§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if the child maintenance premium of £10 applies regardless of number of children; or if it applies for each child; [94050]
(2) what estimate he has made of the cost of introducing the £10 child maintenance premium for parents on income support. [94045]
§ Angela EagleThe new Child Support system will allow parents with care on Income Support (or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance) to keep up to £10 a week of maintenance paid irrespective of the number of children involved.
The net cost to the Exchequer of introducing the child maintenance premium for existing parents with care is estimated to be £65 million in a full year, after allowing for abolition of the child maintenance bonus.
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the categories of those on low incomes who are currently exempted from paying child maintenance, but who will become eligible for payment under the proposals in Cm 4349. [94058]
§ Angela EagleNon-resident parents who have been assessed to pay the minimum amount, including those on Income Support or Income-Based Jobseeker's Allowance, will no longer be exempt from paying maintenance where
they receive Incapacity Benefit, Maternity Allowance or various disability benefits; orthey have children in their second family.However, a non-resident parent on benefit will be exempt from the minimum payment where he shares the care of a child for at least 52 nights a year.
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if the late payment penalty to be introduced within the reforms proposed in Cm 4349 will be calculated on the basis of (i) weekly, (ii) monthly and (iii) annually assessed maintenance; whether the fine will be cumulative; what will be the definition of late payment; and what recourse there will be when fines for late payment are not met. [94047]
§ Angela EagleThe White Paper "A new contract for welfare: Children's rights and parents responsibilities" (Cm 4349) sets out our plans to introduce a straightforward penalty for late payment. The penalty will help to make sure that payments of child maintenance are made on time and to support negotiations aimed at getting payments flowing regularly.
561WA late payment penalty of up to 25 per cent. of the amount owed may be imposed. The penalty will be payable to the Secretary of State and may be levied at a discretionary rate for each week in which the maintenance is due but was not paid, but will not be compounded. Imposition of the penalty will be discretionary and reasons for late payment will be taken into account. Where late penalty payments have been imposed but remain unpaid enforcement measures will be taken to recover amounts due.
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security on what basis he has estimated that one million or more children (Cm 4349, page 13) will benefit from child support from the non-resident parent as a result of changes outlined in the White Paper on reform of the CSA (Cm 4349). [94604]
§ Angela EagleThe figure of one million is our best estimate of the number of children who will benefit from the reforms over time through a combination of a more effective system which will get more non-resident parents paying and more of what is due actually paid and of the new maintenance disregard in Income Support.
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the number of non-resident parents who will pay weekly maintenance of(a) £5 or less, (b) £5 to £5.99, (c) £6 to £6.99, (d) £7 to £7.99, (e) £8 to £8.99, (f) £9 to £9.99 and (g) £10 and over. [94353]
§ Angela EagleThe information requested is in the table.
Number of maintenance assessments of non-resident parents in work under the proposed new scheme Maintenance assessments under the proposed new scheme Caseload (Thousands) £5 or less 45 £5 to £5.99 5 £6 to £6.99 5 £7 to £7.99 5 £8 to £8.99 5 £9 to £9.99 5 £10 or over 465 Total 535 Notes:
- 1. New scheme maintenance modelled using data taken from August 1998 5 per cent. scan of Child Support Computer System.
- 2. Caseloads calibrated to forecasts of caseload at 'A' day and rounded to the nearest 5,000.
- 3. Table covers non-resident parents in paid work with a full maintenance assessment. Non-resident parents on benefit will normally be liable to pay £5 a week.
All Up to 3 months 3 to 6 months 6 to 12 months Over 12 months Total for Scotland 1 48,935 3,864 13,919 22,218 8,934 Kirkwall (Orkney) 69 8 27 31 3 Lerwick (Shetland) 56 5 13 28 10 1 Including Orkney and Shetland Notes:
- 1. Figures relate to appeals registered and cleared at hearing between 1 January 1997 and 30 April 1999.
- 2. The GAPS computer system was introduced in late 1997. This means that the figures for 1997 are artificially low.
Source:
100 per cent. download from the Independent Tribunals Service GAPS computer.
562W
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if compensation will be paid, and overpayments will be recoverable, where the default maintenance rate applied is found to be greater than the full maintenance assessment. [94048]
§ Angela EagleParagraphs 37 to 39 of Chapter Two of the White Paper "A new contract for welfare: Children's rights and parents' responsibilities" (Cm4349) set out our plans for a default rate of maintenance when maintenance liability cannot be assessed straight away. The purpose of a default rate is to enable children to see the advantages of maintenance as soon as possible and to get non-resident parents into the habit of paying. The proposal is that it is set at or around the average assessment of average earnings.
The full assessment will be payable from the date that all the information needed to complete it is provided. Maintenance liability for the past will only be recalculated if the full assessment is higher than the default rate.
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much revenue he expects to receive as a result of doubling the proportion of lone parents on benefits who will receive maintenance payments; and by what date he expects this increased figure to have been achieved. [94046]
§ Angela EagleUnder the new child support scheme, the increased number of lone parents receiving maintenance payments will result in reduced expenditure on social security benefits. These savings will build up from the introduction of the scheme and are expected to reach around £40 million a year after five years, taking into account the cost of the child maintenance premium and assuming cash compliance of 75 per cent. The reduction in spending will allow us to pay for the administrative costs of introducing the new scheme without increasing Government spending.