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Child Maintenance: Choice for all parents starts today

CHILD MAINTENANCE AND ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION News Release issued by COI News Distribution Service. 27 October 2008

More money for low income single parents as compulsion to use CSA ends.

Significant changes to Britain's child maintenance system come into effect from today. They extend choice to more parents and deliver more money to low income families.

All parents with day-to-day care of children are now free to choose the child maintenance arrangements which best suit their own circumstances. Previously, those claiming benefits - currently around 400,000 - have been required to use the statutory service provided by the Child Support Agency (CSA).

The change coincides with the doubling from £10 to £20 per week of the amount parents with day-to-day care can keep before their benefit entitlement is affected. It paves the way for a full 'disregard' in 2010 when all connection between the benefits system and child maintenance will end.

The introduction of the full maintenance disregard in April 2010, combined with existing child maintenance reforms, will help lift a further 100,000 children out of poverty.

A new, impartial, information and support service, 'Child Maintenance Options' will help parents to understand the options for arranging child maintenance and to decide for themselves the arrangements that best suit their circumstances.

The reforms mark the first steps taken towards an entirely new maintenance system by the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission. As well as providing information and support to parents, the Commission has a broad remit to promote the financial responsibility parents have for their children and deliver an efficient statutory maintenance service with effective enforcement.

Janet Paraskeva, Chair of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission said, "We need to put the interests of children first and disconnecting maintenance payments from the benefits system is an important step forward. From now on, parents who are able to make private arrangements will no longer be compelled to use the CSA."

"But whenever parents are unable to agree their own arrangements, or if those arrangements break down, the statutory service will still be available. Over the past three years, the efficiency of that service has improved significantly."

The Commission will have increased powers to take firm and effective enforcement action against those parents who fail to meet their responsibilities to their children. From 2009/10, to enable swifter enforcement the Commission will have the power to issue a liability order without the need to apply to the courts. Additional measures, also due to be introduced in 2009/2010, include the power to deduct child maintenance debt directly from bank accounts; apply to the courts for travel disqualification and curfews; and recover debt from the estate of a deceased non-resident parent.

Improvements in the CSA's performance in recent years provide the Commission with a stable foundation on which to build. In February 2006, an Operational Improvement Plan (OIP) was introduced for the Agency, and latest figures show that 768,000 children are now benefiting from over £1billion in maintenance payments - an extra 65,000 compared to the previous year and an increase of 207,000 since March 2005, before the OIP was launched.

The CSA will continue to operate the two current statutory maintenance schemes. From 2011, the Commission will introduce a new statutory maintenance scheme; maintenance calculations will be based on the gross, rather than net, income of the parent without day to day care.

ENDS

For further information, contact the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission Press Office on 0207 8293430 or email media@childmaintenance.gsi.gov.uk.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The Commission takes responsibility for the child maintenance system in Great Britain on 1 November 2008. While it develops and introduces a new child maintenance scheme, the Commission will be responsible for delivering and continuing to improve the two current CSA schemes. The new statutory maintenance scheme, with simpler, streamlined assessments, will be introduced from 2011. The two CSA schemes will close in 2013/14, once all clients have either moved to the new statutory scheme or made a private arrangement.

2. In February 2006, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced the Government's intention to reform the child maintenance system. Sir David Henshaw carried out a review of child maintenance and published his findings in July 2006.

3. The Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act, which received Royal Assent in June 2008, contains measures to reform the policy and delivery of child maintenance, introduce more choice for parents on benefits, simplify the way maintenance is calculated, and provide tougher enforcement powers to collect maintenance arrears. In July 2008, the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission was established as a non-departmental public body, operating at arm's length from the Department for Work and Pensions.

4. The Commission's primary objective is to maximise the number of effective child maintenance arrangements in place for children who live apart from one or both of their parents. These may be arranged privately or through the statutory scheme.

5. The Commission has three core functions:

* to promote the financial responsibility that parents have for their children;

* to provide information and support on the different child maintenance options available;

* to provide an efficient statutory child maintenance service, with effective enforcement.

6. The Child Maintenance Act repeals section 6 of the Child Support Act 1991. From 14 July 2008, parents with care on benefits are no longer compelled to use the statutory maintenance service operated by the CSA. They can choose the maintenance arrangement that best suits their circumstances, aided by Child Maintenance Options, the new information and support service. This choice is extended to all parents, including existing CSA clients, from 27 October 2008 and means that all parents with care on benefits will have the option to set up their own private arrangements for child maintenance payments if they choose.

7. From 27 October 2008, parents with day to day care on benefits can keep up to £20 of child maintenance paid before it affects their benefits. From April 2010, a full disregard will be introduced meaning that all parents with day to day care will be able to keep all child maintenance paid without it affecting their benefits. Child maintenance payments will be fully disregarded when calculating Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit claims.

8. Child Maintenance Options is available via 0800 988 0988 (freephone, although some service providers may charge for calls) or online at http://www.cmoptions.org