ANGRY David Oliver says he may have to stop seeing his son to avoid what he claims are crippling financial demands from the Child Support Agency.>

CSA demands may stop dad seeing his son

Picture shows David Oliver

ANGRY David Oliver says he may have to stop seeing his son to avoid what he claims are crippling financial demands from the Child Support Agency.

Mr Oliver, a controller at Safeway, in High Wycombe, split up from his wife five years ago after only eight months of marriage.

He is now angry after the Child Support Agency (CSA) recently doubled his weekly payments to £83.41.

And he was shocked when he was sent a letter telling him he had been undercharged by £769.08 and now owed almost £1,500 in arrears.

Mr Oliver says that, although he and his new wife want to have children of their own, they are unable to because of the high payments he has to make to the CSA.

He said he has been to court 14 times over his right to see his son, whom he has seen just four times so far this year.

Now he has suggested a deal with his former wife that he can stop payments if he no longer sees his son.

Mr Oliver, who lives in Reading, said: "It is a mad situation because they have been assessing me all the time and taking the money straight from my salary but now there are these arrears.

"We have told my ex-wife that we will stop seeing him if I no longer need to pay the money so we can get on with our lives."

He added: "At the moment, we have to work seven days a week to live and I have worked seven days a week for the last five years, including holidays.

"It makes me feel terrible.

"I have missed out on seeing my son start to crawl, eat solid food, seeing him walk for the first time and his first words."

A spokesman for the CSA said: "Access and maintenance are two entirely different issues.

"If there are no benefits involved, you are free to withdraw your application to the CSA but if benefits are involved, it is not possible."

He added: "Our assessments are based on information provided by the parents.

"If the parent thinks that the amount is wrong because it's based on inaccurate information, they should let us know and we will always look at it again.

"It's never more than 30 per cent of net income after tax, National Insurance and after half of pension contributions.

"If there are arrears to recover, it can be as high as 40 per cent."

Mr Oliver's former wife, Mandy, said: "It is a personal family matter and I don't want to make any comment."

A spokesman for charity Families Need Fathers said: "The CSA has a draconian way of collaring people.

"They are not treating you as human.

"Our main agenda is about the best interests of our children but those interests cannot be met if one parent is totally shackled financially."

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