Divorced mother loses out against CSA

A divorced mother of three has lost her battle against the Child Support Agency (CSA) to increase the amount of child maintenance she receives.

Denise Rowley, from Leeds, said that her former husband's financial situation had not been properly assessed. She claims that the £16 a week she was awarded in child support was not substantial, and that as a result she lost her home, her health has suffered, ands she and her children have suffered financially.

Her claim was supported by Resolution, the family law association, but the Court of Appeal ruled that the CSA had not been negligent in it's handling of the case, and that it did not owe Mrs Rowley a duty of care.

Commenting on the case, Kim Fellowes, head of Resolution's CSA committee, said: "The failings of the CSA are legendary and it is astonishing therefore that the government has thus far been silent on its plans to recompense those failed by it.

"For the last 14 years, thousands of children have been badly let down by the CSA. The government have insisted that enforcement of claims for maintenance be processed through the CSA and have utterly failed to address the real hardship and distress caused by its manifest failures."