HC Deb 11 January 1995 vol 252 cc150-1W
Mr. Bayley

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give his Department's estimate of the number of absent parents who currently(a) are liable for assessment for paying maintenance for children under the Child Support Act 1991, (b) have been sent assessment forms by the Child Support Agency, (c) have had their assessment completed by the agency and (d) are regularly paying maintenance under the terms of the agency's assessment; and if he will estimate how long it will be until all those who are liable for assessment currently will have had their assessment completed.

Mr. Burt

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Miss Ann Chant, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Ann Chant to Mr. Hugh Bayley, dated 11 January 1995: I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the numbers of absent parents who are awaiting assessment, have been assessed and are paying regular maintenance. As at the end of October, the Agency had received just over 1,100,000 applications for child maintenance from parents with care (PWC), involving around 1.2 million Absent Parents (APs). Maintenance enquiry forms have been issued to 637,000 of these APs, and maintenance assessments have been completed in 380,000 cases. Some of these assessments will have resulted in maintenance being paid direct between the AP and the PWC. In 161,000 cases accounts have been set up for the collection of maintenance by the Agency. In 24,000 of these the AP had paid all the maintenance due, and in a further 44,000 cases the AP had partially paid it. You also asked how long it would be until all those liable for assessment had their assessment completed. Ministers have recently announced measures intended help the Agency increase the speed with which cases are processed and to reduce the number of cases awaiting assessment. At this stage it is not possible to say when the arrears will be cleared. However I can assure you that we are taking all possible steps to deal with the outstanding cases as quickly as possible whilst giving a high priority to improving accuracy, customer service and increasing the amount of maintenance arranged and collected. I hope this reply is helpful.

Mr. Bayley

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what are the criteria used by the Child Support Agency for deciding the order in which absent parents are assessed by the agency.

Mr. Burt

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Miss Ann Chant, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Ann Chant to Mr. Hugh Bayley, dated 11 January 1995: I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the Child Support Agency's take on strategy. Our criteria for taking on cases to assess child maintenance have been widely published. From April 1993 parents with care who apply for Income Support, Family Credit, or Disability Working Allowance are asked to authorise the CSA to seek maintenance on their behalf. Parents with care who make renewal claims for Family Credit or Disability Working Allowance will also usually be asked to give that authorisation. New cases involving both benefit and non-benefit clients are the Agency's first priority. This takes into account the fact that no new court orders for child maintenance are being made, and the likelihood that no maintenance will have been paid before in these cases. The Agency recently announced that it would temporarily defer taking on cases where parents with care have been on Income Support continuously since before April 1993 and have not already asked the Agency to take them on. However, the Agency will continue to give sympathetic consideration to those parents who do ask us to pursue their application. Once we take on cases we do not categorise any group of absent parents or parents with care as having a higher priority than any other. We simply work through all of them as soon as we can although the varying circumstances and complexities of individual cases mean that, inevitably, some will be concluded quicker than others. I hope this reply is helpful.