Child Support Agency (Hansard, 25 March 1996)

§ Mr. Andrew Mitchell

I am able to report changes to two significant areas within the administration of the agency.

First, an independent complaints examiner will be recruited for the Child Support Agency later this year. The agency will be running a pilot scheme during the summer in order to inform the guidelines within which the examiner will operate. My intention is that a full independent complaints service will be in operation shortly after that.

Secondly, I am pleased to announce the following improvements to the Child Support Agency's compensation scheme, which are to take effect from 1 April 1996.

The rules under which the agency makes compensation payments for delays in issuing maintenance application forms—which are issued to the parent with care—and maintenance enquiry forms—which are issued to the absent parent—will be changed. Currently, compensation is considered only for delays exceeding three months, where the Child Support Agency is culpable for the delay, which leads to a loss of opportunity to receive child maintenance which would have otherwise been received. For claims where the full maintenance assessment is completed on or after 1 April 1996, however, payments will be made if the delay exceeds one month, unless the agency needs to make further inquiries before issuing a MEF, when the delay period will be two months.

Additionally, a new type of consolatory payment will be introduced. In cases were the Child Support Agency is culpable of sending a MEF to a person who is not the parent of the child, or children, in question, that person will be entitled to a consolatory payment of £100 to compensate for the upset and inconvenience caused by this error, This new payment will also be introduced on 1 April 1996.

These changes build on the existing compensation arrangements in the Child Support Agency which cover other losses incurred as a result of maladministration. They should ensure that compensation reaches those who do not receive an acceptable level of service in this area from the Child Support Agency. The changes to the scheme mean the Child Support Agency now has a compensation scheme which has been designed in the light of experience to meet the special circumstances of Child Support Agency responsibilities.

These improvements, together with the announcement I made last week, Official Report, column 165, on the introduction of interest payments on maintenance that the Child Support Agency has not transferred quickly enough, are a further significant step in securing the kind of service that Parliament intended.