Child Maintenance Service (CSA) Complaints • 0844 409 7798 • Phone Number

CSA (becoming the Child Maintenance Service)

The CSA (Child Support Agency) can be contacted by telephone 0844 409 7798 if you wish to complain about the service. The website contains information and guides and the procedures to follow if complaining.

The CSA (Child Support Agency) exists to ensure children from separated or divorced parents are receiving a level of financial assistance to meet their everyday living costs. It is currently being superseded by the Child Maintenance Service.

About

CSA (or the newer Child Maintenance Service) is for when you and your partner cannot agree on a suitable child maintenance financial settlement, or if one partner cannot be located to be assessed and pay towards their offspring according to their financial circumstances.

The CSA/Child Maintenance Service can undertake the following: try to locate the other parent if their whereabouts are not known, resolve disagreements regarding parentage of children, assess how much child maintenance should be paid, receive/pass on maintenance payments from one parent to the other, review payments periodically, and take action when due payments are not being made.

The CSA is no longer taking on new child support cases, and is closing down cases although this will take up to around 2018 for all cases to close. They are starting with those where no payments are involved (people who have been assessed as owing no money).

There is a £20 fee to use the new Child Maintenance Service, and for this they will provide one or more of the services outlined above except for collecting and paying child maintenance from one parent to the other. For this service, extra charges are payable.

The website currently covers both the CSA and the new Child Maintenance Service.

Making a complaint

Contact the CSA on 0844 409 7798 to make a complaint. Check first whether your claim is with the CSA or the newer Child Maintenance Service, and how old your claim is (does it pre-date 2003 for example).

There is a specific complaints procedure in place should you need to move beyond a telephone resolution, and this is described in the ‘complaints and appeals’ section of the website. There is a Complaints Resolution team, a Complaints Review Team if you are still not satisfied, and ultimately an Independent Case Examiner (ICE). You have to have followed each step before consulting the ICE.

Appeals to the CSA or Child Maintenance Service are possible as are independent tribunals. The website clearly details each step should you need to take it to this level.

Useful information

Website: www.gov.uk/child-maintenance

Complaints No: 0844 409 7798