Total remodel of CSA to come

Interim measures announced as out-going council chief asked to design new system by the summer

News, 9 February 2006

Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton has told MPs that the Child Support Agency is to be completely overhauled.

In the meantime, private debt collectors will be used to recover the outstanding £3 billion owed by absentee parents, and the agency's enforcement powers will be strengthened.

Figures have revealed that the 12-year-old agency spent more on debt collection last year than it recovered from parents, with less than two-thirds of maintenance due being collected. It currently takes 470 days to process a new case.

Mr Hutton said he will be making £90 million available over the next three years to support the agency's short-term recovery, with an extra £30 million to contract out some of the debt recovery.

New system commissioned

The out-going Liverpool City Council chief executive Sir David Henshaw has been asked to put together proposals for a new child support system by the summer.

The interim measures will give CSA investigators powers similar to those of tax inspectors, meaning that they can obtain credit card and other confidential financial information to help trace absent parents.

However suggestions such as electronic tagging or community service orders for parents who refuse to pay, which would require legislation, will not be pursued pending Sir David's proposals.

Mr Hutton said there was no simple solution for the CSA and that it was time for fundamental change. Stephen Geraghty, the CSA's current head, was asked to design a new system last year but his proposals were rejected by Mr Hutton as being too expensive.

Opposition spokesmen claimed the government was still failing to give a proper lead on the CSA, which the Prime Minister said was in need of urgent reform back in 1998.