CSA and Child Benefit won't listen!

A question about : CSA and Child Benefit won't listen!

For the last 5 years I have followed this forum and seen the nightmare cases. Now unfortunately it's my turn!

My 19 year old son left his college course early and his mother did not tell CSA, CB or myself. I found out from his tutor in June that he had last attended in February. I called the CSA to inform them and they put my July and August payments into a suspended account whilst they investigated. My ex refused to answer the letter from CSA asking her to confirm this, and I have pursued the CSA for my money which according to CB guidelines should be backdated from the last day in February. As some of you will know it depends on Feb/May/August/November quarters with regards to when they stop CB payments.

However the CSA called me recently to say that CB say I am due no money back as they consider the course to have finished 31st August!

The mother has committed fraud, no doubt about it...falsely claiming CB, CSA and related tax credits. The college said they won't tell me about his attendance record even as his parent! All advice welcome from anyone who has been in my shoes.

Best answers:

• You need to find out why he wasn't going to college, if was ill for example he may have still been registered as a student, the tutor could have been expecting him to return
• No, there were no excuses...he just tired of the course and quit.
• What does your son say?
• The pwc in our case also committed fraud as she was claiming CB for a child that wasn't actually living at home, and previous to that we also had the same scenario, the child was supposedly doing A levels but dropped out, but the PWC had applied for an extension to the CB and as long as this was being paid we had to continue to pay CSA. For the sake of the relationship with the child in the end we decided just to suck it up and pay and were just grateful when the time came for the payments to end.
• 13Kent, I guess you are referring to the Connexions extension? My son is too old for this, and if he had stuck it out until May/June when the course had ended then we would have had none of this.
  I am owed over Ј1500 in overpaid CSA and I pay privately into my son's bank account as he is still job hunting.
• This is a strange and baffling post. First you say PWC is getting the money, then you say you are paying your son directly. If you don't think you should pay discuss it with your son
• I requested a C/B check back in October and within 4 days the CSA got back to me and informed me that my case closed as of 14th October 2011. which means that I have been over paying for 3 years, My ex did not bother informing the CSA that she no longer recieved C/B. The CSA has since contacted me and after trying to put me off have finally agreed to repay my over payments which add up to about Ј12000, as of yet they have not got back to me, I do know that I don't owe any arrears as they ran a check in August which showed no arrears, so you should be getting something back best of luck!!!
• Absolutely FBaby. I just send my son Ј60 a month til he finds a job. You are correct; I need to find out why CB are totally ignoring the fact that he last attended in February. I will call in personally at the college when I am next in the area (I live about 20 miles away from my son) and hopefully they will allow me to view the attendance record. Surely if I have evidence then the CB and CSA will take another look at my now 'closed' case.
• The DWP do not follow up on claims of fraud between parents. They told me this themselves.
• No I guess Ј60 per month isn't much if it is someone elses money. After all it is only Ј720 a year. How many people is that for though - not such small potatoes then is it!
• If he is still living at home and not working, I'll bet his Mother doesn't think Ј60 a month is enough because she will be making up the difference...........
• I have other children to support! If I give him too much money then he will have no incentive to find a job!
• I have paid Ј4000 in 12 months in Child Support, and have been paying since 2003. I have bought him a car, paid for his holidays, phone bill, saving plans, and lots of extras. So do not come on here with sarcastic answers. I just want what is legal and fair, and that includes maintenance which should not have been paid from March onwards. All good things come to an end, and the PWC do not want that day to come!
• And for good measure, my 'new' family have been around for 15 years, the 'old' one was a unit for 3 years.
• Your first child isn't your family for 3 years, he is your family FOREVER. I did have a little sympathy for you until those ridiculous statements.
• Are you a bitter ex? Sounds like it.....don't bother replying on my thread please.