Me: NRP

I have recently been informed by the CSA that I am under BOTH systems (SC1 and 2!)... and that for some rules I am being held under SC1 and for others under CS2...

My maintenance assesment is under SC2, but when I asked about the days I have my children over, and what sort of amount of days they have to stay to get the maintenance payment down, I am suddenly under SC1...

I really don't understand how they can have me under two systems, but the CSA gives me no answers when I ask about this...

Welcome!

You cannot be on both systems! Demand to speak with a complaints resolution officer.....CRO.Take their name and direct phone number.Don't bother dealing with your case officer again.

Then book an appointment to see your MP armed with your letter of complaint and thereon continue all correspondence through them.

Where is your CSAC?

After you have spoken with the CRO let's see what is said and post back on here. ( Don't be fobbed off and CROs do exist.When the person who answers the phone asks for your details,please say you will give this info out to the CRO only )

As soon as you have answers come back to us so that we can guide you along.

EXCLUSIVE: DODGY DADS TO BE TAGGED
THE PROPOSALS Dads have to give up passports Made to do labouring in public Electronic tagging or curfews Barred from being a director
Exclusive By Bob Roberts, Deputy Political Editor, And Emily Nash

ABSENT dads are warned today they must pay for their children or be treated as "quasi-criminals".

Under tough new plans leaked to the Mirror those who duck out of child maintenance could be tagged, made to surrender their passports, forced to labour in public and be barred from running their own firms.

They may also be ordered to give information about their pay, employers and address to the Child Support Agency within weeks of any changes.

The shake-up is aimed at revamping the chaotic CSA whose repeated failures to collect maintenance have left it more than £1BILLION in arrears.

A senior Whitehall source said: "Reshaping the CSA is meaningless unless there are proper powers to chase non-payers.

"Removing someone's passport would not only stop them going abroad to avoid maintenance payments but also halt holidays and business travel.

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"Forcing non-payers to do unpaid work in the community would bring a real measure of public shame."

The measures, drawn up by the Department of Work and Pensions, are so far-ranging some civil servants have warned they are too severe without safeguards to protect rights.

But Lib Dem MP Steve Webb said even more dramatic moves were needed. He said last night: "We've heard it all before. If the administration of the system is a shambles, this sort of stuff is just fiddling around the edges and will not work.

"You can only patch up a worn tyre so many times. You reach a point when it has to be thrown out and you start again."

Twelve years after the CSA was set up about 70 per cent of absent fathers are still believed to be refusing to pay child maintenance, leaving single mums in poverty.

Documents seen by the Mirror state: "Ideas the DWP is exploring are removal of passports, disqualification from becoming a company director and restrictions on liberty such as unpaid work or electronically-monitored curfews as alternatives to prison.

"Also mentioned is a proposed new statutory requirement to provide information to the agency within a specified time."

But in a memorandum to Home Secretary Charles Clarke leading civil servants warn: "We should sound a cautionary note."

They say there should be a "proportionate" balance between the seriousness of offence and the penalty.

They also add there is a need to recognise that "criminal safeguards may be necessary where sanctions impose quasi-criminal penalties on the offender".

This would mean giving parents the right of appeal before they are punished as well as the chance to appear before special courts.

Single mum of two Jackie La Marca, of Leicester - who is owed £17,000 by her former partner after eight years - said of the crackdown: "I think it's a brilliant idea. Anything which introduces greater punishments has got to be good news.

"But they need something which quickens the system up as well. It takes months and years for anything to happen."

The radical plans come after growing frustration at the performance of the CSA which is plagued by low morale fuelled by a faulty computer system.

They were first drawn up by officials working under then Work and Pensions Secretary David Blunkett who branded the current system a "complete shambles".

Mr Blunkett, forced to resign last week, first considered giving £100 on the spot fines to fathers who do not pay maintenance.

But the Cabinet believed there was a need to go further. The latest measures will go before new W&P Secretary John Hutton. A detailed reform plan is set for next year.

At the moment the CSA can only deduct payments from wages or benefits. There are no fines, no criminal-type punishments and unlimited time to give the agency information about pay and employers.

The CSA has been dogged by controversy since it opened in 1993.

In August the Mirror reported that it made £6.8million in interest by hanging on to cash for single mums. It kept £6.2million, passing on just £670,000 to needy families since 1997. Last month it was revealed that one in three phone calls to the CSA goes unanswered, meaning more than a million desperate parents cannot get through to its hotline.

Blunders include claiming support for a five-month-old baby from a virgin. And Martin Garnett, of Blackpool, Lancs, was dumped by his fiancee after being pursued by the CSA to fund a child that was not his.

Appears this member of staff doesn't keep up with the machinations of her beloved agency.She doesn't have the time,so she tells me.

You don't think they would actually dare do these things to No1? He is above the Law.

The organisation would have a record of the history of each individual case. Length of time,amount of arrears involved and so forth.

The particular example quoted above is an example of a conscious decision between the NRP and NRPP to avoid the csa.

But beware,as I have been involved recently with an NRP who gave up work,put house in 2nd wife's name.She now is after getting him out of the house etc.This is only one example,I know.

You may think you are saving yourself a packet in avoiding child support this way in the short term,but you are basically stuffed or in for a long haul,if the 2nd wife decides to turn nasty.You never know what the future holds.

I wonder where the tagging will come into force with regard to the enforcement procedures. After charging orders perhaps.Just before jail?

But then they will only go after the easy cases...I'm not holding my breath. They are just talking twaddle as usual.

I have just sat and worked out what my partner would pay if he was single and maintenance just assessed on his wage not wage + tax credits for MY kids. At the moment it's £40 a week. If he was single it'd be £44 just an extra £4. So much for the 20% allowance for 2 kids as it's the tax credits that bump up his income. It's just so unfair. Something really should be done about this. To me it's saying her kid is more important than mine cos she gets 2 helpings CTC for hers and a chunk of ours.

Yes, the CS2 allowances for kids living with NRP do work out far smaller changes for many people than under CS1. Can be even smaller than £4 a week for 2 kids.

20% is just spin - the reality of the figures don't sound anything like so good.

As for the tax credits, one way round it is to stop him being the highest earner in the family.
Perhaps worth mentioning to your MP too about that. Won't solve the problem - MPs can't stop the CSA applying the law but will at least raise the issue that MP may not be aware of.
And they are the people who get to decide such things as whether an amendment is made to the child support act.

I think the tax credits point has been raised officially a while back - can't recall the actions or results given.