CSA

OMG the csa are they on the side of the absent parent or what??

I had a private agreement with my stbx and he paid every month then in December 2010 decided to stop.

I contacted the csa and was told as he had resigned from his job and was on benefits i was entitled to nothing!

To cut a long story short he has now purchased a van and is setting himself up as a courier and thinks he will earn £1,000 a week!!

Anyway the csa have told me that they have to wait 13 weeks to do his assesment as it is a new buisness. Also he has told them he has shared care he has not seen our daughter in 7 weeks. They said they will raise a dispute but he has sent in a letter saying he has it!!!

I also told them he has a lodger and as he gets cash in hand for him they said they will not take that into account.

I said to them by the time you sort this out i will have had no child maintenance for 6 months and financially i am struggling. Not a lot we can do they said.

What happened to the care and duty of a minor child it is disgusting

Also i know beyond a shadow of a doubt he will lie about the money owed and as he is just starting out in buisness it will not be a true reflection of his salary.

I am so mad:angry:

Unfortunately the CSA are pretty useless. They can chase soft targets who are on PAYE because all they have to do to enforce payment is get a deo.

Nothing they can do about him jacking his job in. Be suprised if he can make a grand a week as a courier!

Unfortunately the CSA are as much use as a bulldog with rubber teeth. My ex has not paid barely a penny of child maintenance since we split in Sept 2009. The CSA were able to extract a pittance of £5 per week for all 3 of our children whilst he was on jobseekers allowance. I told them back in July 2010 that he was working and gave them every single detail about his new job that they could possibly ever want. 8 months on, Im still waiting to see anything. When they contacted him he denied working. After lots of to-ing and fro-ing he has basically told the CSA to take him to court. All just delaying tactics. Whilst that's going on, my children are going without. He earns £25 per hour as a professional building projects manager for a university. He has taken me to court time and again for residence of the children. How he can sleep at night I do not know.

The case is now with criminal compliance, I get fobbed off every time I ring for a progress report - telling me these things take time.

Im at the stage that I dont ever expect to see a penny of maintenance from him. every time the kids complain that we can't do nice things like even going for a MacDonalds, I tell them that I would love to take them but I just can't afford it as their dad isn't paying any money to help care for them. Some say that is wrong, that I shouldn't be telling them but Im only telling the truth. What he's doing is breaking the law.

So I would say to you, and sorry I cant be more optimistic, unless your ex wants to provide for his children, then its very unlikely you will get any maintenance. If he's self employed or working thru a limited company (as my ex does) then the CSA are pretty much powerless.

Best try to make the best you can with what you have. And be proud in the knowledge that you are doing your best to give your children the upbringing they deservev and that they have at least one parent they can trust and rely on.

Good luck x

Had to post here...if I put a pound coin in a box every time a call to the CSA left me seething I'd be a millionaire!!

My ex left in Sept 2009 and told me he'd contacted the CSA to work out maintenance and they said becasue there was money in my bank account that was his, they worked out he wouldn't have to pay CM for 8 months....as I was stupid and upset I never double checked this, and when contact stopped I didn't think I was entitled to anything....

Anyway, to cut a long story short, he now sees the kids and has started paying (ish!) BUT only after months of them sending post to his old address (even though I told them where he was living/working, they said it wasn't a 'confident' address so couldn't send stuff there)...he also asked for a reduction as he now lives with his new cougar partner and her three nearly-adult kids (whom he supposedly supports).

When I ring to ask them when I might get any arrears paid they speak to me as though I'm asking them to harass this poor man who has all these debts...blah blah.

You are SO right ali, they are way too sympathetic to the NRP. I told them the last time I phoned that even ringing them was costing me a fortune in phone bills, and that I was struggling to buy food....do they do anything? Nope.