A man who paid out around £30,000 to the Child Support Agency (CSA) for a child he has proved is not his will not get his money back despite a promise that he would.
The CSA wrote to him twice saying that if he could prove he was not the father of the girl then he would get a full refund.
But now the 49-year-old has been told that even though he has provided a DNA test showing that he is not the father, he will not get a penny back.
Steven Carter, 49, from Devon paid out around £50,000 to the Child Support Agency (CSA) for a child he has proved is not his will not get his money back despite a promise that he would
Mr Carter said that he will continue to fight to get back the money he has paid out on the girl who is now 22.
A Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) spokesman said today: “If a person continues to make child support payments for year after year, the assumption has to be that they accept parentage.
“When there is a dispute, then the onus is very much on the father to prompt action and have a paternity test, rather than pay and wait until the child is an adult.
“Reimbursements can only be considered after a paternity test is taken.”
A DWP source said a rebate would not be considered if the paternity test is taken after the child has become an adult and the case is closed.
A DNA swab is taken: A private DNA test which took place in February 2014 and confirmed that Steven Carter was not the father
Mr Carter’s lawyer Kate Baker said: “I will continue to represent my client and take his complaint to the next stage.”
Miss Baker said payments of £86.31p per week were deducted from his salary from June 2007 up until April 2014 when she got the payments stopped – a total of around £31,000.
She added that there was a level of miscommunication between 2003 and 2013 between her client and the CSA because he does not understand letters he receives due to his dyslexia, which he told the CSA about.
She said: “He has disputed parentage from the outset from 2003. He requested a DNA test by letter in April 2007.
“We got involved in July 2013 and asked for a breakdown but we did not get one.”
Miss Baker said her firm located the ‘child’ – now a young woman – and arranged a private DNA test which took place in February 2014 and confirmed that Steven Carter was not the father.
The lawyer wrote three letters to the CSA asking for a refund as well as a breakdown of how much he had paid but ‘these letters were ignored’.
Mr Carter, from Exeter, Devon, who runs a security company, suffers with dyslexia and because of this ‘would not a clue’ about the CSA procedures.
He said: “The CSA say they set up two DNA tests but that is an absolute lie. And they knew I was dyslexic. I told them to speak to me on the phone, don’t send me letters. But I did keep all the paperwork which I gave to my solicitor.”
And one CSA letter dated August 2013 from a general manager states: “As Mr Carter failed to attend the DNA the child support agency arranged for him, he will have to pay for a private DNA test.
“If this shows that he is not the parent of the child then he will be refunded back any money he has made.”
And a second letter written to his then MP, Tory Angela Browning, in September 2007, written by a complaints resolution officer, said: “Until the Agency receives a Declaration of Parentage confirming Mr Carter is not the father of the qualifying child, we will continue to request payments by deductions of earning order and maintain the case until such time as the case closes.
“Should Mr Carter obtain a Declaration of Parentage showing he is not the father, any payments he has made will be refunded to him in full.”
But in June 2014 his lawyer received another letter from the CSA which read: “As his DNA test proves he is not the father, a refund could be considered, but only for payments made against any charges for maintenance due from March 2014, when his test was taken, onwards.
“However as his case was closed from September 2009 (when the girl ended full time education) there are no ongoing maintenance charges against which payments were made and a refund is therefore not possible.
“Whilst I appreciate that Mr Carter will be disappointed, I trust I have explained the reason for our decision clearly.”
The letter also admitted that the CSA continued to take money from Mr Carter’s salary after 2009 ‘in order to recover the outstanding balance of arrears’.
The CSA admitted that since 2003 Mr Carter disputed he was the father of the girl – but he did not have the DNA test until 2014.
He said: “I had a one-night stand with the mother of this girl, on two occasions. She was with a boyfriend at the time.
“She obviously looked at me like a cash cow. It was a fling 23 years ago and the girl is now 22-years-old.
“I work in a nightclub and the CSA contacted my employers and took my money. They accepted her word with no proof at all.
“I always said she was not my child. It was basically a one night stand but I wore protection which I know is not 100% but from day one I knew she was not my child.
“Now the Government seem to be penny pinching off me. I work all the hours I can every day and have not had a holiday in nine years.”
Mr Carter, who has two grown up children who he has paid maintenance for, said he was shelling out £70 a week from his wages for the girl since 1995 – £35 a week plus another £35 a week in back pay.
He took his case to a lawyer when the CSA demanded he pay another £8,000 back pay for the girl which would take another five years to clear.
DNA strands enable scientists to tell with almost total certainty who is the father of a child. It can also tell who is not the father as was the case in Mr Carter’s case
He said over the years he has made hundreds of phone calls to the CSA who told him to prove he was not the father.
He said: “I could not afford a solicitor. But when I was told I had to pay another £8,000 back pay I got one because I had been hitting brick walls.
“They have said in black and white that if I can prove I am not the father they will refund all the money.
“I have had to borrow £20,000 from my father to keep going. Over the years the CSA has taken all my money. But I am not giving up on this. I don’t care what it costs.
“I don’t know if the girl knows who her real dad is. I feel sorry for her but I have had no contact with her mother.
“But whoever her biological father is has got away with it and not paid a penny.”
Local Devon Tory MP Hugo Swire got involved but the CSA told him they would not be giving a refund.
The case is now going to an Independent case examiner for a review.
Mr Carter paid around £1,000 for the DNA test and is paying his legal fees which have added to his financial burden.
Miss Baker said: “We have not been provided with any legislation from the CSA which justifies them withholding payment to our client.”
Mr Carter has never met the girl at the centre of the row and has not seen her mother.
He said: “I would not know the girl if she walked past me in the street.”
