[Solved] I think I'm being cheated

Have the CMS never contacted you before starting to deduct wages?

There is so much inconsistency at the CMS. My ex tried a similar trick after I was short on payments a couple of times. This was because the amount changed 9 times in 2 years(due to her appeals and trickery) and I travelled for work and could not always keep up with the changes on time. I digress 🙂

But they wrote to me to tell me of the complaint and that they will move to Collect and Pay unless I sorted it out. I called them and they said they did not intend to move the arrangement as long as I paid the arrears - which I did.

I wonder if you are a victim of the current situation. My annual reassessment is 28 April, and they normally send a fact finding letter on the 5th. This year they did not and sent only the finalised amount on the 28th, without seeking prior input. So maybe they have bypassed the discussion and gone straight for action, to take your money.

If you get the right person when you call, you may find they can sort it and reverse. Thats your first battle, to get collect and pay changed to direct pay, your second battle is to get true equal care and no maintenance obligation - Good luck!

Since splitting up with my wife child care has been an issue....I have been fighting hard to get at least equal access. Towards the end of last year I thought I had won, we attended mediation and the agreement was made....the lawyer running mediation even told my ex she would get no maintenance as we cared for our child equally.
All good until I noticed that my salary was a lot lighter (£500) this month and I now know they plan to do this for the next 2 as well. The reason, my ex had reported me to the CMS for not paying her! CMS therefore have taken the payments direct from my salary and charged me a 20% penalty for not paying my ex directly.
I didn't know this was coming and have reported this back to the CMS but they don't seem to care much.....the ex gets the child benefit so she is the main carer I am told.....this is NOT what the lawyer said!!!
Back to the lawyers again, both my ex and I will end up loosing our homes over this with so much money going to lawyers, CMS really have no helped by effectively making the position untenable.

hi, so with all the lawyers involved, is there not some consent order? if there and it states equal 50/50 care, you would sent this to CMS and they can adjust or stop your maintenance payments.

There is indeed, The minutes from mediation were written and agreed by a family lawyer. When I called the CMS I was told they could only act if circumstances had changed....I said (unfortunately) they hadn't, instead they had been misinformed. So they set me up with this online access where I could write them a message to get the case re-evaluated.....thing is this takes 12 weeks so even if they agree with me they will have already taken £1.5k from my wages,,,,,and according to the woman on the phone (who was actually quite sympathetic) this can't be stopped and there is no method for clawback.
This agency seems to be taking my ex's word for everything and asking me to provide evidence to prove its wrong. It seems to be set up to benefit the mother before looking at the reality of the childs circumstances.

i've seen their message that they could take 12 weeks to get back to you. its usually much quicker. whenever i sent a message, they got back to me within 7 days. they are just very busy because of covid19 issues. send them a message and and upload the consent order.

Thanks Bill, have done just that. I've also got back in touch with the lawyer as this is surely in breach of the agreement we reached. If the CMS can't get my money back perhaps there are other legal channels.
I am genuinely appalled at how easy this service is to abuse. Fathers should pay for their kids, of course and if not then offices like the CMS are important. I have had to fight though to be with my boy and when my ex asked for money I gave it to her. As an office though I don't feel they are very accountable, as my son spends half his time with me, financially impeding me IS adversely effecting him. It is straining me financially, other dads could be ruined by this.
One piece of advice they gave me is to challenge who should get the child benefit as this is used to determine the 'main' parent (think this may be a thing in English law but not Scots). If I do that the benefit gets stopped while being reviewed.....how on Earth is that benefiting the child? Exactly what are these people there to do?

Have the CMS never contacted you before starting to deduct wages?

When I phoned the lady set me up with access to their online portal, I could access the letter from there....first time I'd seen it. She also claimed they tried to call....if they did they never left a message.

There is so much inconsistency at the CMS.

The first lady I spoke to said I needed to make a counter claim and gave me a number to call. The lady on that number said that was nonsense. Due to the current 'COVID19' situation I was unable to have my call escalated....was rather shocked at how little I could get done on the phone, after all, all my ex had to do was call them and tell them a lot of rubbish with no evidence at all and low and behold, she is getting a healthy lump of my salary.