House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 27 Jan 2009 (pt 0035)

27 Jan 2009 : Column 426W—continued

27 Jan 2009 : Column 427W

The Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008 will strengthen the range of enforcement and debt management powers available to the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission. The Commission will bring these powers into force as soon as practicable in order to build on the Agency's improvements and will continue to focus on collection of outstanding arrears.

I hope you find this answer helpful.

Children: Maintenance

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much and what proportion of outstanding child maintenance arrears were recovered in each month since May 1997. [242178]

Kitty Ussher: The administration of the child maintenance system is a matter for the Commissioner of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Stephen Geraghty:

In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner as the Child Support Agency is now the responsibility of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.

You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much and what proportion of outstanding child maintenance arrears were recovered in each month since May 1997. [242178]

This information is available in Table 19.5 of the September 2008 Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics (QSS). The latest version is available in the House of Commons library or online at the following link:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/child_support/csa_quarterly_sep08.asp.

The amount of arrears collected in each month from April 2003 to September 2008 is provided in the attached table. Levels of arrears are not recorded in the format you requested prior to the introduction of the current computer system (CS2) in 2003.

The information you requested on the proportion of outstanding child maintenance arrears recovered is not available. Since June 2006, the Child Support Agency has 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 a matter between the debt collection agency and the non-resident parent. As such, the Agency no longer has the information to assess cash compliance for all cases. Whilst the total amount of debt is known, the monthly amount of arrears the non-resident parent is expected to pay the debt collection agency is not.

In September 2008, the Agency collected or arranged £98.7 million in maintenance of which £14.6 million was arrears. This is the highest level of maintenance and arrears collected or arranged by the Agency in one month ever.

27 Jan 2009 : Column 428W

Child maintenance arrears collected each month from April 2003 to September 2008
	Arrears collected (£million)
April 2003	5.1
May 2003	5.3
June 2003	5.3
July 2003	5.6
August 2003	5.0
September 2003	5.4
October 2003	5.7
November 2003	4.9
December 2003	5.2
January 2004	5.6
February 2004	4.9
March 2004	5.8
April 2004	5.3
May 2004	5.1
June 2004	6.3
July 2004	5.6
August 2004	5.8
September 2004	5.4
October 2004	5.5
November 2004	6.0
December 2004	5.6
January 2005	5.6
February 2005	5.6
March 2005	6.3
April 2005	5.9
May 2005	6.5
June 2005	7.0
July 2005	7.5
August 2005	6.7
September 2005	6.2
October 2005	6.7
November 2005	7.2
December 2005	6.4
January 2006	6.9
February 2006	6.2
March 2006	7.5
April 2006	6.4
May 2006	7.9
June 2006	7.3
July 2006	7.4
August 2006	7.0
September 2006	6.7
October 2006	8.0
November 2006	7.8
December 2006	7.0
January 2007	7.9
February 2007	8.0
March 2007	9.2
April 2007	8.6
May 2007	8.9
June 2007	10.1
July 2007	10.3
August 2007	10.3
September 2007	9.8
October 2007	11.5
November 2007	10.8
December 2007	10.3
January 2008	12.2
February 2008	12.0
March 2008	11.6
April 2008	13.2
May 2008	12.0
June 2008	13.6
July 2008	14.6
August 2008	12.3
September 2008	14.6
Notes: 1. Amounts of maintenance collected for recent months are subject to minor revisions. 2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 0.1 million. 3. The amount of arrears received was previously being under counted due to the omission of up to £2 million worth of payments to the Agency. DWP have completed work to correct this. More detail can be found on the contents page.

27 Jan 2009 : Column 429W

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average amount of maintenance recovered by the Child Support Agency was from all cases (a) with maintenance outstanding and (b) in which maintenance has been recovered in each month since May 1997. [242193]

Letter from Stephen Geraghty:

You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average amount of maintenance recovered by the Child Support Agency was from all cases (a) with maintenance outstanding and (b) in which maintenance has been recovered in each month since May 1997. [242193]

The attached table sets out the average amount of maintenance arrears collected in all cases including those cases where payments have not been received. It also sets out the average amount of child maintenance arrears collected in those cases where a payment has been received. This information, which is only available for cases from March 2003, shows the significant increase in the amount of arrears collected by the Agency in the last three years.

The Agency's three year Operational Improvement Plan, launched in April 2006 focussed on improving compliance and enforcement, to increase the amount of money flowing to children. In the twelve months to September 2008, the Agency collected or arranged almost £1.1 billion in child maintenance, of which £149 million was arrears. This is an 84% increase in arrears collected compared to the year to March 2006.

I hope you find this answer helpful.

27 Jan 2009 : Column 430W

Average monthly arrears collected per case
£
Month	Average monthly arrears collected all cases^{( 1)}	Average monthly arrears collected per compliant case^{( 2)}
2003
March	26	45
April	24	43
May	25	45
June	25	45
July	27	47
August	24	44
September	26	47
October	27	49
November	24	43
December	25	46

2004
January	27	49
February	24	45
March	27	48
April	24	47
May	23	45
June	28	52
July	25,	47
August	25'	50
September	24	47
October	24	47
November	26	52
December	25	49

2005
January	25	49
February	25	49
March	28	53
April	26	50
May	29	56
June	31	59
July	33	65
August	30	58
September	27	55
October	29	58
November	32	62
December	28	56

2006
January	30	59
February	27	57
March	33	62
April	28	57
May	34	66
June	32	61
July	32	61
August	30	60
September	29	59
October	34	68
November	33	66
December	30	64

2007
January	34	69
February	34	71
March	39	77
April	36	76
May	37	76
June	42	86
July	43	84
August	42	83
September	41	84
October	48	94
November	45	88
December	43	88

2008
January	52	99
February	51	99
March	49	99
April	57	109
May	51	103
June	59	116
July	64	121
August	55	111
September	66	126
⁽¹⁾ Average monthly arrears per charging case calculated by dividing the monthly arrears collected each month by the number of cases that either made an arrears payment in the month or where arrears were requested in the month. ⁽²⁾ Average monthly arrears per compliant case calculated by dividing the monthly arrears collected each month by the number of cases that made an arrears payment in the month. Note: Figures rounded to nearest whole pound.

Next Section

Index

Home Page