My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Connect with other Mumsnetters here for step-parenting advice.

Step-parenting

Please help re CSA

11 replies

RhiRhi123 · 16/07/2012 14:26

Please be gentle i feel sick with worry over this.

My DH has always paid maintenance for DSS 11 inline with what the CSA have worked out. My DH has changed jobs 3 times in the last 2 years and has always kept the csa up to date. He took a huge pay cut in January as his contract came to an end and had to take the next best thing available. The CSA have adapted payments throughout and as far as we thought all was well.

However we have received a letter a few weeks ago stating DH owes then £2300 this is even more than the difference between what he was paying before and the rate now if they hadn't known he'd changed jobs IYSWIM.

My DH phoned them and they have said this is correct and we have been waiting for a breakdown of everything ie proof. In the mean time my DH has been given a court date of the 17th of this month - Thursday and i have no idea what to do, he is unable to attened as he can't get the time of work at such short notice. Although his attendence is not complusary, IMO it would help make his case.

Has this happened to any of you before and if so what has happened at court. - We are in so much debt and financially stretched that if they put an order on his wages for this amount we will have to go bankrupt which i cannot even think about.

I don't understand where they have got this figure my DH has always paid inline with what they have worked out. We have proof of payments too.

Please help!

OP posts:
Report
NotaDisneyMum · 16/07/2012 15:01

My DP ended up with a 4-figure arrears due to the CSAs incompetence - the figure he had been paying for 18 months was too low and once he notified them of a reduction in salary, they recalculated and demanded the arrears payment there and then.

Assuming that the first your DP knew of this was a matter of weeks ago, i don't understand how he can be facing court for non-payment so swiftly; it takes months or years to get to that stage assuming that deduction at source or a payment plan hasn't been agreed.

If your DP is reasonable with the CSA, while at the same time insisting that they explain their decisions, then it will go a long way to help his cause.
If he hasn't already, then I suggest he visits the CAB and/or takes a 30min free session with a solicitor so he has a better understanding of his legal options.

Report
RhiRhi123 · 16/07/2012 15:14

Thanks NADM. It was definately no more than 6 weeks ago we got the letter then we had the court date through about 10 -14 days ago (i am at work don't have the paperwork on me). I have no idea why they would have all of a sudden checked Dh's case when he has been paying every month I would have thought this would only occur if he was missing payments - which he isn't I check to make sure everything goes out of our account each month.

For a relatively small amount it seems rather drastic when they havent even sent a breakdown yet of how this amount has been 'incurred'. Surely the first instance would be to arrange over payment on the monthly amounts - Or at least prove it first.

Thanks I think i will try and email or call the CAB we won't have a chance to get there before thursday.

OP posts:
Report
NotaDisneyMum · 16/07/2012 15:45

What did your DP do when the letter arrived?

If he is still in negotiation with them - ie waiting for a breakdown of the arrears - then they'll look really stupid in court, but your DP will need to somehow get that point across!

Report
NotaDisneyMum · 16/07/2012 15:48

Oh, and they recalculate every time there is a change in circumstance, or if the RP requests one (as long as can be justified).

If previous mistakes are identified- they try and recover the money as soon as possible because it is the DCs who have potentially missed out.

Report
RhiRhi123 · 16/07/2012 16:22

I just wrote a long message and its gone!

He phoned them and asked for the breakdown when we got the letter stating the amount we 'owe' and they said they would look into it looks like there has been a mistake etc. Then we heard nothing figured they had made a mistake and we thought we were basically waiting for a letter to say so. As they hadnt phoned regarding 'owing' then we get a court letter so my DH phoned them again and they said you do owe us money but it might not be the amount of the letter but it now has to go through court so the 'owing' amount is logged etc Confusedbut we we're still not clearer on what we do 'owe'. if anything i wouldn't expect it to be more than a couple of hundred if maybe there was an issue when he changed jobs etc but they might still come back with £2300. I have no idea how they have worked this out, we pay the calculated amount every month i just don't understand how this has happend.

It may well have been Dh's ex every time we have moved (we rent and have moved twice in 3 yrs) or have got a new car (swapped our old car for a bigger one when we had dd- we didnt pay a penny to do this they were the same value) she has called to have it re assesed as she knows we have obvoiusly just had to pay out so she wants it to have ultimate impact.

Dh was over paying by £100pm for a year when the csa failed to calculate it correctly again but we never saw a penny of that. They said in the letter that they have taken this into consideration and have already taken it off what we 'owe'- surely the over payment would have gone to the RP and to claim it back we would just pay less each month until it had been accured back?

I am so confused!

OP posts:
Report
RhiRhi123 · 16/07/2012 16:23

to be no* more than a couple of hundred!

OP posts:
Report
NotaDisneyMum · 16/07/2012 16:36

I don't know if it will help - but I only really got my head around how the CSA worked by considering it in the same way as a utility payment.

The CSA calculate how much the RP should receive based on the NRP circumstances. They collect this from the NRP and pay it to the RP. If the NRP doesn't pay, the RP doesn't get the money.

If they make a mistake in calculations, they aim to correct it as soon as possible.
So, in the case of an overestimation, the NRP has paid too much, and the RP has received too much, so the account is "in credit". They don't recover credit from the RP, though - it sits on the account as a virtual credit and payments continue at the correct amount unless the NRP kicks up a fuss and demands the payment is adjusted and the credit used.
In the case of an error being discovered that leads to an underpayment, any credit on the account is "used" first, and then the NRP is required to pay the arrears ASAP.

It's likely that the error that has only recently been discovered is as a result of your DP telling them in Jan about his change in circumstances - it takes months for them to process these things in my experience! It might relate to periods of time from years ago, though - particularly if there have been a lot of changes notified. You assume that the notification has led to a change, but sometimes it never happens!

Your DP really needs legal advice - the fact that there is a court date so quickly means his options are limited. I suggest he gets some emergency time off and deals with this as a priority!

Report
NotaDisneyMum · 16/07/2012 16:39

As for your DPs ex requesting reassessment maliciously - the CSA will only do it when there is evidence of increased household income; and a new car, moving etc is considered possible evidence of that.
It not necessarily that she wants to 'hit you when your least able to afford it' but more that the CSA requires a reason for her request!

Report
RhiRhi123 · 16/07/2012 16:54

Thanks for your help . I suppose it is kind of like a utility bills in that sense. what i don't understand is if something was wrong if DH wasn't paying enough it should have been picked up before it got to this stage.

To be honest she does like to kick Dh. When it looks like hes getting somewhere she'll make sure he's back to square one. It may not have been her i just think it's a likley option. I started a new job a couple of months ago maybe that triggered it, thinking i might earn more she might try and get more out of Dh. I'm not trying to bash her i do try very hard to see things from her side but she doesnt make it easy for us!

I'm going to talk to Dh tonight and get out all correspondance we have and see what we can do about it.

Thanks

OP posts:
Report
NotaDisneyMum · 16/07/2012 16:58

After DPs experience, which transpired he'd being paying the wrong amount for longer than the correct one, I now treat everything from the CSA - my case or DPs - with healthy suspicion.

If you have a head for figures, you might be able to do what my DP has done and set up a spreadsheet based on his own calculations rather than relying on theirs!

Report
RhiRhi123 · 17/07/2012 11:11

Thanks for the advice - thats a good idea I might set up a spreadsheet and work it all out and show payments etc so its all ready to just be presented at the first sign of trouble.

OP posts:
Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.