Child Support Agency (Hansard, 15 May 2000)

§ Angela Eagle

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

42W

Letter from Faith Boardman to Mr. Tom Cox, dated May 2000:

I am replying to your Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security about compensation payments paid by the Child Support Agency.In common with other DSS Agencies, the CSA operates a discretionary "special payments" scheme to compensate customers for actual financial losses, or any suffering and distress caused in cases of maladministration. For CSA these arrangements cover maintenance lost to a parent with care (PWC), as well as expenses incurred by PWCs or non-resident parents (NRPs) in dealing with the Agency. It is also possible to make consolatory payments in recognition of the less tangible effects of maladministration, such as inconvenience, embarrassment and the worry and distress that can result from delay and errors.The largest individual amount of compensation paid was £27,393.60. This figure did not include any consolatory element but represented monies due to a parent with care, which would have been paid by the non-resident parent, had it not been for the Agency's maladministration. It also included a payment for loss of use of monies (interest). Each case is considered on its own merits and payments of this magnitude are particularly exceptional. The average payment during 1998/99 was £95.The largest individual consolatory payment is £1,150, however, on average this type of payment is around £133.Since its inception, the Agency has made compensation payments to a value of £8.6 million (figure to end February 2000). During 1998/99 the Agency paid out £ 4.3 million in compensation payments. Evidence this year shows that this amount is falling. From April 1999 to the end of February 2000 the Agency had paid out £2.4 million for the 1999/2000 financial year. The main reason why this figure was so high in recent years is that the Agency has been clearing the backlog of cases that had built up during the early years of its operations. As the Agency is now more up to date with its work, payments of this scale are unlikely to recur.I hope this is helpful.