so frustrated....csa are doing nothing!

[spookycharlotte121]

Ex and I split when ds was 9 months old and I was 6 months pg with dd. Since then I havent really seen a penny from him. He has had no contact with the kids in nearly a year. About 3 months ago I decided enough was enough and contacted the csa. I had found out he was working so decided it would be a good time to try and get some support. The csa have done nothing since my first call....he came off of jsa so surely would have had an address linked with that....i also thought u had to give the name and address of your employer when u signed off of benefits but it would appear the csa dont bother to use the computer system they have very efficiently. Im so sick of managing and just scraping by. I know things will be better when I go back to work in December but thats a long way off and it makes me quite angry that useless twat absent fathers who.dont give a shit about their kids seem to be protected....why are the csa so lax in their approach. It really does make me cross. All I want is to be able to provide a decent standard of living for my kids. Am I actually going to get anywhere with because the staff dont seem to know what theyre talking about... I just had a phone call in which I had to explain pretty basic stuff ti the call.handler which really she should have known herself. Sorry to rant but I get so tired of scrimping money together when anything other than essentials are needed.

You have to nag the CSA to get your case moving.

Most of their computer systems don't 'talk' to each other so they have to apply for the information. I get same problem at work where the PAYE info is separate to the SATR info where you'd think they would be linked!

Someone said they got more luck when they emailed as the person who contacted them had looked at their file and was ready to go forward with it rather than when you call them pulling up the info and trying to work out where things are with it.

They write to your ex and have to give him time to reply. He can drag this out if he so wishes and make it much harder than it needs to be.

I suggest you contact them again to see where things are and to push it along if necessary. Also make a note of who you speak to, time/date and what was said anytime you contact them. If you have to write keep a copy and send it recorded delivery.

Thankyou for replying. I have his mobile number now so I gave that to them today although I wouldnt put it last him to change that to escape them contacting him.

Sending an email might be worth a try. I only have access to the net via my phone so it makes emails a bit tricky but I might be able to use a friends computer.

How often do u think I should call? I just want this sorted so I can focus on the kids rather than worrying about how exp is gonna react. thankyou.

I put in my claim in the beginning of fab an touch wood should finally see some money next month.

I agree with Gillybean. The only way I have got any money is to nag, nag, nag. Ring every week if you have to. Also when my case got "stuck" (whatever that even means) I threatened to start the conplaints process and that got things moving a lot quicker.

Good luck :)

as others have said, you have to be on at them all the time. I contacted the CSA last August with full addresses, NI number, work details etc but in view of my ex's avoidance tactics only received money in Feb of this year. I found that getting them to explain exactly where in their procedure they were meant I knew exactly when I should be chasing them again for the next step - and it took ringing every week/other week to get an update/push the case onto the next level in order to progress it. I also found I got a better answer/progress if I only spoke to my "case manager" rather than just whoever answered the phone at the call centre - if nothing else it saved me from having to explain the whole scenario over and over each time I called.

Good luck, I hope it gets sorted soon.

If it helps, after the initial period of waiting and calling to nag find out what was going on every few days, the actual assessment was much quicker. I think it helped that my Ex was so foul and abusive to the case worker that she was determined to get some money for me - she even spotted that the pay slip he'd sent in had an emergency tax code on it so demanded another one, re-assesed the amount and got me quite a bit more.