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Hi, hope this is the right area for this kind of question - seeking advice......
I have just received a letter from the CSA claiming I have outstanding arrears of £378 from 1998 and they have now decided I need to payup.....
the history:
I separated from my wife in 1998 whilst serving in the Army. she returned to the UK with my 2 daughters and I was forced by the Army to take out a direct pay allotment of £420 per month direct to her bank account.
in 2001 I left the army and at that time she contacted the CSA and brought a claim against me. we discussed this and came to an amicable agreement - at that point she withdrew the CSA claim.
in 2008 my eldest daughter moved in with me at age 16. one year later my younger daughter moved in with me at age 14. At no pint since have I asked for or received a single penny towards my daughters upkeep from my ex.
its now 2015 and my eldest is 23 and my youngest has just turned 20.
As a result the CSA has closed the case and sent me a letter stating that I have outstanding arrears from 1998 to the sum of £378. they state "This means you will have to path the £378.41 that we previously had decided not to collect"
I contacted the CSA to discuss this as it predated my ex-wife's first claim by 3 years. I was told that "because she was on benefits they will have automatically been involved at that time without my knowledge"
Apparently they contacted my ex in 2000/2001 and confirmed that she had received money from me and therefore they removed £2700 from the outstanding arrears. (I had actually paid her over £10000 during that period!). They say that because they were involved there is an outstanding payment to the Secretary of State...
They claim to have sent me letters in 1999/2000 about the arrears but I never received them - possibly because I was serving my country in Bosnia at the time.....
Looking back at my records I have payslips still from 2000 but nothing before that. I have contacted the Army and they only retain details for 7 years so no hope there!
So my question is this... where do I go from here? do I just suck it up and pay them? I am told there is no appeal process and if I was to refuse payment they will set up a Deduction of earning Order with my current employer.
I can see that because the Army paid her directly from my PAY the CSA were not involved and therefore they didn't get their 'cut'. I just cannot believe that they are actually pursuing this now! It goes against the grain to pay them for nothing, but I don't know what else I can do...
I am surprised they are saying there is no appeal process, I'd certainly look into this - try this https://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance/complaints-and-appeals and also see you MP as soon as possible. It may be in the end that you do have to pay, but I'd certainly put up a fight before that happens.
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