A Child Support Agency Mistake

harissa

This morning, half-awake, I opened an official brown envelope which I thought was for my 10 year old son. Just like the correspondence from his school. To my bewilderment,the contents turned out to be a whole load of my son's father's confidential documents, personal information, tax details, payslips and NI number. Then I realised that the envelope was intended for my son's father as it had his name on, not my son's - BUT he has NEVER lived at this address as he has his own house.

I am actually quite mortified that this material has fallen into my hands and that the CSA assumes that my long-ex-partner lives with me (even though all his documentation clearly demonstrates he lives in a different town, etc).

It raises a number of issues and I'd like clarification of the Data Protection Act which I suspect has been breached.

Do the CSA have a reputation of deliberately or accidentally furnishing the wrong person with the other person's confidential info? Surely it could have dire consequences if, say, a violent or malicious ex-partner is the recipient of such a package. As it is, I am restraining myself from going through all my ex-partner's pay slips as it will only depress me. He's never had to pay maintenance as the CSA had calculated he didn't earn enough. Sneaky glimpse has revealed that he is surviving on considerably more than I'd expected and it is making me feel quite angry!

While I appreciate I shouldn't be looking at someone else's stuff, I shouldn't have been put in this position. Also, it has occured to me that it could be some sort of trap and that the CSA are assuming that he is actually living here and that I'm committing fraud. I'm not paranoid, as over the years I've had TWO visits from the benefits fraud office who have made the same assumption. One (male)official charmingly advised me that I was still allowed to have sex with my son's father :oO !!!

Posted on: January 2, 2009 - 1:22pm

ficurnow

Oh, Harissa - you have so much more self-restraint than me: I'd have done more than peeked!! :lol:

On a more serious note - the CSA have done more than breached their responsibilities under the Data Protection Act, they have driven a flipping great Sherman tank through them. It is a frankly appaling lapse on their part but after all the other government cock ups with our personal data, nothing like this ever surprises me any more. In your position I'd be inclined to contact the Data Protection Registrar direct - they are based in Wilmslow, Cheshire: don't have the address on me (it's at work!) but I think a Google search would find it easy enough. Fi x

Posted on: January 2, 2009 - 2:05pm

tigerlily

Hello harissa and happy new year.....

I bet he would be horrified if he knew you had all his stuff. if you don't get anywhere with the Data protection people then I think a call to your local MP is in order, this sort of thing needs to be publicised. It really stinks. What if you had asked for your details to be kept away from the other party say if they had been violent to you, and then you found your things sent to them?

When my friend was buying her ex husband out of their joint house, it had to go through the Court of Protection as he had some mental health issues. The court then had to notify all "interested" parties that his affairs were coming under the powers of the court. She was one of the ones notified!!!! and was sent all his bank balances etc. She had worked in a day job and an evening job to support the kids after he stopped paying maintenance as he "didn't have the money anymore" These bank blanaces showed he had more than 10 grand stashed away! So it is not just the CSA who make these errors.

If you think that he is earning more than you had thought, it might be worth pointing out to the CSA and seeing if they will reassess? I doubt they will be trying to trap you, in my personal opinion I bet it is just that they are mega-inefficient.

Good luck

TL x

Posted on: January 2, 2009 - 6:09pm

sparklinglime

I used to get letters from Inland Revenue for my ex when I first moved - they came to my new address. It took a few letters to them before they stopped contacting me. I've no idea why they sent them to me when ex never came to my new address.

If this happened to me...

I would be tempted to take it to my MP, as well as inform the Data Protection.

I'd also tell my ex what I'd received and explained that it had been opened in error (I tend to just open post here and don't always check the name as I'm the only adult) and that I knew his information. I know my ex would be mad ( :D ) because he'd been lying about income. It's the CSA's problem they've got it wrong, it wouldn't be my problem for opening it.

But then I know my ex is lying to the CSA, claiming to be working 12 hours when he works over 40 hours a week...

Best wishes in what ever you path you take with this one.

Posted on: January 7, 2009 - 3:39pm

harissa

My MP will definitely be following this up for me. He has amassed an alarming number of cases of government bureaucratic cock-ups in recent years. Worryingly in spite of all the protective legislation, things actually seem to be getting worse!

Posted on: January 9, 2009 - 6:00pm

harissa

This is now resolved, not that I am particularly reassured about it. The head of the CSA department phoned me to tell me that mine was the first complaint they'd ever received of that sort (really??) and that all they could do was apologise and say it wouldn't happen again.

A few weeks later I received an envelope to return the misdirected material back to the CSA so they could send it to my ex-partner. They also wrote to my MP to advise him I did not qualify for compensation as the letter was not addressed to me. COMPENSATION!!? What the hell is that about?

I am now dealing with yet another bureaucratic mess-up, this time concerning child tax credit and income support. I'll explain in a separate thread as I fear, once again, that I am not the only single parent having to deal with this situation.

When does it ever end??

Posted on: February 23, 2009 - 10:59am

Louise

Parenting specialist

Gosh harissa isn't that really amazing', yours is the first complaint they have received of this nature!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted on: February 23, 2009 - 12:40pm

harissa

I did remark to the chap how surprised I was! I also took him to task about the personal safety issues involved in the sending of documents to the wrong person. Many years ago I spent 3 days in a women's refuge, so I'm more than aware of the human cost of such mistakes. The man could only keep saying sorry.

I asked him how the mistake may have occurred and he reckons that the clerk simply typed one number of code wrong into the computer, which brought up address for the resident parent (me)and which the clerk then handwrote onto the envelope - even though all the documents in that envelope were for the non-resident parent! The code is a number. It struck me that it would make more sense if the code were a letter such as R for Resident and N for Non-resident as that would work the way most people's brains work!

Posted on: February 23, 2009 - 5:17pm