Child maintenance service

[gretchinweeners]

I have recently went to the new child maintenance service to arrange for my sons Dad to start making payments again. He has always been a nightmare with money and officially owes me almost 2k in payments from the past two years from the old CSA (and unofficially owes me thousands more from the previous years before I made a claim!)
Anyway, we had agreed in Feb that he would start making payments to me of 160 a month and if he failed to make them I would file a claim with the new service, he lasted two months before he failed to send it so filed a new claim and told him I will go through them from now on. The cms agreed an amount of 22 pound per week (total joke but that's another matter) and he has to send it himself but if he doesn't they can take action. I have looked and he has sent over the original 160 which is a lot more. Now most people wouldn't complain, however this man is NEVER acting in the best interests of his son so by paying me more he is trying to cover himself for something. Is it possible that if he pays more now then it means he can skip some payments later and then claim that I was getting overpaid?

I actually asked the cms to go for the third and most serious method of collection but they said I have to do this method first and he has to mess it up before I can move up a stage so it means I'm still having to deal with this kind of crap happening and I'm getting stressed out at the thought of having to contact him to ask why he's doing it. I should mention that he is and always was an unstable, emotionally abusive, alcoholic/drug addict and I made cms aware of this as the reason I don't want to have to deal with him directly anymore but I feel like they have let me down by pushing me to the second stage to get the money.

Sorry for rambling! I am going to phone them tomorrow but wanted to know if anyone has any advice or experience of this

I don't think he can claim he overpaid because they are really bothered about the amount they calculated that he should pay which is the minimum. If he pays you over that's a bonus but they don't count it as overpayment to you .

Yes this can happen as it’s hapoening to me!

I often wonder who the cms is working for since I was the one who paid £20 to initiate the service!

Being cynical here, but count yourself lucky! My dd's father is paying the grand sum of £6.27 a week as he says that he is unemployed and claiming benefits... this is so far from the truth I can see pigs flying everywhere I go, but when I pointed out that he is almost certainly working cash in hand and has another business account, they basically shrugged and said it wasn't heir problem...

So fed up of reading posts on here where we are all being taken for a ride by CMS - sounds like he is using them now to get at you.

What proof do you have of his earnings - proof of previous payments of £160 ? Have you got written evidence of the agreement between the two of you if not send this to him what was agreed what has happened and why you are now pursuing this through CMS - send them a copy of anything and everything.

I'm dealing with one of these c&&ts - ive sent everything I can as x is taking this to court tribunal - I've told them of the emotional and financial abuse, I've sent anything I have to support what I'm saying - you have nothing to lose - I had a phone call off them recently saying it's being passed to investigative team - what this means I'm not sure but as they had evidence of how he had also manipulated my tax - who knows!

@scoobydoobydooo You can apply for a diversion of income assessment if you have reason to believe that he's lying about his income. They should then look into it for you.

@tiredand44 ooohhh I did not know this... how do I go about doing that? Do I have to ring the CMS?

@scoobydoobydooo Yes...if you say that you have reason to doubt the validity of his income, they will send you the form where you'll need to give as much info as you can as to why you suspect this. They have to investigate it!

@tiredand44 - quick google of the CAB tells me that a variation of income assessment won't be done if the person paying maintenance is claiming JSA, which is what he is doing... 😫 I suspect would bet my last penny on the fact that he is working cash in hand, or is diverting payment into his ltd company... however he seems to be covered by that clause...

Grrrr how do these utter toads get away with this???

@scoobydoobydooo There must be a way around it? If he's a director of a limited company then he will be taking dividends, that's one of the questions on the form too. It's worth a go?

@tiredand44 I'll give them a ring and see what they say, but as usual I don't imagine they will be much help. When I pointed my suspicions out to them in May, they said there was nothing I could do, and that if I thought he was working I should report him for benefit fraud... surely it's their job to investigate?!