- Father to lose flat after CSA demands £18k for upkeep of son, 16, he never knew he had
- Mail Online
- 23/02/2009 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: Rambo ( 7 articles in 2009 )
CSA: Paul Bourrows claims he faces losing his home to pay for a son he never knew he had
A civil servant faces losing his home after the Child Support Agency demanded £18,000 in backdated maintenance for a son he never knew he had.
Paul Bourrows claims he lost contact with the boy's mother, a former colleague with whom he had a two-month relationship in 1992, after he moved to Guernsey.
Mr Bourrows said the CSA initially asked him to come up with £66,000 in backdated payments for the 16-year-old, with the sum later reduced by a court to £18,800.
The 38-year-old, who was brought up in foster care, has now pledged to pay the full amount so his son does not go without. But the £511 monthly payments will leave him just £70 a week to live on.
Mr Bourrows, from Nottingham, said: 'If I knew I was a dad, there would be no arrears and I would have been able to see him.
'If I get repossessed I am totally finished. I will lose my job.'
A spokeswoman for the CSA said she could not discuss individual cases but confirmed the agency was dealing with Mr Bourrows.
She added: 'The CSA can only trace a non-resident parent using the most recent information we hold.
'We make every effort to track down non-resident parents in order to ensure child maintenance arrangements are in place to benefit their children.
'The agency takes the recovery of outstanding maintenance extremely seriously. When making any decisions on debt recovery, however, we will always consider the welfare of any child involved, the needs of the non-resident parent and any second family, and any representations of hardship from the non-resident parent.'
Comments can be viewed here.
Paul Bourrows claims he lost contact with the boy's mother, a former colleague with whom he had a two-month relationship in 1992, after he moved to Guernsey.
Mr Bourrows said the CSA initially asked him to come up with £66,000 in backdated payments for the 16-year-old, with the sum later reduced by a court to £18,800.
The 38-year-old, who was brought up in foster care, has now pledged to pay the full amount so his son does not go without. But the £511 monthly payments will leave him just £70 a week to live on.
Mr Bourrows, from Nottingham, said: 'If I knew I was a dad, there would be no arrears and I would have been able to see him.
'If I get repossessed I am totally finished. I will lose my job.'
A spokeswoman for the CSA said she could not discuss individual cases but confirmed the agency was dealing with Mr Bourrows.
She added: 'The CSA can only trace a non-resident parent using the most recent information we hold.
'We make every effort to track down non-resident parents in order to ensure child maintenance arrangements are in place to benefit their children.
'The agency takes the recovery of outstanding maintenance extremely seriously. When making any decisions on debt recovery, however, we will always consider the welfare of any child involved, the needs of the non-resident parent and any second family, and any representations of hardship from the non-resident parent.'
Comments can be viewed here.
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153403/Father-lose-flat-CSA-demands-18k-upkeep-son-16-knew-had.html
1Will not be visible to public.
2Receive notification of other comments posted for this article. To cease notification after having posted click here.
3To make a link clickable in the comments box enclose in link tags - ie.<link>Link</link>.
4To show an image enclose the image URL in tags - ie.<image>https://fredspage.com/box.jpg</image>. Note: image may be resized if too large
To further have your say, head to our forum Click Here
To contribute a news article Click Here
To view or contribute a Quote Click Here