Non payment of child maintenance/consent order-can

Hi
I''ve never posted on here but really hoping I can get some advice. Long winded but please bear with me!
In 2007 I had to involve the CSA to get maintenance payments from my ex. At the time this had to be done by law. They arranged just £5 per week for 2 children!!! He agreed to pay me direct so the CSA were informed of this. A couple of months later, a Consent Order was drawn up by the court for our divorce and it was stated on it that he would pay £50 per week for the children which was the agreement we had come to. He paid for a couple of months and then stopped.
Fast forward to Jan this year (2013) and he started paying £200 a month again. He then stopped and so I contacted the CSA and he has paid via them since.
My dilemma is this.... Between Dec 2007 and Jan 2013 he didn''t pay anything!!!! The CSA told me that Consent orders are nothing to do with them and they cannot chase the arrears because he was paying me direct (even though their file has never been closed) and to go back to the court. I did this and now the child maintenance Services have got involved. They are telling me that because I got the CSA involved back in 2007 and it was kept open, that they basically cant do anything either and have had it thrown out of court! I''m at a complete loss. Everyone I speak to tells me something different (even the solicitor)!!
I have spoken to the court and they have told me to email them all details and they will get the judge to look at it but Ive still got a sneaky suspicion that he will get away with not paying for all those years. I feel like ive been pushed from pillar to post because no one wants to deal with it.
I know this is all very confusing but does anyone out there have any advice for me?
Abby
Also the CSA do not have any record of any telephone calls i made to them between may 2007 (when maintenance direct was arranged) through to december 2013 when i called them to say he hadnt paid for years! Very convenient for them i think!!

you would have had to close the CSA case first in order to be able to get a consent order.

CSA would only then be involved if you opened a new case.

hi wyspecial
this is the aguement ive got with the csa... they are adamant that the csa case has never been closed but they wont do anything about the arrears because of direct payment being agreed. ive now written to the judge so got everything crossed

Yes but if the CSA case wasn''t closed then the court never had jurisdiction to agree the consent order for child maintenance and it should never have been made. Did you inform the court that there was a CSA case?

If he didn''t pay the £5 per week due via the CSA from 2007 to 2013 then they should be trying to collect this money as arrears. He may though be able to use the payments he did make of £50 per week for a period to reduce these arrears if he can provide evidence of them.

Obvious question for me though is why have you left it since 2007/2008 before you have reported the non-payment? The sooner you report it the easier it is for it to be investigated and resolved.