057f3528_1997_articles__s__not_necessarily_contiguous_
[Date & reference] 1997-11-27 The Manchester Evening News (early edition) CSA ADMITS £20,000 BLUNDER
A DEMAND for £20,000 child maintenance arrears sent to a Manchester man was all a mistake, officials admitted today. The Child Support Agency had refused to listen to horrified father-of-three David Allen when he insisted he knew nothing about two other mystery children. They said he would have to pay for a DNA test to prove his innocence. And the demand arrived just as Mr Allen and his wife were celebrating the birth of their own new baby. The CSA promised to send Mr Allen details of their compensation scheme and he said: "I'll be looking at what's on offer.'' The CSA said they had a system for tracing reluctant fathers, but declined to say how this mistake had been made. "We are sorry for any suffering or distress this had caused,'' they said. Mr Allen's ordeal began when he was told in a letter from the Belfast CSA office that he owed child maintenance payments to a Mandy Creary for children born in 1989 and 1993. Regular payments of £110.55 were due to start on November 14, it said - and he owed arrears of £20,167. Mr Allen said: "`I thought it was a joke at first or even some kind of elaborate fraud but I rang them up and they insisted that it was me. "I kept saying I'd never heard of the woman but they wouldn't accept they could be wrong. "They claimed they knew everything about me but wouldn't tell me anything. It has been a nightmare. We have been married for six years but we have been together for 17 years.'' Joanne, also 33, said: "I trust my husband and it is a good job I do. We were just getting over having the baby when this happened.'' Following Mr Allens case being taken up by his MP, the CSA have now agreed to pay him compensation for the distress caused to him and his family.
1997 articles
Extracts (not necessarily contiguous)