DEPARTMENT FOR WORK
AND PENSIONS News Release (HSC-031) issued by The Government News
Network on 25 July 2007
National
Statistics First Release
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
* At the end of June 2007, the CSA caseload
stood at 1.4 million, a decrease of 3% at the same point in the
previous year.
* At the end of June 2007, there were 171,000 uncleared
applications across both schemes, a fall of 38% over the previous
twelve months. The volume of uncleared new scheme applications has
fallen by 18,000 since March 2007 and, at 138,000, is at its
lowest since January 2004. This represents a fall of 35% since
June 2006 ('uncleared' applications may be at any stage
in the application process, such as tracing the non-resident
parent - only a minority will be completely unprocessed. A new
scheme application is 'cleared' when a payment
arrangement is established, case closed etc. A comprehensive
definition of a clearance is provided within the QSS itself).
* Of all new scheme applications received in March 2007, 72% had
been cleared within 12 weeks, compared to 53% of applications
received in March 2006. Of those applications received in December
2006, 83% had been cleared within 6 months, up from 71% in
December 2005. However, it should be noted that 11% of all new
scheme applications received have yet to be cleared.
* The mean average processing time (from first contact with
non-resident parent or parent with care until clearance of the
application) for new scheme applications cleared in June 2007 was
232 days (33 weeks), with 50% cleared in 56 days (8 weeks) or
less. The mean average age for uncleared cases was 585 days (84 weeks).
* In the quarter ending June 2007, 62% of all cases in which
maintenance was due had either received maintenance via the CSA
collection service, or had a maintenance direct arrangement in
place. This figure has not changed in recent months and currently
equates to 486,000 cases.
* In the three months to June 2007, maintenance had been
collected or arranged by the Agency on behalf of 660,000 children.
* 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.
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