To expect to XH to be prosecuted over the £80,000 he owes in child support?

[CreviceImp]

Bit of background. My XH has refused to pay child support for years. The CSA have been ineffective to say the least. There have been a couple of occasions whereby he has had some attachment to earnings made and payments have happened but not for years. I have given up my career as a teacher because I have a severely disabled child (and two others to care for) and have been her carer for years.He currently is self employed as a haulage driver.

The last conversation I had with the CSA (or whatever moniker they are currently using) I was told they couldn't find a firm address for him. I found one and passed it on but they said they needed absolute confirmation and they couldn't get it. I received a letter last week stating they had written to him to let him know he no longer had to pay child support but his arrears still stood. Seems they have an address after all.....

Having got my MP involved to no avail and written/contacted them numerous times AIBU to expect that he now be imprisoned for the years of what amounts to child neglect? He has refused to share the care let alone the financial burden.

AIBU to ask what this government is going to do to deal with this ongoing inequality towards women and children? I see no social justice.

Thank-you everyone. I am going to be offline over the weekend as I will have no internet connection .

Can everyone who supports this please keep the debate going and continue offering their views?

I will leave you with this for now ....

I think Caroline Lucas a green MP has done support for child maintenance issues if anyone wants to get in touch with her?

Thank-you Regular -good advice - I have tweeted her.

Does anyone know if you can take the case away from the CMA/CSA and sue the father direct? Then you could send in bailiffs if he didn't pay and seize any property he owns, car etc?

Hi Eustace you have to have the money to take it to court firstly.
The CSA have already been down the bailiff route and he had placed everything in his partner's name. They have also trawled for assets and he again put them either in his partner's name or the company name. They have frozen bank accounts but he has always cleared them out.

Hence the petition. It addresses the behaviour and brings it back to personal responsibility. Action could be taken away from the agency by way of a separate criminal prosecution.

Has anyone seen the truly awful Facebook group called 'Child Support Agency Ripoffs' ?

It is a truly vile group aimed at getting out of paying support and the language used to describe women is truly awful. Things like my ex should have her f*y sewn up
It refers constantly as women being money grabbers and accuses women of wanting the maximum maintenance by reducing contact.
It is a closed group now and they are selective now who they add to their group but the most awful thing is there was a handful of women on there (2nd wives) agreeing with the sexist vile posts.

That is beyond appalling.

In that case the petition seems the best hope. At the end of the day (and I write as someone who paid their husband a small fortune on divorce and he has not paid anything since) your relationships with children matter most.

It was interesting that Scot Young (famous divorce, hid £300m or something and sadly later killed himself or was killed by Russian mafia from which he may have borrowed money) features in the Panama papers which perhaps will help his ex wife find where the money is hidden off shore.

I hope his daughters get the hidden money.

www.facebook.com/parents.payup

Just done today..... Please link and share.

Gingerbread have tweeted the petition and asked me to post it on their Facebook page so things are steadily picking up.

Thank-you everyone for your continued support and encouragement.

That's good news about gingerbread getting involved
Have you had a response from Caroline Lucas yet?

I've just emailed my MP to complain to CMS as they have ignored 3 special delivery letters and online messages to give an update to my case.
It's a joke I pay £20 to be ignored.

That's a disgrace Arrested Hope your MP can help you move it on a bit.

I haven't heard from Caroline Lucis yet. Hopefully things will continue to build.

I have had some real odd balls approach me on Facebook. It's a steep learning curve..... I fear this is ruffling some feathers.

Hello everyone,
Just wanted to pick your brains and ask how you would sort out child maintenance. What do you think would resolve a lot of the issues?

blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/self-employed-status-child-maintenance-evasion/

This article goes into detail about some key areas that allow maintenance to go unpaid or at a level that is not a reasonable contribution from a NRP.

www.gingerbread.org.uk/content/2129/Campaigning-with-single-parents

Gingerbread support for campaign.

What would work? The CSA/CMS exercising all their powers to obtain maintenance in the case of the self-employed. They may well represent a minority of cases but that doesn't make our children any less important or any less impoverished than any other child. Every child matters to use Government own rhetoric. A well-trained, dedicated team that had full permission to go the extra mile, perhaps supported by a larger cut of maintenance received might work. I for one would be happy to pay a larger percentage if it meant at the end of it all, I had regular income.

Looking to specifically recruit from people who have been there, done that, might also be an excellent starting point.

Higher fines for enablers and criminally attachment. Enablers could include employers, spouses and accountancy firms.

All excellent suggestions. This article though indicates why they are not utilising all the powers that they have.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9644423/Child-maintenance-powers-emasculated-after-court-ruling.html

There is also the question of people falsely declaring their income and the child maintenance service no longer allowing variations 'owing to lifestyle being inconsistent with income'.

The LSE article goes into more detail.

They really are failing more than ever.

More proof required to prove income I.e bank statements

CMS to have a fraud section and not fob you off with ' report to HMRC we can't do anything.'

Bank Statements are an excellent idea- including joint ones which is something I was told they couldn't look at before.

Does the CMS no longer have a compliance team that looks into fraud? It would be a good idea for prosecution for fraud to take place outside of the agency if it has found to have taken place. Prosecutions for those who have actively helped too, definitely.

Nearly at 500.....
Please sign and share the Petition
#ParentsPayUp

Crevice I have been told they don't have a fraud team, all I can do is report to HMRC and they will apparently look into it.

I also want to add another suggestion that they are legally required to respond to letters as currently they just ignore you.

Shockingly poor on both counts Arrested. They are a government agency working on your behalf. The fact that you don't even get a response to your letters is indicative of the abysmal level of service many have experienced.

I found that everytime I telephoned I had a different account of what action had been taken and as a result lost trust. The only thing that seemed to elicit a written response was the direct involvement of my MP. However, it didn't move the case on at all but at least I had written evidence outlining exactly what action they had taken.

It is time this whole agency was made more accountable.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if every Mumsnetter who cared about this issue wrote to their MPs to press them to do something about the shambles that is Child Maintenance collect in this country?

Imagine the impact it could have......