He never met boy and now DWP won’t give him refund

BY DANIEL SHERIDAN reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk A STUNNED dad has demanded a refund from the Child Support Agency (CSA) after paying out for a child for nearly a decade – only to be told the youngster is not his.

The 45-year-old paid a total of £1200 from his benefits to the CSA for almost 10 years for the son he had never met.

But when the man – who has asked not to named – finally rang to ask if he could meet the boy for the first time, he was told he was not the child’s father.

He claims he was told the case had been closed and payments were no longer being taken.

The man claims he was not offered an apology or given any explanation about how it had emerged he was not the child’s dad.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) say he is not entitled to a refund as he failed to challenge the demand for payments or request a paternity test at any time.

He said: “If I hadn’t rung them up in the first place, I’d still be none the wiser, because they didn’t have the decency to let me know.”

The man said he met the mother in Sheffield but ended their relationship after several months. He says she never contacted him to say she was having his child and he had no way to get in touch with her once the CSA contacted him.

The CSA have been replaced by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) but they still handle historic cases.

The DWP said the CMS will try to sort out disagreements if they occur and once payments are agreed, they are reviewed each year and can be altered if circumstances change.