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Hi all hope you are all well and your family’s are safe with what’s going on in the world.
I am at my wits end with the cms I have been paying for my 2 lads for 11 years I have a 15 year old and a 18 year old, I live 200 miles away from them but have just spent a lovely 2 weeks with them 😁😎👍,my problem is that my ex wife has been claiming child benefit for my 18 year old and he left college a year ago, he has been working cash in hand with his uncle instead of attending college, because he starts his apprenticeship Tuesday 01.09.2021 with his uncle.
I was told that they did his 1st year as cash in hand so his mum could claim child benefit to keep my cms payments, I contacted the child benefit office at the start of the year and have raised 15 fraud cases with them, I have also opened 9 cases with the cms about my son no longer being in full time education.
the cms have taken my ex wife’s word for it and not checked with my son’s college that they ended his course because he did not attend, they also said he is in receipt of child benefit so you keep paying I did advise them about the fraud but they are not interested.
the child benefit office have failed to follow up on the 15 cases I have raised, I was told by one advisor that the child benefit office will not investigate claims under £3500, this is because it will cost them more to get it to court so if the claim of fraud is under £3500 it will not be investigated, so I have had to pay £565 for the last 12 months because they can’t do their job.
my son starts his apprenticeship tomorrow 01.09.2021 and I have advised the cms, they have told be my payments stay the same as he is still in receipt of child benefit and have said it’s up to me to prove he is working, I can’t do that as I live 200 miles away his old college will not give me any information, his mum had lied and his uncle owns the company he is working for, the cms is so one sided against the none registered parent it’s untrue.
why have we got a system that’s in place with no help towards the parent that pays, all the legal powers are towards the payees and the cms have no legal powers against the clement.
I asked the cms about my over payments and if they are proven and they said it will be up to me to go to small claims court to try and recover them from my ex wife if i can 😱
I have told them I hold them fully responsible for the over payments and that they are helping my ex wife commit fraud and I will go to the media, I am in the middle of writing things down to see if some one will run with the story about the child benefit and cms a day in the life of a dad.
I doubt I will get anywhere and I am sure I will be screwed for life paying till I am old, I feel sorry for my other half as she has to suffer with what’s going on and her children that are with us also.
all I can say is the child maintenance service have pushed me into a mind set that I want to end it because I can’t see the light anymore, I feel they have pushed me so far down the hole it’s getting so dark I can’t see anymore, I have no fight left in me and feel the only way this will stop is if I am not here anymore, they have no thoughts for the poor people that are getting abused by their own system as the Clements are playing the system to their advantage.
thanks for listening
Hi,
I understand your frustration. Instead of trying to end it all, how about going to your GP and getting a fit note for depression, leave your job and claim UC.. You other half can work in the meantime as her income doesn't get included in your payments.
Regards,
Hi
Unfortunately it is the way the system is designed. Have you considered filing a police report and seeing what they advise re benefit fraud? Although you need to consider whether it will impact your relationship with sons..
An alternative is to increase your pension payments to create a greater than 25% change and ultimately keep more of the money yourself (in a pension for the future) and reduce the amount that you are paying to her...
Lastly consider going through their appeals process and also writing to your MP, but making sure when writing to MP things are factual and detailed rather than emotional so that your MP has something to work with and pick up on your behalf..
All the best.
@Daddyup hi and thank for the reply, I have spoken to the cms today with regards to my son starting a paid apprenticeship at his uncles place, they have said that she has not notified them of any changes and she is still in receipt of child benefit so I will have to continue to pay, I have asked them to investigate this and they said it’s not upto them to investigate I have also informed the benefit agency again about the fraud and nothing, I have now logged an appeal with them but don’t hold out much luck.
I called the police none emergency help line as you advised and they said benefit fraud is not their department I would have to call the benefit fraud hotline, after I explained that I have several time I got we that pretty much all we can advise try the cib.
I am going to look at my pension and see what I can do to get the payments down, the bad thing about all this is I have paid for my children since 2010 with no missed payments or augment,I suppose I was asking to much for her to do the right thing when one of the children became of age it should stop,
I just can believe that the cms are not interested in making sure that what they are doing is fair, you would have thought they would make sure the facts where right before implementing what I would have to pay, but they only get their information from two sources the child benefit & the custodian, so when they are committing fraud to gain money through false pretence there is nothing that can be done.
I will try and contact my mp with regards to this but I feel even then it will be flogging a dead horse.
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