DEPARTMENT FOR WORK
AND PENSIONS News Release (HSC-031) issued by The Government News
Network on 25 July 2007
Introduction
The CSA is responsible for tracing non-resident Parents, working
out how much maintenance they should pay, and can collect and
enforce payments.
Main Findings
* In the quarter ending June 2007, on average, where maintenance
had been paid via the collection service, the Agency had collected
88% of the amount due. Performance in this area has been broadly
flat for the last year.
* In the year to June 2007, the Agency collected or arranged
£906M in child maintenance (regular and arrears), of which £97M
was arrears.
* At the end of the 2005/6 financial year (latest available), the
total amount of outstanding money owed by non resident parents to
parents with care stood at £3.5 billion, whilst this represented
an increase of £242 million on 2004/5, the average monthly rate of
increase has slowed from £23 million to £20 million.
* At the end of June 2007, the average new scheme maintenance
calculation was £23 per week (including zero calculations), and
that for old scheme assessments was £21.
* Between April 2007 and June 2007, the Agency had answered 98%
of telephone calls available to staff to answer, with an average
waiting time of 21 seconds, up from 97% answered with a waiting
time of 26 seconds in the year ending March 2007.
* In May 2007, there were 11,000 staff employed by the CSA
(measured on a full-time equivalent basis).
Latest statistical data available from http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/csa.asp
Notes to Editors
Launched on 5 April 1993, the Child Support Agency (CSA) is an
executive agency of the Department for Work and Pensions, set up
to implement the Child Support Act 1991 and operate the new child
maintenance system in Great Britain (there is a separate but
parallel agency for Northern Ireland). The CSA is responsible for
tracing Non-resident Parents, working out how much maintenance
they should pay, and can collect and enforce payments
Prior to 3 March 2003, CSA stored information on the Child
Support Computer System (CSCS). Since the introduction of the new
computer system (CS2) on that date, all new Child Support
applications have been assessed under a new scheme on the new system
Methodological changes
Last quarter we stated that we had become aware that some cases
currently classed as "Assessed not charging" in Table 6
series may be more appropriately placed in other categories. We
have now corrected this issue which has resulted in increases in
maintenance outcomes and old scheme uncleared work.
Previously, a small number of cases that have been deleted from
CS2 had been included in the QSS. Cases are deleted from CS2 when
the case was generated in error e.g. duplicate cases or cases
removed for data protection purposes. The majority of these cases
(around 1,400) have now been removed although a very small number
of deleted records will still be included.
These changes have been implemented back to January 2006 and the
change in time series is indicated on those tables to which it
applies. The remainder of the time series will be revised in next
quarter's release.
Additional statistics
New statistics have been included in table 19.5 to show the
amount of arrears collected. This will allow fuller reporting of
the new CSA target for 2007/08: "collect or arrange £970
million in child maintenance (including both regular and arrears)
between 1st April 2007 and 31st March 2008; of which at least £120
million maintenance will be arrears".
Table 29 shows information on Changes of Circumstances dealt with
by the Agency. These are being released as provisional National
Statistics, subject to review. This information was requested in
the external National Statistics consultation (June 2006). The
table shows basic information on Changes of Circumstances: intake;
clearances and uncleared work.
The new tables can be found with the usual tables at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/csa.asp
Known Issues
Since June 2006, CSA have been contracting out the collection of
some arrears to debt collection agencies. For cases managed by
debt collection agencies, the agreement to pay back the
maintenance arrears and in particular the amount to be paid each
month is between the debt collection agency and the non-resident
parent. As such, the CSA no longer has the information to assess
cash compliance for all cases. Whilst the total amount of debt is
known, the monthly amount that debt collection agency non-resident
parents are expected to pay is unknown. This affects the
measurement of cash compliance (table 11) and a number of other
tables (to a smaller degree). As a result, the arrears portion of
the cash compliance series has been suspended. These tables carry
a footnote explaining the issue.
Clerical Cases
The figures include the majority of the cases that have been (or
are being) progressed as clerical cases. However, the tables
reflect the position at the point the case became clerical.
Some work was undertaken to investigate the clerical caseload and
it's interaction with CS2. If it were possible to account for
all clerical cases in their correct position in the Agency, it was
estimated that the number of cases at the pre-calculation stage
would be slightly less than shown.
The outcome of cases now being managed clerically is not
reflected in the Maintenance Outcomes and Compliance tables. The
record of the case remains on CS2 but receipts will not be
associated to the case on the system. Therefore, if the case was
charging at the time it was removed from CS2 the case will now
class as a negative outcome for the Agency. Outcomes for clerical
cases which have never been on CS2 are also not reflected.
It is not currently possible to fully integrate the clerical
caseload in these tables.
Coverage: Great Britain (unless otherwise stated)
Theme:
Social and Welfare
Issued by:
Information Directorate
Department for Work
and Pensions
Website: http://www.dwp.gov.uk
Statistician:
Stuart Grant
Information
Directorate
Department for Work and Pensions
BP
5201
Benton Park View
Benton Park
Road
Longbenton
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
NE98 1YX
Email: stuart.grant@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
Next Publication: 24 October 2007