CHILD MAINTENANCE AND
ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION News Release issued by COI News Distribution
Service on 29 April 2009
Strong performance
numbers complete the CSA's Operational Improvement Plan as
clients praise caseworkers for professional service.
The Child Support Agency has collected or arranged more than £100
million in maintenance in a single month for the first time in its
history. The milestone, passed in March 2009, marks a fitting end
to the CSA's three-year improvement programme.
Better 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 as part of a two-stage
approach to reform. The second will see more fundamental change
with the 'future' maintenance scheme underpinned by new
IT systems and improved processes for assessment, collection and enforcement.
Since March 2005:
* Annual child maintenance payments have soared by 42%. £1,132m
was collected or arranged by the Agency in the year to March 2009.
* The recovery of maintenance arrears has more than doubled
annually to over £158m in 2008/9.
* An additional 218,000 children are benefiting from CSA-arranged
maintenance payments.
* The percentage of non-resident parents paying maintenance has
increased to 71% from 63% in 2005.
"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. Uncleared cases - which once stood at 225,000 -
have been reduced 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.
Steps to connect clients directly to experienced caseworkers have
also been paying dividends. Agency people are receiving
unsolicited praise from clients, many of whom were disappointed by
the CSA in the past.
According to ambulance driver and parent-with-care Claire
Anderson, "The CSA has got a lot better since the old days
and they are providing a much improved service now. "
The sentiment is echoed by mother-of- three Bridget Carroll who
says: "I was expecting the same old incompetence, failure to
return phone calls and so on, but I was very pleasantly surprised
to find my caseworker Mark Evens informative, calming, patient and understanding".
Speaking about his caseworker at CSA Dudley, father and
non-resident parent Michael Bowring adds; "If her appointment
is indicative of the sorts of people the CSA are now employing and
the changes they are making, then that can only be a very good
thing indeed." (Further details of these client comments are
included in Appendix A)
The Agency has also renewed its determination to make full use of
the powers available to it in order to deliver more money for more
children. In one recent case a record-breaking single payment of
£57,000 was delivered to a mother in Hertfordshire after the
Agency took a legal charge on a property owned by her former husband.
In all, the Agency has taken 120,970 new enforcement actions in
the past year, including 68,805 Deduction from Earnings Orders.
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.
Since its launch, Child Maintenance Options has already
facilitated private maintenance arrangements benefiting around
30,000 children. The Commission will continue to promote the
service to separating parents during the year to come.
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. In 2006, the Government announced plans to reform the child
maintenance system this included introducing a body at arms length
from the Government to provide an effective statutory child
maintenance service with improved assessment, collection and
enforcement powers. At the same time, the CSA launched an
Operational Improvement Plan to drive forward improvements to its services.
4. Full details of the latest Quarterly Summary of Statistics
from the CSA can be viewed at http://www.childmaintenance.org/
. The key statistics are included on the table in Appendix B below:
5. Child Maintenance Options is accessed by visiting http://www.cmoptions.org or
calling the free phone number 0800 9880988
Appendix A: CSA Client Testimonials
Extracts from conversations with CSA clients who contacted the
Agency to say 'thank you' for help provided by their caseworkers.
Shropshire-based father Michael Bowring's formerly poor
image of the CSA has been eclipsed by his dealings with his
caseworker at CSA Dudley, on whom he has lavished written and
verbal praise.
"Some people assume separated fathers are criminals until
proven otherwise, but Carole was different and so capable. If
her appointment is indicative of the sorts of people the CSA are
now employing and the changes they are making, then that can only
be a very good thing indeed."
Ambulance driver Claire Anderson of Worthing, Sussex, battled
long and hard to secure maintenance from her estranged partner and
father of her nine year old son, who used the classic ploy of
'job-hopping' to avoid CSA Deduction from Earnings Orders.
Anderson says of CSA case worker Paul Smith, said "He was
calm, sympathetic and patient even when I was crying and screaming
down the phone in sheer frustration. But most importantly, he was
persistent with my ex-partner's employers and he got the
money. The CSA has got a lot better since the old days and they
are providing a much improved service now."
Mother of three Bridget Carroll from Liverpool, has also noted
the change for the better: "I returned to the CSA in 2007
after our voluntary arrangement for maintenance broke down. I was
expecting the same old incompetence, failure to return phone calls
and so on, but I was very pleasantly surprised to find my
caseworker Mark Evens informative, calming, patient and
understanding. This latest experience with the CSA has been really
helpful for me in providing care for the children and receiving
money again. It's taken much of the stress from our lives in
terms of worrying about how we will pay bills and manage our
budget without going into unmanageable debt or selling the family
home, which was a distinct possibility a year ago."
Denise Gambles of Rotherham, mother of a teenage son, describes
her recent experiences of the CSA as 'totally positive'.
She approached the agency back in 2005, when she says it was
'a little bit hopeless'. She has since experienced a
vastly improved service which has resulted in her receiving a
substantial partial arrears payment from her former partner.
Gambles said "My caseworker Julie Bradford is absolutely
fantastic, always phoning me back and keeping me informed. Even if
it's just to say she hasn't got any further it's
good to be kept in the picture. But it's not just Julie who
has impressed me. When she's been away and others have taken
my calls, they have been so helpful, looking up my case notes and
telling me of any developments. I think the CSA must be training
staff really well now, but it's not just training - you can
train and train staff but unless they have the raw material, they
won't be any good. The CSA are obviously now attracting the
right people for the job. I have every confidence that they will
secure the rest of my arrears for me."
ENDS
APPENDIX B: Jan- March 09 CSA Performance Indicators
Client Service: Five-Year Performance Trends
Performance Measure
Application March OIP End Year End Year End Year March
processing 2005 StartsMarch 1 2 3 2009
Percentage Actual 2006 Actual OIPMarch OIPMarch OIPMarch Plan
of new 2007 2008 2009
scheme Actual Actual Actual
applications cleared within:
- 12 weeks 30% 53% 61% 77% 82% 80%
(Dec intake)
- 18 weeks 37% 61% 64% 83% 81% 85%
(Oct intake)
- 26 weeks 46% 67% 78% 88% 90% 90%
(Sep intake)
Uncleared 225,300 220,400 153,300 106,700 49,200 90,000
new scheme applications
Telephony 1 min 59 seconds 26 20 13 Less
Average 40 seconds seconds seconds than 30
answer time seconds seconds
from queue
Percentage 16% 9% 3% 2% 1% Less
of lost than 5%
calls in year
Maintenance Outcomes: Five Year Performance Trends
Performance Measure
Outcomes March OIP End Year End Year End Year March
2005 StartsMarch 1 2 3 2009 Plan
Actual 2006 Actual OIPMarch OIPMarch OIPMarch
2007 2008 2009
Actual Actual Actual
Children 809,800
benefiting
CSA 561,100 623,000 683,300 749,300 779,800 790,000
Options - - - - 30,000
Cases in 403,800 454,300 504,400 561,400 593,100 579,000
receipt of maintenance
Maintenance 63% 63% 65% 67% 71% 69%
Outcomes % of cases with a current liability receiving maintenance
Maintenance £798m £836m £898m £1,010m £1132m £1,080m
collected /arranged In rolling 12 month period
1.These figures are subject to small revisions to reflect
information which is received after the production of the previous QSS.
2. Children benefiting through options is based on the results of
an internal survey.