the csa see fit to to take into account 1,600 of this money , the rest they said ( more fool you for paying it) ( you paid it when the case was shut) ( the money doesnt have written on it its maintence) .. a long list of reasons to try and wiggle out of deo me twice so the lump sump was paid on the understanding that was the end of it no more payments however my ex wanted monthly payments on top which i did .. the case was open but was paid maintenace direct. the case then shut my husband and i had a child so reduced the payment and woooooo the ex calls the csa says she has never had a penny .. we prove this wrong throu bankstaments stating amounts of 50 ( yet they only said 48) they places a deo yet deducted 1600 because of voluntry payments of 48.00 ( not 50) yet wont take this lump sum into account

M J C

I could give you a few names but to be honest you’d be wasting your time. They won’t listen to complaints in a reasonable manner. You’re better off contacting your MP and letting them do it for you. They usually get much quicker results, and are always willing to listen to their electorate.

If you really want to speak to someone high up at the CSA, try Judy Cass – but seriously, your MP is a better bet.

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…