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Hi, hope someone can help me...
I have received a letter from the Child Maintenance Service advising me that I owe £6421.17 from 2003 for my daughter, Charlie, who was born on 14/1/87. However, child maintenance for my daughter was made to the Child Support Agency (CSA) by deduction of earnings order that was served to my employer from 18 September 1997 through to 2006. I had no control of the maintenance payments. Prior to 1997, I had paid my daughters mother directly, via Solicitor arrangement.
In 2006, when my daughter was 18 years old, the CSA wrote to me and advised me that my case was now closed. I recall telephoning the CSA to make sure this was the end of the payments as we had had a really difficult time in the past financially as my wife and I had two boys also. The CSA confirmed the case was definitely closed as far as they were concerned, and if I wished to continue payments post the age of 18 then it was up to me to pursue. Subsequently, the court order for the deduction of earnings was removed and the CSA ceased taking future payments.
As you can imagine, receiving a letter in October 2017 stating that I owe Child Maintenance arrears from 2003, 14 years ago, has come as a complete shock and has me at a total loss; even more so when I was still paying Child Maintenance via deduction of earnings up to and including 2006, that is 3 years post the alleged arrears from 2003.
I am getting no help whatsoever when I telephone the CMS or write to them. They keep telling me that they don’t know where the figure has come from and I have to provide the evidence that I paid. Apparently they have also gone to the mother to ask her if she wants them to pursue it which she has said she does. My daughter is 31 now and lives with me, but I am not surprised by her mother wanting the money, my wife and I had a terrible time of it since 1995, she made our life a complete misery and so there are ulterior motives here also. Fortunately I do have some documentation from 1997 when the DEO order was placed on me and subsequent re assessments for a few years after that, and I also found wage slips for 2005 and 2006 showing the deduction of earnings in place.
Can anyone help me here, can this be right? how can they say I have arrears from a time they had a DEO already in place since 1997 and I had absolutely no control of what they were taking? I never stopped paying , I received the case closed letter with no arrears at all. I have disputed it and also sent a copy and letter to my local MP but I really do not know how this is going to pan out.
Jo
Hi there
The CMS is a relatively new department that replaces the old CSA, all cases are in the process of being moved over and it is this that is creating similar problems for others, that like you had no knowledge of any arrears and had received notification that their case was closed.
I believe the CMS have to provide you with a breakdown of how they’ve reached the sum of arrears, I would request this in writing and ask for all further correspondence to be in writing too, as this provides you with a paper trail. It would also be a good idea to send any correspondence to them recorded delivery.
It’s a good idea to ask your MP for help, they can often get further with the government agencies, hopefully they will arrange an appointment for you to go in and see them at their local surgery.
Try not to worry too much, hopefully the paperwork that you have will be enough for them to drop their demands.
All the best.
As above, I would contact your MP as soon as possible. It might alos be worth raising an official complaint - https://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance/complaints-and-appeals
Hi
Thank for your assistance.
I have sent all the paperwork that I could find recorded delivery to the Child Maintenance Service, this included the original 1997 DEO letters along with a few more for couple years later with reviews and amendments to payments they made. I also sent wage slips in from 2005 and 2006 where it stated the DEO on the wage slip, the last one in 2006 was when my daughter reached 18, that was when the DEO ceased and I was advised the Case was closed.
In addition, I took your advice and I have also contacted my local MP and sent him all the information too. I received a response just last week advising me that he has contacted the Child Maintenance Service asking for a complete review of my case, taking into account all the documentation I sent. He has advised me that he will contact me again when he receives a response.
I will keep you posted.
Wow, that was fast work by your MP - nice one. Hopefully it will be sorted.
I don't know how helpful this is, but I found some of the articles about the CMS linked below entertaining and informative, although some of it is ranting which I'm not sure is that helpful.
https://voiceofthechild.org.uk/category/opinions/child-maintenance-service/
Hi Everyone
Just to give you an update on my case.....
Received a second letter from my local MP yesterday, advising me that the Child Maintenance Service has responded to him in the first instance stating, and I quote..
"I can confirm that Mr Smith owes arrears of £75.64 and I apologise that we previously advised him he owed £6421.17. The error was caused by his case not being fully closed down which meant it continued to charge after the closure date. I apologies for any inconvenience this has caused Mr Smith."
Apparently they are going to write to me to advise me separately giving a breakdown of my account.
As much as I am relieved, I am so annoyed that the CMS/CSA are making these errors and causing so much worry and concern to fathers and their families.
I am interested to see where the £75.64 is from if the case was closed down.
Thanks to everyone who posted messages, I really appreciated the advice and support.
Thanks for the update, it's good to know that they can be held to account and will reverse their wrong decision... I just wish it would happen more often!
That made me laugh in disbelief - slight difference between £75 and £6500!! Glad it's sorted now anyway - excellent result, and thanks for updating us. 🙂
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