Can You Change a CSA Decision?
There are numerous ways in which a decision of the CSA can be changed. In general decisions change because either the CSA is informed that there has been an error, or because there has been a material change subsequent to the decision being made by one of the parties involved. It is also the case, on occasion, that the CSA may decide to revisit decisions of its own accord. Before exploring these further, it is pertinent to look first at the types of decisions that cannot be changed.
Types of Decisions
‘Decisions’ of the CSA do not relate merely to maintenance calculations. Decisions are made in many other situations, for example, the way in which the CSA collects money, enforces orders against parents, and in the way in which it collects information about people in order to make decisions. Those decisions that are incapable of being challenged are generally related to the gathering of information, CSA staff conduct or over extensive and repeated requests for unnecessary information. In these cases, the proper redress is to make a complaint against the CSA or individual in question in the first instance. Your complaint should be made directly to the CSA. If this is handled in an unsatisfactory way, you may then take your complaint to the Independent Case Examiner.
Time Limits
In terms of decisions that can be changed, these vary and some have time limits attached to them. For example, challengeable decisions may be revised if they are challenged within one month, after which they will not, unless there are special circumstances. However decisions that do not meet the special circumstances requirement may be ‘superceded.’ However, it may also be possible to request a late application for revision.If a CSA decision is wrong for any reason it can be challenged within a month from the date at which you were informed of the decision. If successful the decision will be revised.
CSA Mistakes
In some cases, it may be that the CSA made a mistake in their decision-making. This may occur in three circumstances:
- they made an internal error
- they were mislead about a certain issue(s)
- there was information available to them that would have influenced their decision, but the CSA were not in possession of this information at the time the decision was made.
Complaints
If you wish to make a complaint to the CSA you should at first contact the person who has been dealing with your case, or their manager. You can either make the complaint over the phone or in writing, but either way it is vital to keep records of your correspondence in the event that you need to take it further.If you cannot resolve the matter in this way, approach the complaints resolution team at the same office. It is once this avenue has been exhausted that you can make a complaint to the Independent Case Examiner. In order to complain this way, your complaint must have reached this stage:
- a) you must have received a final reply from the Chief Executive of the CSA AND
- b) you received the reply less than six months ago.
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