[Solved] CSA payments and outstanding arrears

Hi Errol

There may be another way - I presume that the CSA haven't paid money to your ex without you having paid them first? If that's the case, why not agree with your ex that you will pay her whatever figure you agreed, but less the amount of the arrears, which you will then pay to the CSA which they will pay on to your ex. Your ex still gets the amount you agreed to pay her, and the arrears get paid off.

Thanks for that info. Would that still be the case if the CSA claim the arrears were amassed pre 2007/08 (when I was in work + she was in receipt of benefits), following the change in legislation?

I'm not sure - it may be worth speaking to the CSA again to see if you pay the arrears, if the whole of the money would be paid to your ex. If so, what I have suggested above should resolve the situation as long as your ex agrees.

Ok, thanks again. But I think I need to ask the question in a different way. Here goes....the CSA claim that I owe arrears to the Secretary of the State for benefit payments that the kids mom received before the change in legislation in 2007/08 whilst I was in work to the sum of £3,000. I don't actually believe that I owe her any arrears because she only started working last year for the first time since she made a claim in 2002. Therefore, what I am really querying is, if she was to close the case entirely and arrange payments directly, what likelihood is there of the CSA pursing me for the outstanding arrears from over 4/5 years ago? The uncertainty comes from the fact that once before when she was in a thriving relationship and planned to open a business she closed the case and the CSA never bothered me for any arrears!! At present she is wanting to close the case but is a little hesitant in fear that I won't be financially better off and would therefore struggle to meet my committments with payments to her directly. Whereas, I belive once she closes it, that will be the end of the whole matter - based on information I have received from friends and contacts with CSA experience......hope it a bit clearer!!

Hi

I understand now. My gut instinct is to say that the CSA will probably chase (though I don't think it will make a difference whether your ex closes the case in this regard). However, I will ask the CMO to comment to see if they can clarify the position, so keep checking back.

Hi, I'm Sarah a consultant for Child Maintenance Options. Sorry for the delay in reply.

From what you say, these arrears are owed to the Secretary of State, not your children's mother. So the money wouldn't go to her, it would be paid back to the Government.

Arrears owed to the Secretary of State need to be paid, even if your case has been closed. Even if the CSA have not taken enforcement action in the past, there's nothing to say they won't in the future.

I suggest you contact the CSA directly to discuss this with them.

I hope this helps.

Sarah.

im in the same position and im back with the the kids and the wife so can you please inform me if you get any positive feed back
thanks

hi casa and welcome

I would suggest that you contact the CSA directly to see what they say.

i went to tribunal after taking 7 years to get to it,and won, they had to assess me at zero for the 2 and a half years they continued the £65 a week for that 2 and a half years, after the tribunal i phoned them asking how much arrears i had left and they said about £800. i am disabled and pay £5 a week ever since, rang them today and its gone up to well over £3000, how the [censored] has this happened, i have asked several times for a breakdown over the last 8 months and nothing,surprise surprise. they are now saying i owe the secretary of state this money, why the [censored] did this not come up in February when i asked. im going to seek legal advice about this and im pretty sure they take a number out of a hat and throw it at you. i will take this all the way, god knows how much money they have had out of me. im so depressed about this. there quick enough to pounce if you don't pay,but took 4 months to finally get the appeal papers back form the tribunal. are they that pissed off i won the tribunal case,deleting the 10 grand arrears they cocked up on. how this arised is they continued the £65 payment for 2 and a half years without letting me know the money was building up, the judge was amazed why the csa let this go on for so long with out realising the deo i had coming out of my wages had stopped even though i rang them and my company rang them and let them know i was being made redundant. incompetence is the biggest understatement of the century

Go see your MP. They have had good results where all else has failed. you local MP will,run surgeries and you can call and make an appointment and take all of your paperwork with you.

Hello I hope I'm in the right place.me and my ex have been separated for over a year now.she contacted the csame last May and they contacted me.i spoke with them and told them my current situation,I had not worked since November 2013 and at the time of the csa claim I was on job seekers.in October 2014 they contacted me again and asked for proof that I was not working,I sent them my bank statements and they sent me a letter back saying I did not own any money from October onwards.this week I have received a letter from them asking me to contact them which I did.i have been told that I owe 3200 pounds in arrears from May 2014-October2014.i explained I was not working at this time but they have told me that because I was in employment the year before and the last home records show I earned 40k + this is how they have calculated it and that I did not inform them that I was not working after my job seekers stopped there is nothing they can do and I owe this.to me this does not seem right.they have records of me claiming job seekers and it was stopped,then there is a 5 month gap where I was still not working and they have calculated it on the fact they have guessed I was back at work.this was not the case and I have the bank statements to prove it.the fact was that in the space of one year my father passed away and a month later me and my ex split.she moved away with my children and I have not seen them for one year this March.i am in the process of voting through the courts and have spent 12000 already trying to get access to my children.i want to support them and even suggested a family based arrangement to my ex as my mother is helping financially and this is what we suggested.she refused this and wanted the csa to collect the money.please has anyone else had this experience of them guessing a amount in which is owed and because a phone call was not made to explain the situation there is nothing they can do about it.after the double whammy of my fathers death and splitting from my ex I did not deal with it all very well and was under the doctors.i moved back in with my parents while I was recovering and I have all the doctors records for this time I did not make this phone call to them.to me it is wrong but I have been told today that I owe it and that is does not matter about my personal circumstances at the time I was supposed to of rang them.they told me today if I do not pay there is 4 things that might happen.baliffs,my license being taken away,my bank account having money taken or prison.can anyone advise please if they have had a experience with the csa like this.

Thanks.

I know that if benefits are stopped, then they should try to find out what you are earning and base their calculation on that - I haven't heard of them making such a guess. My advice is that you go to see your MP as soon as possible and ask them to raise a complaint with the CSA as a matter of urgency because of the imminent action by the CSA. Take along copies of all documentation to leave with the MP, along with a bullet pointed summary. An MP can raise a complaint at a higher priority than you are able to do.

The actions you have mentioned, as far as I am aware, have to be taken through the courts, and these are used where the paying parent is refusing to pay - I would hope that you would, at that point, be able to put forward to court your argument, and that it's not that you were refusing to pay, but that you were not earning anything and were unable to pay. This could still go against you in court, so it's not something to rely on, you are much better off trying to stop it getting that far.