The Reform of the CSA

The Child Support Agency (CSA) was established in 1993, as a direct result of the Child Support Act of 1991. Its aim was to provide a competent and effective means of collection information, assessing child support claims and distributing maintenance payments. However, due to the original restrictive legislation, and the vast amounts of administrative work involved in processing maintenance requests, the CSA soon ran into difficulties.

Reasons For Reform

The CSA did not provide sufficient incentives to parents with care, many of whom relied on income support to make ends meet. The 1995 Child Support Act allowed increased flexibility plus the added incentives of a child maintenance bonus. The government’s initial administrative strategy simply focused on a number of key points – non resident parent’s income, the number of qualifying children and any 2nd family children, and the amount of time the children spent in the care of the non resident parent.

The child support system has had many changes over recent years. These significant changes have enabled the Child Support Agency to improve the services provided, and the agency will continue to develop increased awareness of effective management and implementation.

CSA Implementations

The reforms aim to improve the CSA’s performance so that it can provide an effective method of assistance to families seeking vital maintenance support. The objectives include a faster response with less evidence to collect, improved accuracy, greater compliance and lower arrears.

The simplified system of maintenance payment calculations being based on a percentage rate of the non resident parent’s net income has eased the administrative assessment process. The introduction of penalties, for parents who attempt to delay the assessment process by refusing DNA tests or withholding information, has also improved the effectiveness of the welfare service.

Backlogs

The CSA constantly has to deal with a large backlog of child support claims. It also has to deal with delays in the collection of maintenance support, and the resulting backlash, and increasingly high administrative expenses.

At one time the CSA had a backlog of around 300,000 cases to resolve, with billions in uncollected maintenance payments to process. Although the Government admits the Child Support Agency has been struggling to deliver an effective service, almost from day one, it continues to tweak and adapt the system.

Making too many errors in maintenance assessment – an official report estimated this as being in 86% of cases – in the CSA’s early days have continued to attract negative publicity which does nothing to renew the public’s confidence in the way the child support system is supposed to work.

The CSA Today

Due to the complicated, and sensitive, service the Child Support Agency provides there will always be room for improvement in the delivery of maintenance support and the resources the agency has available for parents with care.

Providing support for lone parent families reduces child poverty but increases administrative costs along the way. Until the government is able to find a workable way of providing a cost-effective service a call for further changes and reforms will continue to be voiced.