Child Support Agency (Hansard, 14 March 2001)

§ Angela Eagle

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 13 March 2001: I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the Child Support Agency. You asked how many complaints were made against decisions of the Child Support Agency in 2000. Unfortunately, information of this type is not collected. However, Agency statistics show the three main causes of complaint are poor communication, error, and delay. The Agency received 21015 complaints in 2000. In that year complaints reduced by 28% against an increased caseload of 1.4%. The attached annex shows the amounts and breakdown of the types of complaints. Table 1 shows the amount of complaints received and table 2 shows the different types of complaint for the twelve-month period from April 1999 to March 2000. The Agency is taking steps to standardise the way that it deals with complaints. A series of recommendations to ensure complaints are dealt with correctly both before and after the implementation of Child Support Reform have been made and are now being taken forward in all Agency Business Units. I hope this is helpful.

Table 1: Number of customer received 1999–2000
Month	Number
April	1,990
May	1,768
June	1,879
July	1,831
August	1,690
September	1,959
October	1,747
November	1,746
December	1,358
January	1,271
February	1,844
March	1,932

605W

Table 2: Categorisation of customer complanints 1999–2000
Percentage
	Policy	Incorrect action	Delay/failure to take appropriate action	Complaints about staff	Disclosure of information	Good cause	Communication	Human Rights Act
September	18.8	15.9	42.0	4.9	2.3	0.6	15.6	n/a
October	15.3	16.5	45.1	5.0	0.7	0.2	17.2	n/a
November	13.5	18.8	43.8	6.1	1.1	0.3	16.4	n/a
December	13.9	21.3	42.1	6.6	1.1	0.2	14.8	n/a
January	14.1	17.1	45.8	5.4	1.0	0.4	16.2	n/a
February	12.5	17.9	43.6	6.8	1.4	0.2	17.6	n/a
March	15.3	17.8	42.5	6.2	1.7	0.2	16.4	n/a
Year to date
April	16.8	17.7	41.5	5.5	1.1	0.1	17.3	n/a
May	16.5	17.5	43.4	5.2	1.0	0.1	16.3	n/a
June	15.6	16.4	44.5	5.1	1.0	1.6	15.8	n/a
July	15.0	16.8	45.1	5.1	1.0	1.2	15.9	n/a
August	14.7	16.7	45.4	5.2	1.0	1.1	15.9	n/a
September	15.4	16.5	44.8	5.2	1.2	1.0	15.9	n/a
October	15.4	16.5	44.9	5.1	1.1	0.9	16.1	n/a
November	15.2	16.8	44.7	5.2	1.1	0.8	16.1	n/a
December	15.1	17.2	44.5	5.4	1.1	0.8	16.0	n/a
January	15.0	17.2	44.6	5.4	1.1	0.7	16.0	n/a
February	14.8	17.2	44.5	5.5	1.1	0.7	16.2	n/a
March	14.8	17.3	44.4	5.5	1.2	0.6	16.2	n/a