§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) if he will estimate the monetary value of Child Support Agency maintenance assessments for 2000–01 that have been(a) collected and arranged and (b) classified as outstanding debt; [33341]
1242W(2) how many child support assessments the CSA processed in 2000–01 in (a) less than 20 weeks, (b) between 20 and 52 weeks and (c) over 52 weeks; [33344]
(3) if he will estimate the (a) number and (b) value of compensation payments awarded by the CSA in 2000–01. [33345]
§ Malcolm WicksThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Steve Webb, dated 13 March 2002:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply from me.
You ask three questions of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: one, if he will estimate the monetary value of Child support Agency maintenance assessments for year ending March 2001 that have been (a) collected and arranged and (b) classified as outstanding debt. Two, how many child support assessments the CSA processed in 2000 in (a) less than 20 weeks (b) between 20 and 52 weeks and (c) over 52 weeks. Three, if he will estimate the (a) number and (b) value of compensation payments awarded by the CSA in 2000–01.
Some of the information you have requested is not available in the format you have requested.
The total amount of maintenance that was collected and arranged as at March 2001 was £757.53 million, this is compared to £712.24 million for year ending March 2000 and £635.67 million for year ending March 1999. The amount of maintenance that was owed as at year ending March 2001 is £527.80 million. This amount has been accruing since the inception of the Agency in April 1993. It is not possible to show how much of this figure relates to any specific year.
Table 1 on the attached annex shows the number of Full Maintenance Assessment and Interim Maintenance Assessment Cases cleared in the year ending March 2001 and number of weeks it took to process them.
In the period ending March 2001 we have paid out £7.9 million in compensation on an estimated 12,696 cases. This figure includes over £1.1 million in Advance Payments of maintenance. These are lump sum payments of arrears paid to a parent with care when the Agency has delayed actioning a case. The arrears are however recovered from the non-resident parent over a period of time.
I hope this is helpful.
Annex 1: Table 1 Number of cases processed in year ending March 2001 Maintenance assessment Time taken to process claims Full Interim Under 20 weeks 53,287 1,139 Between 20 to 52 weeks 26,846 1,246 Over 52 weeks 20,623 1,390 Total cases processed 100,756 3,775 Source:
Strategic assurance team