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Child Support Agency

Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will provide a month by month breakdown of the benefit savings achieved by the Child Support Agency from April 1994 to the latest month available using the same headings as in his answer of 19 July 1995, Official Report, columns 501-502. [9961]

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.

21 Jan 1997 : Column: 568

Letter from A. Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 20 January 1997:

I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about Child Support Agency benefit savings.

In my reply to you of 12 June 1995, Official Report, col 492, I gave a breakdown of the benefit savings collected from 1 April 1994 up to 31 March 1995. I then wrote to you on 22 November 1995, Official Report, col 231-232, where I gave updated figures to 30 September 1995. In my further reply of 7 December 1995, Official Report, col 435-438, I provided a month by month breakdown of benefit savings for the period 1 April 1994 to 30 September 1995.

In preparing this response, it has become apparent that some figures previously quoted now require amendment. The attached tables show the revisions where necessary, covering the full period specified in your question. In 1995/95, Departmental statisticians examined benefit savings arising from reductions in Family Credit as a result of CSA assessments, and from the withdrawal of Income Support claims within four weeks of CSA action. They concluded that in each case the savings were being under counted. As a consequence, it has been necessary to make retrospective adjustments to the 1995/96 figures in those two categories.

You should also note that 1995/96 and 1996/97 figures for Family Credit and Housing Benefit are now available on a month by month basis. (This was not the case for 1994/95.)

I hope this is helpful.

21 Jan 1997 : Column: 567

Benefit savings--1 April 1994 to 31 March 1995

													(£ million)
Category of benefit savings	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December	January	February	March	Total 1994-95
Resulting from pre-CSA assessments:
Paid direct by absent parent to parent with care	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.59	10.23	10.42	9.84	10.41	10.16	8.76	9.11	119.52
Paid through Agency collection service to SoS	1.25	1.10	0.99	0.93	0.71	0.68	0.46	-0.011	0.34	0.51	0.031	0.006	6.996
Resulting from CSA assessments:
Paid direct by absent parent to parent with care	0.80	0.80	0.80	0.80	1.46	1.37	1.13	1.23	1.01	1.08	1.29	1.99	13.76
Paid through Agency collection service to SoS	1.78	1.82	2.36	3.08	3.43	3.75	3.53	4.30	3.88	4.52	5.85	9.65	47.95
Deductions from absent parent's IS payments	0.037	0.045	0.052	0.11	0.20	0.17	0.23	0.30	0.24	0.17	0.37	0.46	2.384
Income support claim cessations:
Maintenance exceeds rate of benefit	1.66	1.23	2.36	4.24	2.33	1.60	1.31	2.62	1.52	1.57	1.85	1.55	23.84
Income support claim withdrawn within four weeks of CSA action	18.80	19.92	21.14	14.90	15.40	16.45	17.26	17.13	11.15	13.81	15.10	18.47	199.53
Reductions in Family Credit or Disability Working Allwoance resulting from CSA assessment	Monthly breakdown not available							12.84
Housing Benefit/Council Tax reductions resulting from CSA assessments	Monthly breakdown not available						52.25
Total	34.327	34.915	37.702	34.06	34.12	34.25	34.34	35.409	28.55	31.82	33.251	41.236	479.07

21 Jan 1997 : Column: 567

Benefit savings--1 April 1995 to 31 March 1996

													£ million
Category of benefit savings	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December	January	February	March	Total 1995-96

21 Jan 1997 : Column: 569

Resulting from pre-CSA assessment:

Paid through Agency collection service to SoS	0.25	0.19	0.29	0.40	0.21	0.24	0.24	0.16	0.10	0.25	0.41	0.05	2.79
													Resulting from CSA and pre-CSA assessment:
Paid direct by absent parent to parent with care	10.67	11.19	10.83	11.08	11.19	10.74	10.78	10.31	10.21	10.20	9.49	10.09	126.78
													Resulting from CSA assessment:
Paid through Agency collection service to SoS	4.11	5.58	5.36	4.73	5.16	5.21	4.68	6.68	5.24	7.98	5.88	7.51	68.12
Deductions from absent parent's IS payments	0.45	0.87	0.73	0.68	0.72	0.73	-1.41	0.33	0.28	0.24	0.29	0.41	4.32
													Income Support claim cessations:
Maintenance exceeds rate of benefit	0.96	0.75	0.62	0.63	0.77	0.57	0.71	0.73	0.48	0.84	0.48	0.54	8.08
Income Support claim withdrawn within four weeks of CSA action	14.55	16.97	16.87	13.85	14.99	17.09	18.73	18.80	10.33	13.08	13.35	12.09	180.70
Reductions in Family Credit or Disability Working Allowance resulting from CSA assessments	3.00	3.07	3.36	2.88	2.80	3.39	3.78	3.82	2.15	3.73	3.80	4.18	39.96
Housing Benefit/Council Tax reductions resulting from CSA assessments	4.91	5.86	5.88	4.69	5.16	5.93	6.40	6.45	3.58	4.50	4.63	4.19	62.18
Total	38.90	44.48	43.94	38.94	41.00	43.90	43.91	47.28	32.37	40.82	38.33	39.06	492.93

21 Jan 1997 : Column: 569

Benefit savings--1 April 1996 to 30 November 1996 (£ million, rounded to two decimal points)

Category of benefit savings	April 1996	May 1996	June 1996	July 1996	August 1996	September 1996	October 1996	November 1996	1996-97 YTD

21 Jan 1997 : Column: 569

Resulting from pre-CSA assessments:
Paid through Agency collection service to SoS	0.07	0.07	0.07	0.04	0.07	0.05	0.07	0.05	0.48
Resulting from CSA and pre-CSA assessments:
Paid direct by absent parent to parent with care	9.65	10.00	9.65	9.94	9.98	9.43	9.35	8.87	76.87
Resulting from CSA assessments:
Paid through Agency collection service to SoS	7.12	7.57	7.33	8.09	7.23	7.80	8.88	7.88	61.89
Deductions from absent parent's I S payments	0.20	0.33	0.34	0.32	0.50	0.41	0.48	0.65	3.23
Income support claim cessations:
Maintenance exceeds rate of benefit	0.44	0.47	0.35	0.52	0.40	0.50	0.69	0.56	3.92
Income support claim withdrawn within four weeks of CSA action	10.35	13.01	11.70	12.33	12.75	13.56	16.94	14.37	105.00
Reductions in family credit or disability working allowance resulting from CSA assessments	4.00	4.16	3.52	3.78	3.32	4.33	5.09	4.58	32.80
Housing benefit/council tax reductions resulting from CSA assessments	3.61	4.46	4.02	4.17	4.35	4.71	5.80	4.93	36.04
Total	35.43	40.07	36.98	39.18	38.59	40.79	47.28	41.89	320.21

Due to rounding, in-month figures do not necessarily sum exactly to in-month or year-to-date totals.

21 Jan 1997 : Column: 571

Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will update the figures on revenue collected by the Child Support Agency in his answer of 29 November 1995, Official Report, columns 742-43, with reference to the latest available data and indicating for each month since 1995, (a) the amount of revenue demanded attributable to type A interim assessments and (b) the amount offsetting state funds. [9965]

Mr. Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from A. Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 20 January 1997:

I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about that element of child support maintenance that is paid via the Agency.

The available information on maintenance scheduled for payment and collected by the Agency is set out in the attached table, together with how much of the maintenance collected by the Agency each month has offset benefit spending.

In addition, between October 1995 and March 1996, £76.89 million arising from Agency assessments was paid directly between parents who do not use the Agency's collection service. The figure for the current financial year, to the end of November 1996, is £95.68 million.

Information on the amount of revenue attributable to Type 'A' interim maintenance assessments is not currently available.

I hope this is helpful.

Annex A: Maintenance scheduled for payment and collected by the agency

			£ million
	Assessed and scheduled for payments via Agency collection service	Paid via Agency collection service	Amount collected via Agency which offsets benefit spending
1995-96
October	39.63	11.81	4.67
November	39.30	11.86	6.68
December	45.55	11.22	5.24
January	38.41	14.89	7.98
February	38.21	13.69	5.88
March	33.93	14.85	7.51
Total, October 1995 to March 1996	235.03	78.32	37.96
1996-97
April	39.44	16.80	7.12
May	43.01	18.42	7.57
June	34.28	17.15	7.33
July	36.04	19.67	8.09
August	37.64	19.15	7.22
September	33.46	19.67	7.80
(18)October	24.49	21.50	8.88
November	20.52	21.67	7.88
Total, year to date 1996-97	268.88	(19)154.03	61.89

(18) From October 1996 the functionality of Child support computer system was enhanced; figures no longer include suspended maintenance amounts.

(19) Excludes amounts for unobligated, unassigned and future pay.

21 Jan 1997 : Column: 572

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