I went through all the ■■■ with the csa even though I was paying 350 a month they wanted more and threatened to take my hgv licence off me if I didn’t pay them,they then put an attachment to earnings order on me to get it,my advice to you is fill the forms in ASAP don’t take the attitude I took because they will only backdate any claim they have against you,your responsible up to the time they finish there education which could be into there 20s depending if the go to uni,mine left at 22 I didn’t begrudge paying for them in the hope they get a better job than driving trucks.
Just a quick message to the people who have advised you to go self employed to avoid paying,who do they think pays for your child?
Is it worth trying to hide for the next 18 od years dodging declaring your earnings risking being caught by the tax man only being able to work for company’s who will fiddle your earnings,never being able to get a loan or get your own place,move on mate don’t let it eat you up,i think it’s 20% of your earnings it’s worked out on for one child,at least if you try to get access it will work in your favour if your paying for your child and not expecting everyone else to pay,the CSA have sent you a demand for a stupid amount to get you to respond,they don’t know what you earn,the worst thing about any problem is burying your head in the sand that’s what screws your head up worrying about facts you don’t even know are true,face the problem with your head held high you will feel a lot better about yourself.
I agree with woodpecker 1. Hold your head high and face your problems - if not for yourself, for your child. There is plenty of help for monetary issues, the most important things to focus on are you and your offspring.
If you have a completely clear conscience then you have nothing to fear. You will need lots of inner strength and the hide of a rhino but you will regain your dignity and self esteem. You will also earn respect and admiration from those around you.
Dark days at the moment but as soon as YOU take control of the situation the light at the end of the tunnel will immediately start getting brighter.
YOU WILL COME THROUGH THIS! Probably poorer but definitely a better person.
Good luck to you 
SuffolkLad:
Self employed/limited company, pay yourself the bare minimum (I pay myself £208 a week). The CSA guidelines on the amount of maintenance, on those earnings is about £22 week. Dont know what their view is on expenses/dividends, or even if they’d need to be told, but if you go the self employed route, either as sole trader or limited company, get yourself a good accountant.
You obviously dont begrudge paying for your son, but your ex sounds like she is out for what she can get, and milking it, and a good accountant could put your figures in a more favourable way (for you) to minimise how much the greedy cow can take.
Ditto
Woodpecker1:
Just a quick message to the people who have advised you to go self employed to avoid paying,who do they think pays for your child?
In an environment where the government is using the excuse of ‘further education’ and calling 16 + year olds,let alone 20, ‘children’ to get out of its responsibilities in terms of unemployment benefit liabilities and which allows home wreckers and their new ‘partners’ to profit from the same scam,I wouldn’t blame any innocent party in that situation to do whatever it takes to reduce their exposure to such legalised theft. 
As it stands the government has effectively removed unemployment benefit/income support rights from young people.While adding the insult of financial ruin on innocent parties and profit for the guilty ones,to the injury of a broken home and family,if a woman decides to run off with someone else taking her family with her.At which point if it was me while agreeing with the principle of the mother gets custody by the same standard I’d regard that family as lost and no longer of any interest to me in all regards including financially.Harsh but fair.In which case it should be those blokes who regard married/spoken for women,especially those with a family,as fair game,who need to be taking a long look at themselves.Then if they still decide to go ahead with such home wrecking activeties then don’t expect the innocent party to have to pay for the results. 
I’m paying £35 a week for a child I never see.
I don’t have issue with that. Takes 2 to tango, so I am more than prepared to pay.
Infact in my case, it annoys her more that I pay. Because the more you pay in csa, the less they receive in benefits. So she is only about £15 a week better off. It also annoys her because she has always said that I would never pay. But the one thing that really ■■■■■■ her off is the fact I offered her £50 a week, and she refused. She decided to go through the CSA route and has ended up £15 a week better off.
In the next couple of years, CSA will be ending. They advise you come to a mutual acceptance of a weekly amount. If you can’t, then small claims court will take over.
Clunk:
Takes 2 to tango.
Assuming the type of relationship breakdown which results from the mother of a family running out on the father because she fancies someone else who hasn’t got the morals to tell her to get back to the father of her kids then no that contract has been broken big time.In which case her and the family which in general she rightly keeps custody of ( should ) become the new bloke’s responsibility as he’s the zb who wrecked the home,with her help.
Regarding access to your kid, you need to make sure your name is on the birth certificate.
That’ll give you parental responsibilty, which in the eyes of the legal sysytem is a big thing.
Just cos your paying CSA doesn’t give you a right to see your child, its ■■■■■■■■ but the law.
I went thru a similar situation but my end result was soon as my son turned 10 yrs old he decided he wanted to live with me and there was nothing the ex could do about it and then the CSA payments started to coming to me.
As i understand it, reading your original post, you’re not the biological father, is that right? if you’re not contact CSA and tell them this, they will make you pay for a DNA test (Not sure on the actual cost but i think my missus mentioned £200 ) if you’re not the father then as far as I know you don’t have to pay squat
Going through a same thing but from the other side, I’ve taken on my Missus kid from another guy, as far as I’m concerned she’s mine and I plan on adopting her from the age of 1 but in the mean time CSA is doing him for a bomb
hope you get it sorted dude, good luck
Your name on the birth certificate does not give a male parental responsibility you have had to be married too.