Reader views (11)

 Add your view

hi i have a nearly 17 year old daughter which when she was about 2 years old the csa contacted me!!! my ex partner sent a letter to the csa saying we would sort out our own arrangements for our child so then they left me alone i didnt hear nothing else for nearly 15 years then a few weeks ago the csa contacted me demanding £50 grand in 7 days or threats with prison or no licence or to sell my house which i rent so how can they do this to me after so long without contacting me

- Ady Northamptonshire, northants england, 29/03/2010 19:53
Report abuse

I was with someone almost 20 years ago. Basically, she came off the pill and didn't tell me, to have an easy life claiming anything and everything she could. When the penny dropped, when I found months worth of pills and questioned it she actually smiled and said 'I have what I want now'. Needless to say I flipped..and she disappeared. I still to this day don't know if I even have a daughter of my own. Some time later I got my first of many brown envelopes and my deductions were all unrealistic. I lost a property due to their inadequate ability to take into consideration or mortgage/rent payments-no matter how many proofs of outgoings I sent by recorded delivery they 'lost' them. and I'm that far gone-that far behind with owing others money due to this shit black and white system I've pretty much given up trying. I refuse to phone anymore, there's a strong denial from them of any relevant contact when you do get in touch.

Oh and mail not long since came stating I owe six and a half thousand in arrears. To my calculations it's a country mile out by around four(ish)thousand in my favour. Do you think I'll get it? No, me neither.

- L.A., preston, england, 22/03/2010 16:30
Report abuse

my partner has a child from a previous relationship, they broke up when she was 5, paid for her on a weekly basis, he missed one payment so she got csa involved, he has been paying £100 per week for the past 6 years, adds up to about £26,000, but csa are now saying he owes another £19,000, they have sent bailiffs to our home, we have a daughter of our own and our second daughter has just died, but this has been ignored.it is now christmas and we are left depressed and very very low, we dont know what else to do, his ex lives with a man in a big house who has his own business and they go away alot, but we cant afford to go out for a meal. my man is seriously thinking about giving up work. i am so worried. our life is crumbling and no one cares.

- Tracy Haynes, peterborough, 29/11/2008 08:39
Report abuse

my partner is having a great deal of trouble with the csa.he has two kids from a previous he has always supported his children.we have two children together.the csa say he owes £4000 well a few moths ago we recived a letter stateing he owes £800 they have lied we have sent lots of information to then they say they have not recived.they told him they had been trying to phone him and there was no answer he then asked what number they was trying to ring him on they looked on the computer oh he said we have not got one.ive never know a company to be so corupt.we now have had the baliffs come to our address no one was in at the time.but they left a very nice letter saying with in five days of this letter if the payment has not been made they will seize goods and car.very worrying.if we owed the money there would be no problem.but we have had hid two children frm previous live with us for a long time.we got all the proof we even clamied ther child benfit wat more proof do they need.the mother can have 2 hoildays abroad every year while on income support and we look after the children who are now 15 and14.we cant afford to go western just for a day.how can the mother get away with this she has never done a days work since having the children.my partner works very hard just so we can get buy day to day he now feels like packing in his job cause we cant see away out.the csa are a fraud there job is to get money from fathers who never pay for there children.

- Worried Partner, birmingham, 12/11/2008 21:07
Report abuse

I am at present fighting a case with CSA. I have a daughter age 11 and have never been allowed to see her. In fact until she was 8 she thought someone else was her dad. Now I have my own family with 3 children under 10 and have been hit with a bill to pay £200 per month out of my wages of £200 per week and because I don't earn enough to support my family I recieve working tax credit of £160 per month so now they want me to add £40 per month to that. We are at our wits end because we just can't afford the CSA bill. We get the tax credit because we don't have enough to live on so why should they be allowed to take them off us again it seems my children don't count because when you phone the CSA they just say that they don't want to hear we can't pay because we have no choice we have to pay. My wife is also disabled and this doesn't seem to count either. We are at breaking point, is there anyone who can help us please.

- Thomas, Belfast, 15/10/2007 09:43
Report abuse

As above, a spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions said "The CSA is tracing those who have long avoided making contact."

It seems that this may just be the start of the changeover from the 'old' CSA to the 'new' CSA which will be nothing more than an enforcement agency, sending in the heavies. Why has it taken them 12 years to contact this poor man? Why didn't they contact the mother of the child concerned to let her know what they were doing? The CSA has always conducted themselves under a veil of secrecy.

The government and CSA has egg on its face regarding the millions of pounds lost through their inefficiencies over the years, and this takes the biscuit. The CSA will now want to be seen to change their poor statistics and put money back into the coffers by using strongarm enforcement tactics.

This will not be the last we hear of situations like this.

This is only the beginning, as the 'new' CSA kicks into life.

- Jb, Wiltshire, England, 10/10/2006 13:13
Report abuse

If the CSA think that's how much it costs to keep a child, how come the government don't give that amount to widowed parents?
They are a complete shambles and need to be closed this week, not in years time.

- Stephen Holt, Bradford, England, 10/10/2006 09:44
Report abuse

I have been 'involved' with the CSA since 1997 and quite honestly the CSA staff and management haven't a clue what they are doing. Never have and never will.

Its computer system has never worked and the staff don't understand it. They are incapable of assessments. They are ill trained lack any legal or financial understanding whatsoever. They make rules up as they go along and change them adhoc. They do not comply with their own guidance or the law as set down by parliament.

It is a complete insult to anyone dragged into this. They are uncooperative and offensive towards the parents. But this is the learned behaviour of the DWP towards people who find themselves on benefits whereas in many cases the agency is not dealing with the same issues but private funds and not the states.

- Denise, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 09/10/2006 11:12
Report abuse

The CSA are proving that they as bad as ever.

- Steve, Derby, Derbyshire, England, 08/10/2006 20:57
Report abuse

Sure he should be responsible for that time period. Do you think it was 63,000 pounds that the mom and kid got? Sounds like someone has goofed.

- Kt, Pennsylvania, USA, 08/10/2006 14:05
Report abuse

Surely the father should have been financially responsible for the the period the mother was claiming benefits.

- Mike Roberts, Louth, England, 08/10/2006 10:13
Report abuse

Add your comment