CSA and the armed forces

[fiyah]

Ive been in a long battle trying to get payments off my ex husband for our son.

after 4 years of waiting for the CSA to get off their backsides they finally "found" my ex husband and i was sent a payment schedule.

He defaulted on several payments so i contacted the CSA to be told they had put an attatchment of earnings order in place so he would not miss anymore payments.

Everything went well for a year then i noticed payments were coming in dribs and drabs into my bank account, £50 here then 2 weeks later another £50, but never the full amount he was due to pay me.

In october this year i never received any payments whatsoever so i contacted the CSA, like they tell you to do in their leaflets when you dont receive a payment, to be told their systems were down and to call back in 10 mins.

I called back to be told the person dealing with my case was on a tea break and call call back in an hour! wish my tea breaks were that long (was 9.30am when i called so wasnt lunch)

Anyways managed to get thru to them and explained all the dates id received payments and when i hadnt and told them that i couldnt understand why the money wasnt coming thru in one payment when an attatchment of earnings order was in place, in the days of poll tax i had one put on my wages so i know how they work/worked, and i was told that as my husband was in the armed forces they cannot "insist" that the MoD abide by their request, although any other employer would be taken to court for not sticking to the deductions order.

Since October i have received 4 letters/ payment schedules from the CSA each letter is giving me new dates on when i am due money and according to the letters im not due any money until February of next year! so ive got to scrape by for 5 months with no money from my EX!

CSA dont know why he isnt going to be paying anything till next february which is helpful of them.

This morning i have received a revised payment schedule, he has bred again!, saying my new payment schedule starts on the 10 October 2007, again no money has been received and again no one knows at the CSA why i have conflicting payment dates.

Are the members of the armed forces immune from any kind of repercussions if they dont pay child maintenance?

it seems to me that they are and even someone from the CSA said the MoD is a law unto themselves.

Ok so the CSA isnt perfect but surely the same rules should apply to all employers.

Maybe all the errant fathers who dont pay for their children should join the armed forces cos it seems your immune and can get away with it

[petethemanc]

Hi there i served for fifteen years in the army, (left in april) the one way you can get your money back is to write direct to his C.O or regimental pay office RAO. Send proof of all correspondence between yourself and the CSA and your ex (agreements etc) the army do not like bad debt and the money will be taken direct from his wages. I have seen this work first hand so you should get the money owed.

[ScarletPimpernel]

Hi there i served for fifteen years in the army, (left in april) the one way you can get your money back is to write direct to his C.O or regimental pay office RAO. Send proof of all correspondence between yourself and the CSA and your ex (agreements etc) the army do not like bad debt and the money will be taken direct from his wages. I have seen this work first hand so you should get the money owed.

 

 

This is completely out of date and incorrect.

 

The official view is that since the Army is subject to the same Data Protection legislation as everyone else, debt is a private matter. There are specific military regulations covering the action to be taken by units receiving letters from creditors - and they don't include the unit acting as a debt-collector.

 

I don't doubt that there are still some units doing it the old-fashioned way, but that doesn't make it right.

 

In any case, CSA maintenance payments are dealt with by APC, not at unit level. There are special arrangements in place, (and they favour the CSA, not the soldier) and I suspect that the advice given by CSA in this case was wrong.

 

I'd suggest contacting the CSA again, or try the local branch of SSAFA.

[petethemanc]

It is NOT completely wrong and incorrect!! this is exactly what was happening in the armed forces very recently when i was in. Some guys were opting to leave the army as they claimed they could not afford to stay in as the APC and RAO were on them immediately taking monies form their wages.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Can't help I'm afraid but the CSA is the one thing the tory rabble did right, in theory anyway.

 

He's sounds like an absolute waste of a life to treat his son in this way and he sounds like ****.

 

Unfortunately, the majority of army personnel I have met, (I live next door to a huge base), are the worst kind of people one could ever wish to meet for various reasons.

 

Just horrible people in the most part.

[petethemanc]

Thats a bit unfair AL ive served my country well and we shouldnt all be tarred with the same brush. There are some very good people in the forces doing a VERY difficult job.

[Lula]

Fiyah, contact Livelylad via pm, he is a moderator and may be able to help, I have pm'd him the thread to this link

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Thats a bit unfair AL ive served my country well and we shouldnt all be tarred with the same brush. There are some very good people in the forces doing a VERY difficult job.

 

Of course, although I did actually state 'majority' which means not 'all.'

 

Most of us locals avoid them and won't go into the pubs they use so they end up fighting between themselves.

 

I've worked with ex-army and they just seem to have an attitude.

 

Not all though!

[ScarletPimpernel]

...

[Rooster-UK]

I know a lot of people who have an attitude problem..... and they're not all ex- service personel!

[livelylad]

Hi there i served for fifteen years in the army, (left in april) the one way you can get your money back is to write direct to his C.O or regimental pay office RAO. Send proof of all correspondence between yourself and the CSA and your ex (agreements etc) the army do not like bad debt and the money will be taken direct from his wages. I have seen this work first hand so you should get the money owed.

 

This above is incorrect.

 

This is completely out of date and incorrect.

 

The official view is that since the Army is subject to the same Data Protection legislation as everyone else, debt is a private matter. There are specific military regulations covering the action to be taken by units receiving letters from creditors - and they don't include the unit acting as a debt-collector.

 

I don't doubt that there are still some units doing it the old-fashioned way, but that doesn't make it right.

 

In any case, CSA maintenance payments are dealt with by APC, not at unit level. There are special arrangements in place, (and they favour the CSA, not the soldier) and I suspect that the advice given by CSA in this case was wrong.

 

I'd suggest contacting the CSA again, or try the local branch of SSAFA.

 

This above and below is the correct advice.

Contact the CSA with his regimental number his rank and his name. There is a liason offer who deals with the CSA, they will sort out any problems you have. As The Scarletpimpernel has said the CSA is in favour of the absent parent irrespective if they are male or female. The APC have no choice regarding the compulsary deductions from earnings. They have to comply its the law and as the MOD is a government department they do comply always and in my experience usually very quickly. I shall try and get the details of the person who deals with the CSA on the Army's behalf,they have helped me in the past.

[fiyah]

Hi thanks for your replies.

Sorry i havent been able to reply earlier but been busy with christmas and work.

after i made the post on here i made a complaint via CSA website and im still waiting for a reply.

Needless to say i still havent received any money off my Ex and yet again he didnt send his son anything for christmas not even a card.

I tried to make an appointment with my MP but hes on holiday for christmas and wont be back till the new year so looks like im gonna have to wait till then, but at least the replies ive received on here gives me some direction to go in on my own.

Thank you once again and i will keep you informed

[ScarletPimpernel]

Just for completeness, this is from the CSA's own webite at action-we-can-take

 

If the parent gets benefits, pension or a War Pension, we will take the money direct from their benefits or pension. If they are in Her Majesty's Armed Forces and have failed to make their payments, we will send a request to the Ministry of Defence to take the amount owed.

 

and at Enforcement powers

 

If you are in Her Majesty's Armed Forces and have failed to make your payments, we will send a request to the Ministry of Defence to take the amount owed from your wages.

 

JSP400 is the military publication that contains guidance on how units are to deal with data protection, incidentally.

[make them aktiv runners]

As The Scarletpimpernel has said the CSA is in favour of the absent parent irrespective if they are male or female.

 

So VERY true.

[fiyah]

i quoted the above regarding making a request to the MOD for payment but the CSA said they can only make a request they cant force them to make the payments as the MOD are a law unto themselves......any other employer they could force them to make the payments or take them to court for failure to comply to the deduction of earnings order.

[ScarletPimpernel]

i quoted the above regarding making a request to the MOD for payment but the CSA said they can only make a request they cant force them to make the payments as the MOD are a law unto themselves......any other employer they could force them to make the payments or take them to court for failure to comply to the deduction of earnings order.

 

This may be the case, but the MoD will act upon the request.

[fiyah]

well result at last!

phoned the CSA today as they hadnt replied to my complaint to be told that yes there is an attatchment of earnings order in place and the money comes from my EX on the 7th of every month. i have to allow upto 10 days for the money to show in my account.

a payment has gone into my account today (and ive checked) for £504 but the CSA still dont know if thats the amount i will receive each month or if thats just a one off payment.

im off shopping now for my son to buy him a pair of trainers seeing as his current pair are held together with superglue.

it may be short lived the relief i feel right now at actually getting some money because he might just stop paying again and i'll be back to square one next month, but at least my son can goto school looking decent and i can afford to treat him!

[ScarletPimpernel]

Excellent news. As the money is being taken straight from your ex's pay by the APC, he won't have any choice in the matter.

 

CSA still seem to be hopeless; they should be able to explain how the amount to be paid is calculated, whether it includes any arrears and so on. It is, perhaps, no wonder that so many errors are made when they can't get the basics right.

[make them aktiv runners]

I would phone again, it is amazing how frequently the CSA give a different story!

[livelylad]

You should have recieved a schedule of payments. This will inform you of the amount you are to recieve and how much of this is of arrears. I must admit though I would not hold out to much hope of the CSA getting it right. I recieved 3 shedules of payment in 2 days all for different amounts!

 

At least now you are getting what you are rightfully entitled to.