CHILD MAINTENANCE AND
ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION News Release issued by COI News Distribution
Service on 30 April 2009
The Child Support
Agency (CSA) has collected or arranged more than £92.5m in child
maintenance in London over the past twelve months (April 2008 -
March 2009) benefiting 65,000 children.
Annual child maintenance payments in London have soared by 47%
since March 2006.
The Agency also continues to recover unpaid maintenance for
children with almost £15.9m in arrears collected in London in the
last year. The figures mark a fitting end to the CSA's
three-year Operational Improvement Plan.
Improvements in client service, increased maintenance collections
and greater compliance by non-resident parents will enable further
progress as child maintenance continues to evolve. The Agency is
now the responsibility of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement
Commission, which is developing an entirely new maintenance scheme
to replace the two CSA schemes from 2011.
The Operational Improvement Plan was designed to address urgent
issues facing the maintenance system, pending the arrival of the
'new CSA'
"When we launched the Operational Improvement Plan in 2006,
we warned that there would be no quick fixes to serious issues
affecting the Agency's performance," said Child
Maintenance Commissioner and former CSA Chief Executive Stephen
Geraghty. "Thanks to the commitment shown by the
Agency's people, I believe that we have started delivering
results that instil greater confidence in the child maintenance
service. These are firm foundations on which the Child Maintenance
and Enforcement Commission will build as it develops the entirely
new maintenance scheme that will replace the CSA's schemes
from 2011."
Improving service to clients has been an area of especially
strong progress.
Nationally, uncleared cases - which once
stood at over 225,000 - have been slashed to less than 50,000 with
82% of new applications cleared within 12 weeks.
Calls to the CSA are now answered promptly with an average
waiting time of just 13 seconds.
The most important change of the past year has been the removal
of the compulsion on parents with care claiming benefits to use
the CSA. Supported by the Commission's new Child Maintenance
Options service, all separated parents are now free to choose the
maintenance arrangements that best suit their own circumstances.
This might be a private arrangement agreed between the parties,
or an enforceable case brought through the CSA. The change has
already reduced the flow of new cases onto the Agency's
books, enabling it to prioritise cases requiring active support.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The Child Maintenance & Enforcement Commission is a new
body responsible for the child maintenance system in Great
Britain. The Commission's role is to promote financial
responsibility for children; offer the Child Maintenance Options
information and support service; and to develop and direct the
statutory child maintenance service currently provided by the
Child Support Agency.
2. The Child Support Agency has not been 'replaced' by
the Commission. The Commission is developing an entirely new
statutory maintenance scheme that will replace the two schemes
currently provided by the CSA from 2011. The CSA name and
'brand' will remain in use until all of its cases have
been closed and parents have been invited to apply to the new
scheme. This process will take until 2013/14 to complete.
3. Full details of the latest Quarterly Summary of Statistics
from the CSA can be viewed at http://www.childmaintenance.org/
4. Child Maintenance Options is accessed by visiting http://www.cmoptions.org or
calling the free phone number 0800 9880988
Local Collections/ Collections/ Collections/ Collections/
Authority Arrangements Arrangements Arrangements Arrangements
Apr 05 -Mar Apr 06 -Mar Apr 07 - Apr 08 -
06 07 Mar08 Mar 09
LONDON GOR Inner London West
City of £500 £1,200 £9,000 £17,100 London
Camden £722,600 £938,000 £1,233,200 £1,457,200
Hammersmith £1,065,100 £1,212,500 £1,464,200 £1,529,900
and Fulham
Kensington £763,000 £752,300 £963,700 £1,140,700
and Chelsea
Wandsworth £1,519,100 £1,788,700 £2,097,100 £2,280,300
Westminster £691,300 £803,100 £995,900 £1,215,000
Inner London East
Hackney £1,266,900 £1,371,300 £1,593,400 £1,784,400
Haringey £1,186,200 £1,527,400 £1,660,600 £1,907,200
Islington £1,287,900 £1,695,100 £1,902,900 £2,203,000
Lambeth £1,778,200 £2,177,500 £2,796,600 £3,417,500
Lewisham £2,578,200 £2,908,300 £3,479,500 £4,819,300
Newham £1,552,900 £1,875,400 £2,390,100 £2,534,200
Southwark £2,586,200 £2,760,700 £3,392,500 £4,490,800
Tower £1,283,600 £1,417,600 £1,503,300 £1,683,700
Hamlets Outer London - East and North East
Barking and £2,389,700 £2,498,000 £2,921,400 £3,226,900
Dagenham
Bexley £4,094,400 £4,091,200 £4,266,900 £5,017,900
Enfield £2,788,100 £3,418,400 £3,213,800 £3,634,100
Greenwich £2,782,600 £3,116,800 £3,523,000 £3,884,500
Havering £3,310,100 £3,575,500 £4,131,900 £4,424,200
Redbridge £2,349,000 £2,695,900 £2,704,500 £2,914,300
Waltham £1,976,500 £2,146,400 £2,503,600 £2,860,800
Forest Outer London - West and North
Barnet £1,942,100 £2,131,300 £2,275,400 £2,676,700
Brent £1,718,500 £1,747,100 £1,958,400 £2,151,000
Ealing £1,879,600 £2,486,500 £2,867,900 £3,419,500
Harrow £1,397,700 £1,763,800 £1,841,200 £1,951,900
Hillingdon £2,547,800 £2,936,800 £3,258,100 £3,548,300
Hounslow £2,166,200 £2,729,400 £3,507,700 £3,647,200
Richmond £1,378,800 £1,469,200 £1,617,000 £1,869,900
upon Thames Outer London - South
Bromley £2,630,500 £2,957,000 £3,298,800 £3,829,700
Croydon £4,556,500 £5,090,700 £5,567,700 £6,171,000
Kingston £930,200 £1,011,000 £1,288,600 £1,637,500
upon Thames
Merton £1,772,500 £2,077,200 £2,183,400 £2,515,500
Sutton £2,051,800 £2,291,100 £2,410,900 £2,652,800
Total £62,944,000 £71,462,000 £80,822,000 £92,514,000
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Local Children Arrears Arrears Arrears
Authority benefiting collected collected collected
as of Mar Apr 06 - Apr 07 - Apr 08 - Mar
09 Mar 07 Mar 08 09 LONDON GOR Inner
London West City of - £86,800 £22,700 £42,600
London Camden 1240 £103,200 £119,300 £155,200
Hammersmith 1,140 £106,800 £303,400 £339,700 and Fulham
Kensington 840 £67,000 £106,700 £144,800 and Chelsea
Wandsworth 1,780 £134,200 £329,100 £944,800
Westminster 1,210 £145,600 £167,700 £168,000 Inner
London East Hackney 1,630 £160,500 £238,400 £313,200
Haringey 1,860 £272,100 £377,900 £457,500
Islington 1,680 £99,200 £150,600 £209,700
Lambeth 2,600 £324,600 £507,100 £946,800
Lewisham 2,880 £325,400 £400,800 £914,000
Newham 2,280 £418,800 £516,600 £557,900
Southwark 2,920 £295,200 £570,000 £929,200
Tower 1,700 £131,100 £205,000 £264,800 Hamlets
Outer London - East and North East
Barking and 2,660 £291,900 £350,400 £503,800 Dagenham
Bexley 2,910 £288,100 £429,500 £650,200
Enfield 2,770 £298,900 £380,200 £547,700
Greenwich 2,660 £341,600 £432,200 £658,100
Havering 2,390 £280,400 £409,500 £566,000
Redbridge 2,040 £209,300 £166,800 £226,200
Waltham 2,160 £218,700 £363,400 £579,400 Forest
Outer London - West and North
Barnet 1,900 £309,200 £358,500 £402,400
Brent 1,740 £316,100 £305,900 £659,400
Ealing 2,460 £379,300 £741,900 £528,400
Harrow 1,300 £240,200 £247,100 £272,900
Hillingdon 2,300 £273,200 £504,300 £725,000
Hounslow 2,250 £227,200 £407,000 £476,600
Richmond 1,010 £161,200 £243,700 £377,400 upon Thames
Outer London - South
Bromley 2,470 £252,300 £308,600 £493,100
Croydon 4,080 £460,000 £649,000 £801,000
Kingston 890 £113,800 £135,400 £167,400 upon Thames
Merton 1,540 £137,900 £227,100 £206,400
Sutton 1,750 £255,600 £439,700 £645,700
Total 65,000 £7,725,400 £11,115,400 £15,875,300
++