Child Support Agency (Hansard, 12 January 1993)

§ Mr. Burt

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security has today issued guidelines for Child Support Agency staff which describe how he wishes section 6 of the Child Support Act 1991, which deals with applications by those receiving certain benefits and includes a requirement to co-operate in some circumstances, to be applied. Copies of the guidelines have been placed in the Library.

A new system of child maintenance is being introduced on 5 April, which takes the responsibility for determining maintenance away from the courts and puts it in the hands of a new Government body, the Child Support Agency. Both parents have a responsibility for the financial support of their children.

After 5 April, lone mothers who get income support, family credit or disability working allowance will be asked to give the name and other details of their child's father so that the Child Support Agency can arrange for him to pay maintenance for his child. The vast majority of lone mothers claiming income support already provide details of absent fathers although they are not yet required to do so by law. Some mothers, however, decide not to give details of the child's father. These mothers will be asked to supply information after 5 April, unless they or any children living with them would be at risk of harm or undue distress if they did so. Many mothers who receive child maintenance find that it gives them greater flexibility and more choice over the way they organise their lives, particularly as they continue to get maintenance if they go to work, and research shows that many mothers would welcome a return to work. Nevertheless, the Government recognise that in some cases a mother will have genuine fear that disclosing the name of the father to the Child Support Agency will result in a risk of harm or undue distress to her or her children. Mothers will be told, in these circumstances, that the Child Support Agency will act as a buffer between the parents so that, if they do not wish to do so, they will not have to see the child's father, and he will not be told where the mother and her children live. However, if the mother continues to believe, in spite of this, that there is a likelihood that there is a risk to her or the children, then the guidelines will be applied.

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The guidelines are not exhaustive and do not provide a definitive list of circumstances which would constitute good cause for not providing information about the absent parent. Rather, they provide guidance which staff will use to help make a decision. Each case will be considered on its merits. Child support staff will be very carefully trained, in a programme devised with the help of Relate, to enable them to deal with their clients sensitively. In general, the mother will have the right to be believed unless what she says is inherently contradictory or implausible. The guidelines also explain the rights of appeal to an independent tribunal.

The same rules for child maintenance will apply in cases where the parent with care of the child is the father, and it is the mother who will be contacted to pay maintenance. In one in 10 cases, the parent with care is the father.

In addition to placing the guidelines in the Library, further copies will be available from the Department.

I understand that the Department of Health and Social Services will shortly be issuing similar guidelines for the Northern Ireland Child Support Agency.