§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) in how many cases children have had an increase in child support maintenance and how many have had a decrease, as a result of being assessed by the Child 811W Support Agency; and if he will provide a breakdown of these statistics; [37594]
(2) what is the proportion of Child Support Agency cases assessed at (a) zero to £2.35, (b) £2.36 to £4.99, (c) £5 to £9.99, (d) £10 to £19.99, (e) £20 to £29.99, (f) £30 to £39.99, (g) £40 to £49.99, (h) £50 to £59.99, (i) £60 to £69.99, (j) £70 to £79.99 and (k) £80 or more who were previously paying no maintenance, excluding those which are new separations. [37596]
§ Mr. Andrew MitchellThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 25 October 1995:
I am replying to your Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security on the subject of maintenance payments.Whilst it is not possible to exclude new separations, an estimated figure for Income Support cases only is available and is set out in the table below. This is produced based on five per cent. samples of Income Support and Child Support Agency cases, carried out in February 1993 and August 1995 respectively.Most of the cases included in these samples will be Income Support taken on in the first year of the Agency, when it was estimated that around 50 per cent. of those cases taken on were not already receiving maintenance. This proportion has increased to an estimated 77 per cent. since April 1994, so we would expect the percentage assessed who were not previously receiving maintenance (38.95 per cent.) to increase in future samples.You also asked for information on how many cases children have had an increase in child maintenance and how many have had a decrease, as a result of being assessed by the Child Support Agency. This information is not available.
Maintenance assessed at August 1995 for parents with care who received no maintenance whilst on Income Support in February 1993 Number of cases: (000's) As a percentage of the 333,500 cases assessed at August 1995 who were in receipt of Income Support in 1993 (a) £0 to £2.35 60 17.97 (b) £2.36 to £4.99 1 0.30 (c) £5 to £9.99 2 0.60 (d) £10 to £19.99 4 1.20 (e) £20 to £29.99 5 1.50 (f) £30 to £39.99 6 1.80 (g) £40 to £49.99 7 2.10 (h) £50 to £59.99 8 2.40 (i) £60 to £69.99 4 1.20 (J) £70 to £79.99 3 0.90 (k) £80 or more 29 8.69 Total 130 38.95 Notes:
1. The table may include some instances where maintenance was paid to the DSS in respect of the claimant and/or dependant(s) at February 1993 and some cases where there was no entitlement to maintenance at February 1993.
2. Number of cases includes interim and full maintenance assessments.
§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many cases have been cleared without assessment by the Child Support Agency in the last six months, with a breakdown of the reasons; [37597]
812W(2) if he will give a breakdown of all cases cleared by the Child Support Agency in the last six months showing (a) those where the absent parent is unnamed, (b) other cases which were cleared without assessment, (c) cases where a category A interim assessment was issued and (d) cases where the absent parent was assessed to pay (1) zero to £2.35, (2) £2.36–£4.99, (3) £5–£9.99, (4) £10–£19.99, (5) £20–£29.99, (6) £30–£39.99, (7) £40–£49.99, (8) £50–£59.99, (9) £60–£69.99, (10) £70–£79.99 and (11) £80 or over and to express these figures as numbers of cases cleared during that period and as percentages. [37607]
§ Mr. MitchellThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss. Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss. Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 25 October 1995:
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about cases cleared by the Agency.You asked for a breakdown of cases cleared in the last six months without a maintenance assessment. As data for September is not yet available, I have based the reply on the first 5 months of the financial year.During this period, the Agency cleared 128,726 cases of which 44,357 were full maintenance assessments and 8,618 were category A interim maintenance assessments. A further 75,751 cases were cleared without an assessment. As we have no business need to record more specific reason for clearance we cannot provide a more detailed breakdown of these cases.A breakdown of the full maintenance assessments by amount and as a proportion of cases cleared is attached.You also asked about cases in which the absent parent was not named. Since April 1995, there have been 35,223 cases in which the absent parent may not have been named. This includes 15,054 cases in which "good cause" for not naming the absent parent was accepted, and 20,169 in which it was not accepted. In cases in which "good cause" was accepted, the person with care may have identified the absent parent, but because of the possible threat to the person with care, or child, the case was not pursued. In some cases, the parent with care may subsequently have named the absent parent and the Agency has pursued maintenance.
Full assessments by amount and as a proportion of cases cleared: 1 April 1995 to 31 August 1995 Weekly maintenance Full assessments (000's) Per cent, as a proportion of cases cleared £0 to £2.352 20.7 16.08 per cent. £2.36 to £4.99 0.5 0.39 per cent. £5 to £9.99 0.9 0.70 per cent. £10 to £19.99 2.7 2.10 per cent. £20 to £29.99 3.3 2.56 per cent. £30 to £39.99 3.5 2.72 per cent. £40 to £49.99 3.8 2.95 per cent. £50 to £59.99 3.4 2.64 per cent. £60 to £69.99 2.5 1.94 per cent. £70 to £79.99 2.5 1.94 per cent. £80 or more 2.4 1.86 per cent. Total 146.0 35.73 per cent. Notes
1 Data extracted from a 5 per cent. sample of cases. As a result, total differs slightly from that recorded by clerical system (44,357).
2 Includes absent parents on income support.
813W
§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was(a) the total staff employed by the Department of Social Security's liable relatives unit at the time of its abolition, (b) the total staff currently employed by the Child Support Agency, (c) the average amount of maintenance collected per employee by the Department of Social Security's liable relatives unit in the last year of its operation, weighted for 1995 prices and (d) the average amount of maintenance collected per employee by the Child Support Agency in the last year. [37600]
§ Mr. MitchellThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 23 October 1995:
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security concerning the Child Support Agency and the Liable Relatives Unit.You asked for a comparison of the average amount of maintenance collected per employee between the DSS Liable Relative Unit in its last year of operation, and the CSA. I am afraid that it is not possible to provide information in this form. We do not know how much maintenance was paid direct between parents during the operation of the Liable Relative Unit, and other Department of Social Security staff were involved in the work (e.g. on finance, visiting and training) who were not in the Unit itself. As far as this Agency is concerned, our staff are solely responsible for all child maintenance work, but by no means all of them are directly involved in maintenance collection duties.Such comparisons between the two systems are misleading, as the nature and organisation of the work the Agency does has greatly changed in comparison with the previous system.As at 31 March 1995, the CSA employed 6,393 staff. During the 1994/95 year the Agency was involved in the payment of over £187 million in maintenance collected for Child Support assessment.
§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many former income support claimants were lifted off this benefit due to maintenance paid by the Child Support Agency in each month since January 1994. [37601]
§ Mr. MitchellThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 20 October 1995:
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State concerning the number of former income support recipients who no longer receive income support as a result of maintenance payments.Since January 1994, almost 11,800 claimants have ceased to claim Income Support because the maintenance assessment exceeded the amount of Income Support in payment. A table showing the monthly breakdown is attached.I hope this is helpful.814W
Number of claimants 1994 January 643 February 491 March 1,191 April 614 May 403 June 905 July 1,378 August 655
Number of claimants September 560 October 451 November 975 December 552 1994 total 8,818 1995 January 546 February 628 March 511 April 317 May 265 June 212 July 219 August 241 1995 total 2,939 1994–95 total 11,757
§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will give an account for the cases investigated by the Child Support Agency under the requirement to co-operate which are not explained by good cause accepted, absent parent named or reduced benefit directive imposed; [37602]
(2) how many cases were investigated by the Child Support Agency during 1994–95 under the requirement to co-operate; and if he will provide a month-by-month breakdown showing in how many cases good cause was accepted, in how many a reduced benefit directive was imposed and in how many the absent parent was named; [37604]
(3) if he will provide an explanation of the cases investigated by the Child Support Agency under the requirement to co-operate which are not accounted for by good cause accepted, absent parent named or a reduced benefit directive; and if he will provide a breakdown of these statistics. [37605]
§ Mr. MitchellThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 25 October 1995:
815WI am replying to your Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security concerning parents with care and the requirement to co-operate with the Child Support Agency in arranging maintenance.You asked for a monthly breakdown of the outcome of requirement to co-operate investigations completed during 1994/95 and details of such investigations. The attached table shows the information requested.Of the 38,573 cases where good cause was not accepted, a reduced benefit direction was appropriate in 17,451 cases. In the remaining 21,122 cases, either the Child Support Officer, having had regard for the welfare of the parent with care or any children living with her, decided that a reduced benefit direction was not appropriate, or the parent with care later chose to co-operate with the Agency.I hope this is helpful.
Requirement to Co-operate Decisions 1994–95 Month Good cause accepted Absent parent named Good cause not accepted Reduced benefit direction issued Investigations completed April 3,335 1,073 2,705 205 7,113 May 3,915 1,191 2,904 258 8,010 June 4,018 1,200 3,071 892 8,289 July 3,682 944 2,831 1,143 7,457 August 3,636 864 3,306 1,726 7,806 September 3,187 792 2,545 2,846 6,524 October 3,006 844 2,449 3,791 6,299 November 3,465 937 3,554 2,969 7,956 December 2,269 609 2,854 1,285 5,732 January 3,177 770 4,399 973 8,346 February 3,839 958 3,699 922 8,496 March 4,137 993 4,256 441 9,386 Total 41,666 11,175 38,573 17,451 91,414
§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many complaints have been received by the Child Support Agency in each month since its launch. [37603]
§ Mr. MitchellThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 25 October 1995:
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security on the number of complaints the Child Support Agency has received since its launch.From the launch of the Agency in April 1993 to August 1995, over 52,500 written complaints have been received by the Agency. Monthly figures are available from April 1994, and are shown in the table attached.Many of these complaints are from persons who are opposed to the legislation but not actually affected by it. The number of letters received that contain complaints specifically about the Agency's performance is not separately identified, but it is considerably less than the overall figure shown above.I hope this is helpful.
1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 April 1,465 3,025 May 1,984 2,481 June 1,881 3,113 July 1,992 2,281 August Monthly 1,131 3,160 September breakdown 2,536 — October unavailable 2,579 — November 3,070 — December 2,458 — January 1,483 — February 3,121 — March 3,948 — Total 10,846 27,648 14,060