only they would make the effort…