Child Support (Hansard, 12 May 1998)

§ Mr. Keith Bradley

One of our key aims for the Child Support Agency is to ensure that more absent parents pay the maintenance they owe. We are looking closely at all aspects of the child support scheme to see where improvements can be made and we aim to bring forward a consultation document on our proposals.

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mrs. Faith Boardman. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Faith Boardman to Mr. Christopher Chope, dated 11 May 1998: I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about Child Support Agency maintenance assessments. The child maintenance formula can require the Agency to enquire, look at and consider over 100 pieces of information before an assessment can be made and it is inevitable that some time will elapse between an application being made and the maintenance assessment being made. From its launch in 1993, the Agency has taken on just under 2.4 million cases. In the last year, the Agency has started to clear the backlog of cases that had built up during the Agency's first two years, with the emphasis being on completing full maintenance assessments. The Agency's increased performance in this area is 104W well illustrated by the number of full maintenance assessments completed; in 1997/98 up to 31 January 1998, 132,724 full maintenance assessments had been completed compared to 97,542 for the same period the previous year. The Agency is very aware of the need to assess maintenance applications as quickly as possible, and in 1997/98 had a Secretary of State target covering this area which included a volume element for the first time. The target required a total of at least 525,000 maintenance applications to be cleared; 60% of new maintenance applications to be cleared within 26 weeks and on 31 March 1998 no more than 5% of all maintenance applications received by the Agency to be over 52 weeks old. The volume element of the target was exceeded by 13% with 595,000 clearances achieved, a significant increase on clearances of 357,000 in 1996/97. Both percentage targets were also met. 71% of new applications were cleared within 26 weeks, against an achievement of 54% in 1996/97. This represented a total of 278,180 applications cleared within 26 weeks, an increase of 52% over the previous year. At the end of 1997/98, less than 5% of all applications received since the Agency's inception were over 52 weeks old. This was a major improvement on last year, when the target to have no more than 10% of cases over a year old was missed. The 1998/99 Secretary of State target requires 65% of new applications to be cleared within 22 weeks and on 31 March 1999 there to be no applications outstanding over 52 weeks old. The latest available information on outstanding maintenance applications (to 31 March 1998) is detailed below:

applications outstanding over six months and less than 12 months: 45,211
applications outstanding over twelve months and less than 18 months: 11,593
applications outstanding over eighteen months: 98,524

The number of applications outstanding over 6 months and less than 12 months in each Business Unit is approximately 6,500; in 1997/98 each Business Unit cleared on average around 85,000 applications. Any maintenance application which is over 52 weeks old is considered to form part of the Agency's backlog—the large majority of these applications are a legacy from the difficult first two years of the Agency. At the beginning of 1997/98 the number of backlog applications amounted to 224,714; this has more than halved to 110,117 at 31 March 1998. The Agency has developed and is now implementing a strategy for meeting its undertaking to clear all its backlogs. All Business Units have put in place operational plans which will guide them towards the achievement of our stated objective of clearing all the backlogs by 31 March 1999. We are constantly looking at how we can adapt and improve our procedures to speed up the time taken to clear maintenance applications. The timescales for clearances have shortened considerably over the last 2 years. The Agency is now building more pro-active use of the telephone into its assessment process; an increased use of the telephone to gather information, should have a positive impact on timescales. I hope this is helpful.