CMS arrears dispute, financial ombudsman and taking CMS to HMCTS

Hi there,

I have been fighting ficticious arrears on my case for a number of years now. Recently, the ICE finished their report which outlines a lot about the case.

Long story short, my ex wanted to purchase a car I had lent her. I stupidly put the V5 in her name as she was using the car. At this stage, she refused to hand the car back and the police stated it was a civil matter. After months of negotiating with her solicitor, she agreed to repay the car back by allowing me to off-set CMS payments.

Having contacted the CMS they told me I was able to do this as long as there was an agreement in place.

Her solicitor outlined the agreement (though this was more of a letter than a legal document) which I submitted to the CMS. I called the CMS to ensure they were happy with the letter of agreement and was told they were.

After 12 months of offsetting the payments, as instructed by her solicitor, she claimed I had been underpaying her by the amount of the offsets. I was placed on a DEO. I thought this, and the DEO was removed, but the arrears remained.

The ICE report outlines all of the above. One stand-out statement was the paragraph below, which I assume is strong enough evidence to take further action:

During the call, you said you had previously asked for a letter confirming the offset agreement was acceptable to the CMS but had not received one and needed confirmation as the RP was planning to sell the car. The call handler told you that if there was a written formal agreement in place, the CMS could accept that. You read a copy of the solicitor's letter out over the phone and were told that as long as the CMS had a copy of the letter, then it was allowed. You asked if the CMS were completely satisfied with the agreement and the call handler replied, "If you've taken out a loan and she's accepted that, and her solicitor has sent a letter confirming payments will be reduced for 51 weeks then yeah" You confirmed that it had been signed by the RP solicitor. On this call, you asked again for a letter confirming the shared car rejection as you had not received one. At the end of the call you asked "Just to confirm, I am safe to give the RP ownership of that car and you guys are totally satisfied with the agreement?" to which the call handler replied "yeah".

It is worth noting at this stage, the arrears were completely miscalculated and I have an additional £1500 arrears that do not align with the offset payments. The ICE also flagged the miscalculation and stated they couldn't work out why the sum of arrears applied was added.

The ICE outcome instructed CMS to compensate me £350 for the continuous false information and noted they should provide a detailed breakdown of how the arrears came about. I received the cash and an account breakdown that doesn't indicate where the arrears came from or why. I got back to the ICE who agreed that CMS had not provided what was agreed. They chased the CMS and still, 6 months later, I have not received a breakdown of arrears.

It is also worth noting, that I successfully recovered the outstanding balance for the car in court, though she has yet to pay a single contribution.

The CMS states that they completely agree with everything in the ICE report, which is an absolute admission of incompetence, resulting in me handing over legal ownership of a vehicle.

Yesterday I contacted my local MP and am awaiting his return call.

Do I have a case here? If so, what are the next steps; financial ombudsman or HMCTS?

Many thanks