csa timescales?

[workshy]

having repeatedly failed to reach an agreement with my ex regarding maintainance I have decided to involve the CSA

do they backdate to when we split, and if they have all the relevant details will it take them long to sort?

They'll backdate to when they first attempt to make contact with your ex whether they're successful in gaining contact or not. I would love to tell you how long (even on average) that it would take them to sort a new claim but it varies hugely from case to case. It took a year for them to sort mine out and that was a simple, everyday case for them. Although it's run smoothly since.

Timeline everything and make a note of all all calls, dates etc. I stupidly sent in a paper claim which they 'claim' they never received and this delayed my case by 3 months. I ended up making the application by phone which took minutes.
Good luck!

I applied by phone and it was dealt with quite quickly. Received payment within a few weeks, certainly less than 2 months. I thought they dated it from the time you first contacted CSA but can't be sure.

Took a year the !st time - very simple case and CSA had all the details they needed.
18 months the 2nd time (when NRP stopped paying maintenance direct) - again still very simple and they were given all details about the NRP from other sources. Non-compliance by the NRP, even when the CSA know everything about them, seems to confuse the system.
Now into the 3rd period of assessment processes - I shall not hold my breath during what they laughlingly call their '12 week' timescale to assess.