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Child Support Agency

Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what are the achieved levels of accuracy of the CSA for each region; [61449]

(2) for each region, what are the levels of outstanding debt in the CSA; and what percentage of that debt is classed as unrecoverable; [61448]

(3) for each region what is the current backlog of cases at the CSA; and how many of those have been outstanding for over one year; [61446]

(4) what percentage of debt balances calculated by the CSA contain errors, for each region; [61450]

(5) what is the average amount of time taken between the referral of a case for assessment by the CSA, the making of a maintenance assessment, and the first maintenance sum paid, for each region; [61452]

(6) when the current backlog of cases within the CSA is expected to be cleared, for each region; [61447]

(7) what is the current rate of non-compliance with payment of maintenance assessments by the CSA, for each region; [61445]

(8) what is the average time taken to transfer collected maintenance to parents with care, for each region. [61453]

Angela Eagle: We expect the Child Support Agency to provide a consistent, fair and efficient service to all its clients. We have set out proposals for radical reform in our Green Paper "Children First: a new approach to child support" (Cm 3992).

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mrs. Faith Boardman. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Faith Boardman to Mr. David Rendel, dated 30 November 1998:

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

I cannot provide precisely all the information that you have requested, but have provided as much as possible from the most recent information available.

The Agency has six front-line Business Units; each of these consists of a Child Support Agency Centre and associated Field Offices. Information has been provided for each Business Unit.

The Agency measures the accuracy of maintenance assessments against targets set by the Secretary of State. For 1997/98, the target was for the cash value of all maintenance assessments checked in the year to be correct to the last penny in at least 85% of cases. The Agency met this target scoring an accuracy rate of 86%.

In 1998/99, the Agency is measuring the accuracy more stringently by examining the last full assessment rather than just the last work carried out, which could have been a simplified review not requiring a full assessment. The revised methodology is closer to that used by the National Audit Office. The checks will be more reliable, measuring accuracy of assessments to the last penny in earlier years as well as more recent changes to assessments.

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However, this may result in a larger number of inaccurate assessments being identified in the short term because it will reflect earlier periods in which the accuracy of assessments was lower than it now is. As a result the accuracy target is lower for 1998/99, and requires the cash value of all assessments checked in the year to be correct in at least 75% of cases. The Agency will be looking to improve on the accuracy target in 1999/2000 and following years.

At 31 October 1998 the accuracy level (against this revised criteria) achieved by the Agency was 75%. The levels achieved by each Business Unit are shown in the attached table.

The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General to the House of Commons which was published as part of the Agency's Annual Report for 1997/98 noted that when examining non-resident parents' maintenance balances, National Audit Office staff had identified that some error had occurred at some point in the history of the account in 79% (85% in 1996/97) of the cases examined. In the large majority of cases these inaccuracies had a relatively small monetary effect, and need to be put in the context that on average cases require to be worked at about 3 times a year. This assessment was based on a sample of cases going back to the start of the Agency, but it is a matter of public record that during its first two years the Agency frequently made errors when assessing maintenance. We recognise the legacy of this problem and aim to tackle this by getting cases right first time and will review older cases as the opportunity arises. We estimate that by the end of 1998/99 we will have had the chance in our normal course of work and through periodic reviews to look at many of those individual accounts which stem from the start of the Agency.

The Agency has been concerned that the full maintenance debt reported previously was not a true reflection of the amount ever likely to be collected. Following a Debt Analysis Exercise we have therefore identified that part of the debt which is probably uncollectable and removed it to show a more realistic debt position. This change was introduced in the Agency's Annual Report and Accounts for 1997/98. This revised format is in response to the Committee of Public Accounts recommendation that the Agency " examine the scope for eliminating a significant amount of this debt, since it is unlikely ever to be collected ".

At 31 October 1998 the amount of child support full maintenance assessment debt was £480,340,622. This can be broken down further to £280,038,583 (58.3%) collectable debt, £186,852,502 (38.9%) possibly uncollectable debt and £13,449,537 (2.8%) deferred debt. Deferred debt is where the Agency has deferred the debt indefinitely, provided non-resident parents meet certain conditions on payment of regular maintenance and any remaining debt. Where appropriate the parent with care will be compensated for the loss of this money. Details for each Business Unit are shown in the attached table.

To further increase the flow of maintenance and to help non-resident parents pay the arrears that they owe, wherever possible the Agency makes every effort to re-schedule debts; re-scheduled debts are those where the Agency has negotiated a closely monitored agreement with the non-resident parent to pay arrears by instalments. The amount of debt re-scheduled included in the £480,340,622 at 31 October 1998 was £374,392,076.

The Agency does not collect information on average processing times for the clearance of maintenance assessments. The Agency measures the clearance of maintenance assessments against targets set by the Secretary of State. The age at clearance is measured from the date of the initial application. In Income Support cases where the Benefits Agency have conducted a pre-adjudication visit as part of the Closer Working arrangement, the date of initial application is the date of the visit.

The Agency does not currently measure the time between application and payment due to the several factors that have an influence on when a payment is due (the payment preferences of the parent with care and the non-resident parent, and the non-resident parent's pay frequency) and in turn actually made. The speed with which assessments can be cleared is constrained by the complexities

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of the current legislation which can require up to 104 separate pieces of information to be collected and verified before an assessment can be made, however the Agency is steadily reducing the time taken and is clearing the backlog of applications from the early years.

For 1997/98, the Secretary of State target required 525,000 maintenance applications to be cleared; 60 per cent. of new applications to be cleared within 26 weeks and on 31 March 1998 no more than 5 per cent. of all maintenance applications to be over 52 weeks old. The Agency met this target with 595,000 clearances (13 per cent. above target), 72 per cent. of new applications cleared within 26 weeks and reduced the maintenance assessment backlog (i.e. cases which are over 52 weeks old and have not yet been assessed) to less than 5 per cent of applications received.

The 1998/99 target is even more challenging; 65 per cent. of cases to be cleared within 22 weeks and on 31 March 1999 there to be no application outstanding over 52 weeks old. At 31 October 1998 the Agency was clearing 65 per cent of cases within 22 weeks. The levels achieved by each Business Unit are shown in the attached table.

At 31 March 1998 the Agency had approximately 306,900 maintenance assessment cases on hand; approximately 110,000 of these were over 52 weeks old. To achieve the target to have no applications outstanding over 52 weeks old at 31 March 1999 all these 306,900 cases need to be cleared during 1998/99. At 31 October 1998 108,695 of these cases are outstanding; it is not possible to state how many of these cases are currently outstanding over 52 weeks, however we are ahead of profile to achieve the target by March. Details for each Business Unit are shown in the attached table. From 1 April we expect to have no applications outstanding over 52 weeks old.

As the older cases are cleared some non resident parents will inevitably be assessed as owing arrears for periods dating back a number of years. As recently announced by Ministers, the temporary scheme limiting the collection of initial payment period arrears to six months as long as the non resident parent is fully compliant for a period of 12 months has recently been extended.

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Additionally, from Monday 30 November, the scheme will be extended to include cases where arrears have arisen due to delays in reviews carried out on change of circumstance and in the periodic reviews carried out every two years.

The Agency currently has a nil-compliance rate of 20.38%. Details of each Business Unit are shown in the attached table.

We do not collect average processing times to transfer collected maintenance to parents with care. We measure the speed of payment to parents with care against a Secretary of State Target. The Agency exceeded the 1997/98 target which required that 97% of payments be passed to the parent with care within ten working days of receipt from the non-resident parent. At 31 October 1998 97%. of payments made to the parent with care were made within 10 working days of receipt from the non-resident parent. Details for individual Business Units are included in the attached table.

1997/98 saw a significant improvement in the Agency's performance. Through the hard work and dedication of the Agency's staff, for the first time in our five year history we met or bettered all of our Secretary of State targets. Letters of complaint to the Agency and to MPs continued to fall as a percentage of our caseload. But we accepted the need to improve our all-round performance in line with concerns expressed by Parliamentary Committees and Stakeholder Groups, rather than just our performance against formal targets.

In the short term, we are looking at the ways that we can change the way we deliver our service to address customers immediate concerns; to this end we have reviewed the way that we handle complaints and we have increased resources for our Client Helplines and the National Enquiry Line, extended our hours of opening to cover 8.00am to 8.00pm Monday to Friday and 9.00am to 5.00pm on Saturdays and begun pilots to greatly improve and increase clients' opportunities to secure a face to face service. For the longer term, we are looking at the ways that we measure our performance to ensure that our focus is on providing a service that meets our clients' qualitative needs as well as achieving formal numerical targets.

I hope this is helpful.

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Child Support Agency--operational statistical information by Business Unit31 October 1998

	Midlands	South Eastern	Scotland and North East	South West	Wales and North West	Eastern
Accuracy(2)	73%	70%	76%	81%	77%	70%
Full maintenance assessment debt	£93,160,638	£55,398,436	£83,710,444	£90,149,318	£67,284,354	£90,637,432
--collectable	£54,312,652	£32,297,288	£48,803,189	£52,557,052	£39,226,778	£52,841,623
--possibly uncollectable	£36,239,488	£21,549,992	£32,563,363	£35,068,085	£26,173,614	£35,257,961
--deferred	£2,608,498	£1,551,156	£2,343,892	£2,524,181	£1,883,962	£2,537,848
Maintenance assessment clearances within 22 weeks	57%	62%	75%	61%	70%	64%
Cases with potential to be over 52 weeks old on 31 March 1999(3)	16,503	23,785	14,105	10,554	18,094	25,654
Non-compliance	21.75%	22.82%	17.55%	18.88%	18.13%	23.88%
Speed of payment to parent with care	98%	97%	98%	98%	98%	94%

(2) The Agency is measuring the accuracy more stringently by examining the last full assessment rather than just the last work carried out, which could have been a simplified review not requiring a full assessment--as a result the accuracy target is lower for 1998/99.

(3) The Agency forecast there will be no maintenance assessments over 52 weeks old by 31 March 1999 and are ahead of profile to achieve this.

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Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when his Department intends to publish the draft Bill on reform of the Child Support Agency. [61962]

Angela Eagle: The consultation period on the Green Paper finished on 30 November 1998. Final decisions on the shape of the reformed child support scheme and the associated legislative process will be announced in due course.

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