Court Summons from CSA for Liability Order

[FitzWilliam]

A friend of mine has recently received a court summons from the CSA. They are applying for a Liability Order against him for £360 child maintenance he owes.

 

He has to appear at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on 29 September, but this town is 65 miles away!

 

The letter is dated 9 September and goes:

 

‘Dear Mr [Name],

 

‘We wrote to you on 06/07/09 to advise you that we intended to apply to a Magistrates’ Court for a Liability Order against you for the child maintenance you have failed to pay for [his three sons named, born 1998 to 2003].

 

‘As you have not paid your debt in full, the Child Support Agency has applied to a Magistrates’ Court under section 33 of the Child Support Act 1991. Please find enclosed a Summons to attend a hearing on 29/09/2009 at Brighton Magistrates Court.

 

‘If you do not go to the court hearing then we will ask the Magistrates’ Court to proceed in your absence. …

 

‘The only way to stop these court proceedings starting is to call within the next seven days … and pay your debt in full – you can pay by credit and debit card over the telephone.

 

‘If you wish to discuss this matter before the date of the court hearing, please contact me … [etc].

 

‘Yours sincerely [etc]’.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The debt he owes is the knock-on effect of having his unemployment claim wrongfully sanctioned by his jobcentre last year (JSA later restored but Housing and Council Tax Benefit of about £315 still not restored). I discussed this more fully on another thread and have referred this new CSA problem from there:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/benefits-tax-credits-minimum/213211-victimisation-attempted-prosecution-jobcentre.html

 

Unfortunately, we only have till Wednesday 16 September to forestall these new court proceedings.

 

The best plan we can come up with is for me to pay the £360 by credit card on Monday to prevent the court action, and then to press to get the £315 HB and CTB restored so he can repay me. I’m pretty confident we can get this missing money because we have full proofs of the admission of error by the DWP in sanctioning my friend’s JSA.

 

So far as I can judge, going to court is a non-starter. He will still owe the debt and only get further problems. Also, it’s pretty stupid to go all the way to Brighton and waste money on travel.

 

I’d like to know more about these kinds of court action, and any advice on this, or any other ideas, would be welcome.

 

Unfortunately, I don’t know much about how the CSA operates. But these questions spring to mind:

 

Why are they taking court action over such a small sum as £360?

 

Why have they brought the court action in Brighton, 65 miles away, when there is a magistrates’ court in our own town?

 

Do the CSA always use these bully boy tactics?

[FitzWilliam]

We got this sorted out on the phone this afternoon much better than I expected. My friend and I both spoke to a helpful lady from the CSA.

 

He had thought that his CSA payments were being automatically deducted from his JSA, but the CSA were unable to claim them that way because the jobcentre said he already has a deduction being taken (for crisis loans) and their rules say that further deductions cannot therefore be taken.

 

Because of this the £360 arrears had built up over several months. My friend negotiated repayment starting from 7 October. Each fortnight he will deposit £17 at the bank (£10 in regular payment for child allowance and £7 for arrears). The CSA lady is sending him the deposit slips.

 

He does not have to go to court although the CSA will still go themselves to get their Liability Order. The letter he received certainly made things sound worse than they really were.

 

When I spoke to the CSA lady she answered my questions as follows:

 

Now that my friend has this agreement to repay will he have to go to court? No. Will my friend have to pay any court fees? No. Will the CSA have to pay any court fees? Yes, £70 for getting the Liability Order. Will he be charged interest on the arrears? No. Can he pay extra sometimes to clear the arrears quicker? Yes. What happens if he misses payments? It is likely the CSA will send bailiffs. Why was the summons to a court in Brighton, so far away? The CSA use only a small network of magistrates' courts, but there are circumstances in which cases can be moved to local courts.

 

I think the arrangement to repay the arrears is very fair. But the jobcentre rules about a limit on deductions are unhelpful. It would be easier for him to have the fortnightly £17 deducted automatically, rather than pay manually at the bank and risk forgetting and having the bailiffs come round.

 

My impression of the CSA bureaucracy is that it is overbearing and wasteful. Spending £70 on a Liability Order for meagre arrears of £360 seems excessive by proportion (about 20%), and the unmentioned extra costs in time and paperwork will certainly add a lot to to this figure.

 

The CSA lady was intelligent, informative and helpful. I do not know whether she is typical of CSA staff but I'm glad we got put through to her.

Edited September 16, 2009 by FitzWilliam
To correct minor factual error re deductions