Dad's child support woe

2:30pm Friday 22nd June 2007

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A FATHER was horrified to discover that hundreds of pounds of maintenance paid through the Child Support Agency had not been passed on to his ex-wife.

The first James Gray, 31, of Marsh Street, Warminster, knew that something was wrong when he received a recalculation assessment from the CSA on June 5 to say that he would have to pay £600 this month and a further £660 and £500 in July and August to make up arrears.

Desperate and on the brink of suicide, Mr Gray contacted his ex-wife Donna Johnson, the mother of their six-year-old son Tyler, to beg her to speak to the CSA about the charges.

Mr Gray, a car sales manager, said: "I called my ex-wife to beg her to lift the CSA off me, only to be told that she had not actually received a payment from me for eight months, but I have paid them every month for more than a year."

The recalculation assessment was carried out after Ms Johnson approached the CSA to say she had not received any money. It also said the amount he owed in maintenance for Tyler had changed following his promotion to sales manager, meaning he was asked to pay more than twice his normal monthly payments.

Mr Gray said: "They just don't know whether they are coming or going. It's horrendous. It is like they have condensed a year's worth of arrears into three months. I was really really distraught. I am not saying I don't want to pay maintenance; I just want something that I can afford."

A spokesman from the Department from Work and Pensions said: "We cannot discuss individual cases. The Child Support Agency deals with over one million cases a year and always seek to pursue maintenance."

Over the last couple of days Ms Johnson has received a large sum of money from the CSA, but Mr Gray is still unsure whether the payments are up to date.