I have for 3 months been waiting for a copy of my file from the DPU , i even made a complaint via the information commissioners office regarding a failure under data protection act 1998. last week i was called last thursday evening by the DPU to ask if i would help with their survey. they asked that if they brought in a charge of £10.00 to receive my own information from them would i pay. i was annoyed to say the least and the guy once realising who i was agrred he had called by mistake. on froday i had some information from the DPU , but contained in the pack was someone else’s details including NI number , home address and work details including payroll number. all departments are a joke and my email buddy Stephen Geraghty should jack the whole lot in.

regards
steve

As these lovely people (thats sarcastic) are taking money from me , when the child may not be mine I have not seen do not know where mother or child live .I have set up a pension for a large percentage of my wage this will reduce the amount they can take , and will give it back to me later on in life i would rather have it in my pocket in years to come than give it to them. I have also ceased working overtime , will get the payment amounts reduced as this was made in a month i did a lot of overtime and is not a true reflection of my normal earnings .

It has taken a shed load of calls in which no one has called me back or givern me a answer to any of my questions or changed my payment amounts, I would advise any one to send any documents or letters by recored delivery as they will try and say they have never recieved them .They will try and deny phone calls have taken place or things that have been said . Do not accept that a manager will call you back if the agent is not able to deal with your query , the agent will try and fob you off or avoid helping you i think it is there aim to try and not do any work/ they literally do not care about your problems or your situation they only care about hitting there targets which are based on cases submitted to them and by hook or crook any means ,be it a deduction from work order if you question them . Stay on the phone and ask for a manager if they say there manager is not available ask to speak to the manger of the manager and so on till you get one do not accept a call back stay on the line till you get a manager it is the only way you will get answers to your questions or the ammendment/task you need done .And keep on pestering them write letters every week and keep on calling till what you want is done

My marriage broke up in 1991.

I’m a UK national, and became a victim of the CSA in 1993, when I received a simple enough looking form from the agency asking about my employment details, income, address, etc after the break-up of that marriage from which I have one son (who was 10 in 1993). Having nothing to fear, as I was still paying EVERY bill at the former marital home as if I was still living there (mortgage, food,Electricity, gas. household ins., car, petrol..the lot), I popped it in the mail and forgot about it while I continued to pay these bills as well as find/fund a flat for myself.

In December 1995..out of the blue…I received a bill from the CSA for some £5.5K plus an assessment that I should payan ADDITIONAL £400/month on top…this for a child who lived large parts of the week with me and, who ultimately LIVED PERMANENTLY with me. (It later transpired that I had come to the attention of the CSA because of a false claim made elsewhere in the benefit system by my (now ex) wife, ….despite her having THREE jobs herself. !)

From December 1995, there followed what can only be describedas the mother and father of wars of attrition on me by the agency, who at various intervals, calculated, re-calculated, then calculated again my “liability” for child maintenance…maintenance that I did not, do not, and never have owed. This period was compounded by the fateful Saturday morning post where I received not one, not two…..etc, but no fewer than 6(six) separate envelopes from the agency with EACH alleging child arrears (varying in amounts up to £16,000) and none of whom agreed with the other !!!!

One can by this time perhaps imagine the effects that the stress surrounding such ALLEGED debts …to a powerful and draconian government organ…was by now having on my health, both physically and mentally, but regardless of what I did ,said, or to whom I made representation at the agency, this mindless dragon of state was not deflected from it’d blind intention to steal my money.

I was of course by this time,engaging solicitors, writing to my MP etc in order to seek respite from the agencies claims, but in the interests of brevity, these came to be of no avail.

Nonetheless, and quite unexpectedly, a letter was received by me one day whereby the CSA actually recognised that their performance had “fallen short of standard” and that, as a consequence, and without any request for compensation from me, they arbitrarily AWARDED ME the sum of £100 for my trouble. This however, proved to be a false dawn, inasmuch as the CSA STILL contended (without proof) that I was still liable for a £16,000 debt for alleged child arrears. This merely resulted in my redoubling of my efforts to have the agency both “explain” both their calculations and their actions, and while engaged in telephone conversation with a member of their staff, I accidentally learned of their intent (never intimated to me) to “arrest” my salary from my employer. Now, quite apart from the financial difficulty such action would have begun, I realised that there would soon be a very serious question re my financial affairs such as would be difficult to explain to my employer who in the normal course of events trusted me, on a daily and on-going basis, with the safe management of literally MILLIONS of pounds worth of his money and assets…nonetheless, and by the skin of my teeth, I was able to persuade the CSA to defer their intended action. By this time, I was of course in receipt of some £100 of the AGENCIES money and, following discussion with my solicitor, we decided to pay the CSA the monthly sum of £10, along with an attendant monthly letter stating that such monies were being paid without ANY admission of guilt or liability, and without prejudice. These payments were continued by me up till and including January 2001, by which time my son was 18years old, and outwith the interest of the agency. I then advised the CSA that as far as I was concerned that unless I heard from them, I would regard the matter as being closed.

It was also clear that by this time, and purely on account of the huge stress placed upon me by this unwarranted pursuit, that my health was in serious decline and with the huge assistance of both my GP and a regular visiting psychiatric nurse, I narrowly avoided suicide on a number of occasions.

Nonetheless, it was clear to all who knew me both professionally an socially, that I was no longer fit to continue working, and by the end of 2001 my employer discharged me with a medical pension, and I have not worked since.

By now, my dealings with the CSA had seemingly finished, and I went about the task of slowly recovering at least SOME elements of good mental health, to the extent that, in 2005 I re-married, and ultimately moved to live in retirement in France.

Indeed that might reasonably have seemed to be the end of this sorry tale but, on the 5TH June 2009 and with NO COMMUNICATION OF ANY KIND WHATEVER from the agency in the preceding 10…yes 10…years, I again received from the agency a letter (dated 27th May 2009) informing me that they had in fact implemented a Deduction From Earnings Order on my monthly medical discharge pension, in recompense of the “alleged” debt to them of £950…a figure that figured nowhere in the dozens of calculations down these many years.

I now find myself battling in the Scottish courts (whereI last lived in the UK) to have the CSA’s theft of my money returned to me. This of course results in a return of all the stress to which I was subjected all those years, and involves me in a great expense (and with money I do NOT have) to engage again solicitors to represent me (and my own travel and sustenance costs from france to Scotland) in fulfilling my serving a warrant on the CSA for the rightful return of all monies illegally seized by this government department.

The case will be heard in early August 2009, and I am full of dread and concern, not at the justice of my case (my conscience is clear on my actions in this matter at every stage) but at the possible return to those black, black days when my will to survive these allegations and actions will be tested yet again. Frankly, I have fears that should I fail, I will not any longer have the mental strength to recover again.

Will any /all fair -minded people out ther wish me well??……..or am I destined to be merely the latest victim of that long list of those who have fallen victim tomost evil and draconian of government bodies, with huge powers that mean they are in many ways ABOVE the law for the rest of us.

I hover between hope and despair….and will go to my grave secure in the knowledge that I am NOT GUILTY of any offence surrounding the financing of the care of my dear, dear son who, above all, gives me just a trace of a spark to go on and see this ordeal through to conclusion.

For anyone still reading thus far…my sincere thanks for your forbearance…and please help in any way you are able to revoke the evil powers f this unjust and unnaccountable government body.

With her insistance i ended up with a ccj, a 2nd charge on my property,a liabilty order for 16k,several bailiff threatening letters and all the stress of a broken relationship on top of that with my partner (not the twins mother) and all this because at the time i couldn’t afford the dna test fee. three years on after seeking legal advice i paid and had the test done.

It came back that i was not the father. Three years of crap for a womans word and no proof.

To add insult to injury even tough it says on thier web site that you get the money back for the test fee if you are found not to be the father they will not refund it as i was soposed to ask for it in court. this they told me after the court case had ended!

Is there no end to the depths the csa will stoop to get one over on some one? Is it right a man can be persecuted for three years on a scorned womans word? surely the csa could of worked this woman out? she even named the boy ‘luke stuart green’

we are now panicking how they are going to take this money off him as £55 is already going to be coming off his wage and much more than that we are really going to be struggling. do you have any ideas how they go about getting these lump sums???

thanks in advance for your help

Vicki phelps

Each time after explaining my case , and always the same outcome , you owe us money. My case is closed and still no better off , all because my ex continued to claim even though they were working. One of my sons wrote to them backing up my claims but to no avail , they keep telling me we will sort it out , but then after a few months i get a phone call & its back to square one , they do not seem to be interested in the facts of this case from my side , only that i owe them and they want paying.

Now im scared they will arrest my wage or even freeze my bank , and i do not think that i should have to pay this , as my ex was clearly pulling the wool over there (csa) eyes. I have a new baby and commitments , and cannot afford to pay this but im hitting my head against the wall , cause they will not listen.

One of my boys even left home during this period so was no longer under parentil control , but the csa were never informed of this or even the fact they both were working was never declared. How can she get away with this , and i can be penilised for her lies?

At first they claimed they could not trace his dad despite me giving them the last known address and family address. All trace action came back as untraceable, then low and behold I stumbled upon him in his uniform in his work place. Still this wasn’t plain sailing and took an absolute age to set up a deduction of earnings order. The agency now claim he isn’t full time employed and hence the lack of consistency in payments. Surely common sense would make you realise he must have another income or how on earth is he surviving, the agency have confirmed he is not in receipt of any income related benefits. I played detective yet again and facebook come up trumps with him advertising his second cash in hand income. The agency have failed to do anything with this information and again my son is going without.

The agency does hold a liability order that is now two years old, but have failed to collect anything through this. I have exhausted complaining through the Independent Case Examiner’s office and my local MP, I feel like jumping on the nearest cliff. The only thing stopping me is my son, but no one can give me any answers and every week is yet another struggle to feed and clothe my son. Please help I cannot continue living like this!

With the whole expenditure thing being so heavily publicised, is it not possible for the agency to have a fund to pay parents with care and reclaim from the non resident parent. I am sure if it was the governments money the agency were trying to collect they would be a lot more efficient and have more options available to them. Like I said everyday is a struggle and I do not know how much longer I can hold out for a magical answer!!

No claim as ever been made previous by her due to her having another relationship however due to this breaking down and the child going onto further education i have been hit with a DEO of £350 per month.

Now i have never been contacted by CSA and their excuse is i should have told them my address my answer WHY when i have never had any claim against me before.

My other 2 children who i see regular i pay for with a agreement with their mothers - no problems with this since i set them up but now they are under the threat of me being unable to afford due to the DEO from CSA - do they listen not really they will take some of this into consideration SOME i pay all off it so why some!!!

to do my job i have to drive and use a mobile my expenses are what i already have to pay out and claim back i am no better off so why can they take these into consideration - they can say CSA.

my first deduction for this is going to be on the 15th July and i have to pay £942 out of my salary - i am going to be unable to pay my bills etc do they care NO - when asked about my iving costs they are not taken into consideration so i can live in a cardboard box then????

i have no problems paying for my children however i have not seen this child since she was 1 year old her mother stopped me by hitting me with court orders and threats it far to late now to form a relationship with her as she has been brain wahsed by her mother that i am the bad guy!!!

My feelings in all this is why should i have to pay she doesnt feel like my child i wanted her to be and was stopped - the mother is a midwife at a hospital on nights and earns far more than i do but again this not takne into consideration - how do i feel now to be honest like packing my job in and to be honest my life what is the point anymore CSA are jst jumped up jobworths and i have never campaigned for anything in my life but if anyone out there knows of any groups etc i can join or has any advice for me please let me know?

Wayne

I konw that the way things stand, I cannot prevent a Liability Order being granted. The application is for my children, however, one of the childrens surnames on the summons is incorrect.

If I can just get this deferred for a few months, this may allow me to save some money. I will have to take out a loan,if I can, to avoid the house being sold, or even baliffs attending, and possibly taking items from my (other)children, 17 and 19.

I have requested all my file notes and I believe they are overestimating the debt.Although, I probably owe something. The problem is that I have had problems with the CSA and their mistakes since 1996. They just grind you down. Instead of listening to me, they just say It`s my fault or computer says. They are useless.

Anyway, if you have advice on how to, at least defer the hearing, I will be very grateful.

This is the biggest mistake i ever made. The csa were rude to me, and to call them totally hopeless has to be an understatement. Despite taking him to court and a ruling made he had to pay arrears, he again continued to ignore them, and never paid a penny. In the end i had a huge student overdraft, which was less than he owed in arrears, and now have a charge against my property for this amount which i have to pay back, or i loose my home.

As his children are no longer dependents, yes after nine years the csa never managed to get a penny, i have just totally given up with them. It is just not worth the hassle, because they are totally useless. So in my experience if you ignore the forms, work self employed, and ignore them, you never have to pay. This is just not on, but most importantly not fair on the children.