Child Support Agency

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The Child Support Agency (or CSA) (Welsh: Asiantaeth Cynnal Plant) is a UK Government Executive Agency, part of the Department for Work and Pensions, launched on April 5, 1993. The CSA is responsible for implementing the 1991 Child Support Act and subsequent legislation.^[1]

1 Overview
2 Functions and involvement
3 Calculation and systems
4 Criticism
5 Outstanding Debt
6 Staff
7 Notes
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] Overview

Child Support, or Child Maintenance, is the contribution from a non-resident parent towards the financial cost of raising their child, paid to the person with whom the child lives, (usually the other parent), referred to as "person/parent with care". The level and conditions of payment can either be mutually agreed between the two parties, or, in case of disagreement, decided by legal means.

Prior to the launch of the CSA, child support disputes were handled by a court based system. This system did not have the power to trace absent parents, and was criticised as "arbitrary and unfair".^[2] The CSA was given the task of assessing payments to ensure consistency, with the powers to collect and distribute the maintenance payments itself.

[edit] Functions and involvement

The CSA's function is two-fold, encompassing calculation of how much child maintenance is due (based on current legislation and rules) and collection and transferral of the payment from the non-resident parent to the person with care.

For the CSA to become involved on a case, their services must be requested by one of the parents or the child, except cases in which the person with care is on benefits, whereby the CSA become automatically involved. (In July 2006, plans were outlined which would remove this automatic involvement.^[3]) The CSA cannot get involved, even upon request, if the non-resident parent lives abroad, if a written agreement made prior to April 5, 1993, is in place, or if a court order regarding maintenance was made.

[edit] Calculation and systems

A new method of child maintenance calculation came into effect on March 3, 2003. The previous method used a "complex formula of up to 108 pieces of information"^[4], by first calculating the total child maintenance required based on the children's ages, then calculating the non-resident parents income after various allowances were substracted, and finally working out what portion of the calculated maintenance was to be paid by the non-resident parent, based on their income.^[5]

Under the new method the basis for calculating maintenance has been simplified, with a fixed percentage of the non-resident parents net income being taken, from 15% for one child, 20% for two, and 25% for three or more. The maintenance was also reduced if the non-resident parent had children in their current family, reducing the payment by 15% if they had one, 20% if they had two, and 25% for three or more.^[6] Cases assessed using the previous method will remain that way until the new arrangements have been proven viable^[7]. Some special cases may be transferred to the new arrangements before to this, for example if the non-resident parent is also subject to a separate claim made since the new method was introduced. As of December 2005, 930,000 cases (63% of the total) remain under the old rules ^[8]

A new computer system, Child Support 2 (CS2) was introduced to replace the Child Support Computer System (CSCS), which was only designed to calculate the old method. However, to date, not all cases have been transferred across; of 68,000 cases under the "old rules" awaiting clearance, 31,000 are still on CSCS. Of those 31,000 cases, 29,000 have been suspended because the non-resident parent was unable to be found.^[8]

[edit] Criticism

The Independent Case Examiner’s Office was set up in 1997 as an independent body to deal with complaints about the CSA. Three recurring themes are mentioned in multiple annual reports^[9], namely delay (51% of complaints in 2004-2005), error (24% of complaints in 2004-2005) and No Action Taken (14% of complaints in 2004-2005). According to Department for Work and Pensions statistics^[8], the average length of time for a case to be cleared under the new scheme has increased from an average of 18 days in March 2003, to 287 in December 2005.

For the year April 2004 – May 2005, Department for Work and Pensions statistics^[8] show an accuracy rate of 75% (new scheme) and 78% (old scheme), a drop from the previous year's 82% and 86%. Interim reports for the current year (April 2005 – May 2006), show an improvement to 83% and 84%, respectively. Accuracy is defined as the "proportion of maintenance decisions (calculations or assessments) carried out in the reporting period that were checked and found to be accurate to the nearest penny."

Assessments based on the same financial criteria can give different results, depending on which rules the case is judged under. Non-resident parents who would pay less under the new rules currently cannot get reassessed, except in special circumstances. While the CSA plan to eventually move everyone to the same system, in the interim different people with the same current situation will pay different amounts, based solely on when the case was first assessed. One father, Mark Cook, whose monthly payments would drop from £250 to £150 if assessed under the new rules, is taking the CSA to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that this discrepancy amounts to discrimination under Article 14.^[10] However, official statistics show that the average weekly liability is more under the new scheme. For the years 2004-2005, the average new scheme liability varied from £24 to £26 per week, whereas the old scheme varied from £19 to £21.^[8]

In November 2004, the head of the CSA resigned amid widespread criticism of the CSA systems.^[11] Sir Archy Kirkwood, chairman of Work and Pensions Committee, described the situation as "a systemic, chronic failure of management right across the totality of the agency."^[12] In November 2005, Tony Blair admitted that the CSA is "not properly suited" to its job, amid reports that for every £1.85 that gets through to children, the CSA spend £1 on administration^[13]. Later figures showed that it costs the CSA £12m a year to run, more than the £8m it collects from absent parents.^[2]

Even prior to its opening, the CSA was subject to criticism, with MP David Tredinnick describing the CSA as a "sequel to 1984" due to concerns about "CSA Snooping".^[2] In February 2006, Work Secretary John Hutton stated that the CSA's performance was "unacceptable", and announced that it would be reviewed.^[14]

The situation eventually got so bad, that on Monday 24th July 2006, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions John Hutton MP, announced that the CSA was not working and as a result would be axed and replaced by a "smaller, more focused" body.^[15]

[edit] Outstanding Debt

Since the possible axing of the CSA, as this is not yet a 100% guaranteed event, the CSA has outsourced all of its outstanding debt to two private outsourced collection agencies.