HC Deb 23 October 2000 vol 355 c4W
Mr. Denis Murphy

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what his timetable is for the implementation of the proposed changes to the Child Support Agency; and what proposals he has to amend assessments made under the existing rules. [133988]

Angela Eagle

The child support reforms in the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 will be introduced for new cases by April 2002. Parents who have an existing maintenance assessment will be transferred to the new scheme at a later date when the new system is shown to be working well.

Maintenance calculations made under the new scheme will be based on a simple percentage of the non-resident parent's net income. This means that many parents with an existing child support assessment will see a change to their liability when they are transferred to the new scheme. The change to the new rate will be phased in over a period of up to five years to give families time to adjust.

The White Paper "A new contract for welfare: Children's Rights and Parents' Responsibilities" (CM 4349) sets out the scheme in more detail and contains tables showing what the basic liability will be at different levels of income.