General Chat

oops no it doesn't! it's £ 23.75..............

Rambling Rose No, not a fortune at all - but might have made all the difference had it been paid at the time. I still havent forgotten my 14 year old daughter sitting fully clothed in my bed, with her coat on, doing her homework, because we lived in a grotty flat where the heating just ATE money. I didnt know for ages that I could get help from Family Credit. Even so - why should the taxpayer have had to pay me this money, when my husband was spending more than this a week on newspapers? I am sorry for any man who is being genuinely harrassed by the CSA - but 17 years of getting away with it doesnt sound like harrassment to me. OC OC

Perhaps someone might answer a question for me. Surely it is the court that sets the level of maintenenance, not the csa. Aren't the csa just there to collect it? Also in this particular case it does sound to me that someone has been ignoring the issue for a long time, and it is only now, it has started to bite them, they are taking notice.

whos been paying all those 17 years yes the likes of you and me wish somebody would have kept my kids for £23 per week

Peter the CSA sets its ,the courts just collect if they wont pay.. Yes you have it one about ignoring them . Looks like he has made no atemp to pay the childs mother either..

Hi Susan, The CSA almost destroyed my family, OH ended up losing his job and severly depressed, my ex got away with hardly giving anything for his 3 kids whilst my OH was taken for half his take home pay, An awful organisation, Good luck to your friend, Caz xxx

OC, I can understand how you feel. I count myself as lucky, I have a good roof over my head bought and paid for before I had my child. But I am still in debt due to house repairs etc. I live on less for the two of us than my elderly neighbour who is by herself. I could not have managed but for the birthday money that comes from a few family members and selling odds and ends to meet the electric bills. I feel guilty and angry that my son has to have the cheapest things, rather than the ones which would be better for him. I am not talking about foreign hols or anything like that,last year we managed a few days away in a youth hostel thanks to my credit card! I would like to think that my ex will be 'clobbered' for back payments one day but somehow I doubt it. Rosex

I have read this thread with interest . I can understand your friend being shocked if he was unaware if his childs existence up until now . Otherwise he should have taken responsibilty for his actions 17 years ago, then he wouldn,t be facing a huge bill now . I must add though I know of at least four women who left their Husbands and children and have never paid a penny , even though they kept in contact with the children and the CSA just gave up .Kim xx

Peter If you are on any kind of benefits, then the CSA bypasses the court system. I went to the Court FIVE times, with no result. The Court told me I would have to pay a Bailiff - I didnt have the money for that (£100+, and no guarantee of a result). But the minute I claimed Family Credit, or whatever it is called, the CSA swung into action. The CSA, if you like, is a debt-collecting agency, acting on behalf of the government, and will always act quickly for people on benefits, but hardly at all for those who are not on benefits. I can only speak as I find - they got blood out of a stone, for me. OC

OC, thanks for this. I can see that the csa act as a debt collecting agency, but surely it is the court who should decide in the first place, how much maintenance is appropriate?

They scraped all that in 1993 Peter thats when the CSA was formed..

Peter these massive bills which some men get, are a last ditch attempt to make the man either pay up, or at least fight his corner. If the man will not co-operate with the CSA then they use shock tactics. They cannot negotiate with someone who refuses to interact with them. I don't know how it is calculated now, but back then, they threw all the money coming IN, into a pot, and divided it equally between all the people who relied on the pot, if you see what I mean. That was the starting point for negotiations. Most men manage to negotiate it downwards. OC

Peter the CSA have a method of calculation which deducts from the man's earnings a set personal allowance, allowance for new family, additional and particular expenses. Then a percentage of what is left goes to the child. If the man is earning below a certain amount or is on certain benefits a 'token' amount (used to be £5) is collected. Rosex

OC I wish they worked it out like that now day, my OH pays more for his 1 child than what we as a family of 4 have to live on

Julie I would challenge that amount then. It simply isnt fair, and isnt the usual amount. In the end, my £100K-earning husband was assessed to pay just £30 per week. No doubt he fiddled the figures in his own favour, but I didnt challenge it, because my daughter was about to leave school and I was just grateful to get ANYTHING. OC

Reading in the paper about things happening with CSA etc and, amongst other things I noted that in future those who refuse to pay will go on a bad credit list and will, for example, be refused loans and mortgages etc. wonder iif that will do any good. Ann Glos

OC He has and they just won't listen. It always made me wonder what his daughters mum told them and the things she also failed to tell them to make her look good and him bad. The good thing is she is 15 now so it won't be for much longer. Julie

I think the worrying thing here is that people seem to attach a lot of importance to DNA tests which do not actually prove anything.

The csa are the biggest waste of time in my opinion, just before they started the courts ordered my ex to pay £9.75 a week for our daughter until she was 18. Out came the csa and they took over and reviewed the case. That was 1985 approx and to date he has paid under £100, and that was a voluntary amount he offered me when she turned 18 as he came up to see her and add his name to her birth certificate....at long last!!! I filled the forms in regularly and he just as regularly went awol then claimed he didn't get his post.........and they let him off! I even gave them his parents address and they wrote to him there....but somehow he got away with it. All the while i was struggling and our daughter went without he was living the high life with foreign holidays, cars and parties galore. The csa constantly promised to chase him for money and then gave up, admitting he was not as easy a target to deal with as the decent Dad's who wanted to pay for their child/children. I was gobsmacked to say in the least! When he decided to take up his option to see her when she turned 18 (the option had always been there, he had just not taken it....to avoid having to pay up) we were both stunned to find out he had a much younger partner and two sons with her. My daghter went to visit and was very hurt to find out they had a beautiful house and her two young half brothers had every toy imaginable, including things they were far too young for, their father couldn't do enough for them! A total contrast to what he had done with and for her. Needless to say after he had seen her twice he walked away yet again, his curiosity solved i guess?!

Or rather, the piece of paper with the given results proves nothing.