Complaint against Bolton CSA

September 16, 2010

I had to apply for csa payments for my son in 2004 when his dad left me, he wasnt working and i never even got £5 a week which is the max amount to recieve when non resident parent is on benefits. He then got a job and i was told that it would take 12 weeks for them to sort out my claim! 12 Weeks later i still had nothing, i kept getting fobbed off by them and as i never had acces to a landline i was unable to keep using my mobile to ring them as too expensive. A few months (maybe more) passed and i rang them again apaarently my case had been closed!!

I was fuming wondering how this couldve happened i later found out that it was closed in error by the csa!!

So there was me waiting on a payment decision for about a year when actually no one was working on my case. Luckily (un lucky more like) they agreed to re open the case but it was clerical??? Again i had to wait weeks to hear anything, i rang and rang and they didnt know where non- resident parent was working/living, then i was told he was only to pay £9 per week a couple of years ago. Then last year i clocked my ex partner working in a bar near where i lived so i phoned the csa to let them know, they had to go through some sort of process again in order for me to get payments! Since last may i have only been recieving the £9 a week payments which is arrears and have had 4 or 5 differnt case workers, everytime i ring them they say the case is still with the quality team!

Why couldnt they do a deduction of earnings back then? Apparently my case comes out of quality today and over the years has been with them numerous times and also with the enforcemnet team, i am owed i belive around £6000 from my ex partner. Last week i found out my ex partner has now left the local pub, so yet again i will be waiting for the csa to pull their finger out, it seems he may be doing a bit of job hopping. But why does it take so long for the csa to sort it out even when they have employers details to contact them to do a deduction of earnings?

I am seriously considering seeking legal advice as its been 6 and a half years now and i have never recieved proper weekly payments. Someone at the Bolton csa needs to pull their finger out!!

Comments

  • Gill Baxter says:

    U need to make a written complaint ringing makes no difference. When u complain they have to reply to u within I think its 15 working days also u can claim for any money u feel u have lost out on due to the csa mishandling ur case. D.o.e cannot be attached to some1 who is self employed so a lot of absent parents go dwn this rd. Also get ur local mp involved.

  • Lee Hughes says:

    What is an ABSENT parent?

  • Gill Baxter says:

    One that isn't there!!

  • Garry Clarkson says:

    You. Guts need to sue through a class action. I be posed this before no one seems to want to act. It's illegal under European legislation.

  • Jason Wallace says:

    Oh boy! Ok, what do you want to achieve? To pay your ex wife the least you possibly can?If this is your plan you have taken the right steps so far – becoming self employed or a company director can help you – beware though, if you are taking dividends only and little or no pay, as far as the CSA are concerned this is still income – you pay tax on it.You ask about taxable and non taxable benefits. Some benefits, taken i'n kind are excluded from the CSA calculation as is a car allowance or company car. In addition, your company's payment into a pension fund for you also escapes the CSA. You won't get your sticky little mitts on the money until you're old though!You do need to run this by your accountant who will be able to advise you. You may also find yourself having long debates with the CSA to demonstrate the benefits.

  • Lee Hughes says:

    Absent is a derogatory term in respect to child maintenance and access and would imply they are 'absent'. In relation to contact or residency this may not be true and could in fact be forced upon them.

  • Meg67 says:

    Hi,
    “QUOTE”… Someone at the Bolton csa needs to pull their finger out!!….. NO they all need sacking!!!!!!
    These are the most incompotent of ALL the CSA workers…… Back in July 2008 AFTER the COURT had GRANTED a LO for £6,000 on my case some stupid half wit at Bolton decided to tell the ex that he “Didn’t owe this amount of money” after all…… This mean’t that yet another complete breakdown had to be done on the case before it could progress (debt WAS correct)……. The same bunch of half wits also constantly FAILED to pass on vital information to the Enforcement team thus preventing them from progressing my case……… It is now September 2010 and I am still not receiving any payments for regular maintenance nor for the arrears.
    I have now got my MP involved which I would suggest you also do…… Once you have done this you can then get “ICE” involved if the CSA fail to resolve the situation.
    BTW…. You mention that your case is due out of “Quality” Today… What exactly is this??……… It is NOT a word I would tend to use when talking about the CSA !!!!!

    Many thanks for reading

    Meg x x x

  • Jacqui Munro says:

    I too are having problems with Bolton office.. their klike the flippin gestapo! 4yrs and we are still waiting for regular payments, my ex partner gets it taken straight off his wages, but my daughters dont recvieve it!!.. I have spent nrly £100 on telephone calls , I ahve complained in Writing & STILL being FOBBED OFF! .. i have called the numbnuts every day for the last 22 days! and on Friday I was told by A so called SUPERVISOR that my case had been sent to complaints and that It would take 12 to 20 wks to be looked at..no payments wil be sent, but will still be taken from my ex's wages!!…I plan to see my solicitor on Tuesday! .so I wish you luck on getting your payments sorted ;0)

  • Charmaine Leworthy says:

    The Bolton Office is NOT a government office, it is a private call centre SUB CONTRACTED by the CSA to reduce their stats. This information was given to me by a 'face to face' officer at a meeting regarding my complaint about Boltons incompetence via my MP. He also stated that the CSA has trouble getting relevant information from this office so understood that we had no real chance!! I demanded my case be moved and is now being dealt with by Falkirk and, allbeit slowly, we are finally making some progress and Im being compensated!

  • well all i can say that i am a paying father to the csa in the north east,there has been a few problems but they have been corrected.
    so what iam trying to say if bolton makes that many mistakes,which i have read your senior managers and supervisor need sacking,i hope some one in the central government reads this because there his a lot single parents suffering because of your poor staffing to produce result.
    i am glad its not my daughter who will suffering hardship.
    come bolton get your act together!!!!!!!

  • Alison Hughes says:

    Oh my GOD! i thought i was the only one having all the problems mentioned.I have cried,shouted and in the end just given up with the csa in Bolton,Birkenhead,Cardiff you name it my case has been there.I have not recieved payments from my ex and when i have complained to csa by phone they have sent the money back to my ex saying he`s overpaid me,what a joke, after keeping it for months i`d like to know who gets the intrest on the money ?My child is 18 now so after years of hell i`m thinking is it worth it.? I don`t know what to do ,i`m now making a written compaint again,so heres wishing me luck.Nightmare

  • Paula Halsey says:

    Bolton is the Bermuda triangle of all CSA cases. Once your cases enters Bolton its gone for good

  • Diane Johnson says:

    Cannot believe how similar most of our cases are…like everyone here who has explained their problems….surely if we were all to get together as a group and complain to the MP responsible for the CSA …would that not have more influence and help all our cases ??. My problem was that the wrong payment reference was given to my ex partner by someone dealing with my new case file…and now his payments get stuck upon a secondary payment system at Bolton. Sounds crazy but this cannot be resolved…and believe it or not Bolton tells me it is “my responsibility to ring them each week to ” remind them ” to call for the payments to be removed off the secondary system (this is after an 8 day period of time) then and only then will the payments move over and take their time to pay into my bank account. This is costing me a fortune in calls. Have complained…but still I have had no answer – and its been nearly 8 weeks. This issue is just the tip of the iceberg on my case….like all of you who have your tales to tell….this has been going on for over 18 months….prior to that I was under Hastings and the old system. This new system…if run by an efficient body of qualified people…would be great but as it stands it is letting hundreds of children down….as well as those who have the responsibility to care for them.

  • Jimmy says:

    Bolton have no regard for the welfare of children and just want to cause grief to other people. I am a father who is being ripped off by Bolton. I work part-time with an agency and my weekly income keeps flactuating but they deduct a fixed amount each week and at times leave me with nothing to feed the 3 children in my household. They never communicated to me but just instructed my employees to start deducting money from my account. When I contacted another CSA office I was told the deductions should be for arrears because the child for whom have been paying maintenance is already 19 years old. Bolton office have refused to respond to my letters. I have rang them several times but the line is either constantly engaged or nobody answers the calls. I am really struggling to feed my kids because my wife does not work. What should I do? I cannot go and rob a bank. I am thinking of some drastic action if Bolton doesn’t deal with my case urgently. Someone, please help me.

  • Deb says:

    ‘Mirror Mirror on the wall, Who is the most Incompetent of them ALL’

    It replied…..

    ‘ Well thats plain to see & easy to Say’

    ‘ It has to be, the F*****G CSA’

    ‘ With the Bolton office & its delinquent team’

    ‘ Nothing ever gets done it so does seem’

    ‘ With a case not resolved & three years which will pass’

    ‘ and everyone you speak to, they are a horse’s ass’

    ‘ To add up a few figures, thats 12 weeks please’

    ‘ Will they do it by then, it will be such a squeeze’,

    ‘ 12 weeks do pass and you will call again’

    ‘ Your mind, your sanity you will feel it drain’

    ‘ Will your case ever make progress, I sense a whiff’

    ‘ When your allocated a case worker, who’s called ASIF’

    ‘ Give up all hope now, some may say’

    ‘ But I think if you do, you will make their day’

    ‘ So hold in there and state your case’

    ‘ They can only go at a snails pace’

    ‘ If this all sounds, a little unkind’

    ‘ It is nothing to how they will mess up your mind’

    ‘ The CSA, are they taking the Piss’

    ‘ Will your case ever make progress, just ask ASIF!’

  • Donna says:

    i am still waiting for my payment its been 17 months now i should be getting £15.00 and i havent got a penny,csa is a joke and a waste of time!! When you phone up you get told a different story every time!!

  • Brian Khan says:

    I have been trying for three years now to get my case sorted……..I have now got my local MP involved….so watch this space

    and to my xwife when you gonna start paying,you were fecking quick enough when the shoe was on the other foot….and even quicker when I got remarried you weren’t just happy with my wage…..

  • david says:

    again been on phone to csa still no futher forward .every time i phone them they say the computer down runing slow .its was not like that on the other foot thou .3 weeks and said they would take me to court if i did not pay even thou i was on 55.30.a week still waiting for even a phone call from them

  • tony says:

    vertex!!..the fantastic corporate saviour of the csa….completely and utterly not fit for purpose and the guy who is in charge there(gary at bolton could not care less about the person on the other end of the phone. all he is bothered about is..his blue chip shareholders. and profit…i asked him once after nearly two years and 155 phone calls…(and i quote) …a new team needs to be parachuted in at bolton right away to get rid of you and your team!!…he replied iam not happy with that tony i will have to consult my lawyers!! ha ha ha!! he thought i ment some kind of violence. its a corporate term you can read on any back page of any financial paper…this is the type of person your dealing with people(NOT A CLUE)

  • JEAN SWANTON says:

    hey all you people out there, why not be grown up and speak to each other arrange mones between you instead of moaning about this FREE service you are getting !!!!
    the tax payers money could come in use for hospitals etc

  • Louise Miller says:

    @ Jean Swanton. How dare you make a mockery of the comments on here. I would love nothing more than to arrange child maintenance directly with the father of my child. The trouble is, he doesn’t pay! I’ve been through the whole csa system for the last 8 years, I’m owed over £12k, written and complained, contacted MP and PM and still no further forward. Had a call from the robots at Bolton today to be told to wait another 6 MONTHS! !! So, Jean Swanton, lets hope you never find yourself in apposition where you have to use this ‘free’ service. Having worked all my life and paid my extortionate taxes to this money grabbing government, this service is certainly not free you berk!

  • Diane Johnson says:

    Message for Jean Swanton….

    I am astounded by your total ignorance in terms of the issue raised here. I can only assume.. YOU either work for the CSA Bolton or are married to someone who works for the CSA…or you are clearly so singled minded and blinkered that you are unable to appreciate the difficulties that may arise when partnerships breakdown. Your comment is completely worthless and petty and irrelevant….Child Support is a huge issue in the UK…ensuring both parents commit to raising the child financially. There will always be some parents who are unable to communicate…that’s life (that’s reality)!!!! The complaints discussed on here are regarding mal – administration by a government agency it’s irrelevant whether the service is free or not!!!! If I had the choice I would have preferred to have gone through the courts but the law does not allow this!!! You clearly have no idea about anything in terms of child support law so keep your comments to yourself!!!

  • Gem says:

    Absoloute joke the csa are. And btw Jean its not a free service the tax payer pays it and most of the parents using it do pay tax.

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