Field: CSA in meltdown
The Child Support Agency (CSA) is in a worse state now than it was when Labour came to power, the former social security minister has said.
In an open letter to the prime minister, Frank Field warned that the organisation – designed to look after the interests of children after a divorce – has gone from bad to worse since its inception 12 years ago.
Following his own analysis of official statistics, correspondence and previous annual reports, Mr Field said what emerged was a picture of “chaos” at the agency.
The amount of uncollected maintenance written off has now passed £1 billion, with seven out of ten parents expecting maintenance getting nothing or only a partial payment. This compares to 1997, when the same proportion received payment in full or in part.
Mr Field said the agency is now costing the taxpayer 54p in every £1 collected, and accused it of refusing to publish data on how many cases were cleared through its work, or how many were cleared because the cases closed before they could calculate maintenance.
“Organisations in meltdown typically bolt down the hatches to the outside world,” he wrote.
Health minister Lord Hunt admitted the agency has had “major problems”, but rejected claims it had got worse under Labour, and said the amount of money collected by the agency had in fact increased by £200 million.
“What matters is we raise as much money as possible, that is going up; that we get compliance from non-resident parents and, in fact, that is going up,” he told Today.
On the same programme, Mr Field agreed the government had carried out a “big review” of the CSA in 1998 but he said this had been totally inadequate, resulting only in some “tinkering” with the system.
Lord Hunt accepted the need for “root and branch change” but said a new management team had been appointed and should be allowed to carry out its work.
Mr Field suggested that one option to improve the collection of maintenance would be to have HM Customs and Revenue impose a tax levy on those concerned. Staff at the CSA would then follow up on people who refuse to pay.
But while Lord Hunt said this was “an option”, he said simply transferring the job would be sensible “on either side”.
“If you suddenly came along and said lock, stock and barrel we’re suddenly going to dismantle the CSA, you would still have to deal with these 1.4 million cases,” he said.
