Having trouble with the CSA - any experts??

[electra]

I recently did a bit of detective work and found out where dd3's dad is working. I am not 100% sure but as sure as I could be. I do not have contact details for him though - ie a home address. The first time I called the CSA I gave them his name and date of birth and the person said that he had a UK national insurance number.

After that I was told that the CSA had sent a form to the employer I thought he was working for to verify if he was in fact working there. They apparently did not send the form back and I was told that the person handling my case had chased this up and had established that he is in fact working at the place I thought and that a form had then been issued to him to fill in.

Then yesterday I spoke to someone new handling the case who was adamant that no form had been sent to him because it had not yet been established that he was working at the employer I gave and a trace would need to be done now.

She was also very shirty with me about me phoning and said I should not phone again I thought this was a cheek!!

Anyone have any advice? Before this person started working on my case two people had told me that it had been established where dd3's dad was working so this is not making sense.......

TIA

You need to phone them every week ime. They messed me around so much with my claim for dd's dad, and he is lovely and was compliant with them at all stages . They lost his paperwork twice, and it was only through ringing every week until it got sorted that my claim was sorted. It took 10 months which is unbelievable as it's not like he was trying to hide, he sent everything off they asked for. They are really a shockingly bad organisation and I found it very stressful to deal with.
I have often been on the phone to them and they have got shirty- it must be a shite job for being yelled at tbh. If you get no joy from whoever you are speakign to, insist on speakign to their superior. If they don't call you back when they promise to (which they never do ime) ring up and kick up a stink.
It's worth getting your MP involved in your claim too. All I had to do was mention my MP and my case was resolved in 2 days
Good luck, I know it can be frustrating

Do not deal with anything with them on the telephone. Send everything in writing, recorded delivery. If you have to ring them for any reason, ask for clarification of what they tell you on the phone in writing and anything you tell them, send it to them in writing as well.

They are awful for passing the buck, "losing" paperwork, passing cases to others, contradicting themselves etc etc.

Thanks for your advice! With my ex husband's case it was all done in about 5 weeks. I telephoned every week to check progress of the case. I think that what might have happened is that my usual case officer has gone away for the Christmas break but two people had previously told me that they had verified that he was working where I thought.

Agree with the advice on writing and only communicating in writing - send by recorded delivery.

If you encounter problems with the CSA get your MP involved - they carry a lot of weight with the CSA and are harder to ignore. Indeed, cc. all of your letters to the CSA to your local MP.

complain on the website. It goes to a different department and they seem to be better at handling the communication, although I can't promise they'll get your money. (Been 2 years for me)

I found ringing them every week worked for me. I'm sure with DS' dad they could check where he was working by his national insurance number?