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Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary Statistics: February 2003

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Child Support Agency

The Child Support Agency (CSA) was launched on 5 April 1993 as an executive agency of the then Department of Social Security (DSS). The CSA was given the role of implementing the 1991 Child Support Act and subsequent legislation with the purpose of ensuring that parents who live apart both maintain their children, whenever they can afford to do so. The Agency is responsible for tracing Non-resident Parents, calculating how much they should pay and, if required, collecting and enforcing payments.

This publication was first produced in November 1995. Earlier extracts are taken from the CSCS each quarter starting in October 1993. Some results from the earlier and subsequent extracts have been published in the 1994–2000 of Social Security statistics, the 2000-2002 editions of Work and Pension statistics and in replies to Parliamentary Questions.

Until February 1995 the results were derived from a 1 per cent sample of records. In May 1995 a redesigned 5 per cent scan using National Insurance numbers to capture one in twenty of the ‘live’ cases on the CSCS replaced this sample. The key data on CSCS relating to the selected cases is transferred automatically from the Agency to Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Information Centre (IC) Information and Analysis Directorate (IAD) each quarter. The change in method has resulted in reduced processing time and improved quality of results.

All data within the tables is grossed to the total ‘live’ CSA caseload for Great Britain. Since most of the tables report CSA caseload some Parents/Persons With Care (those associated with more than one Non-resident Parent) will appear more than once (see Table 2.6).

The data in this publication is, as with any grossed sample results, subject to the sampling error explained in Appendix A. Table 2.3 includes analysis based on Government Office Regions. These regions are illustrated in Appendix B.

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Contents

Section 1: Caseload and general details

Table 1.1 Number of 'Live' and Assessed cases, February 1999 - February 2003
Table 1.2 Referral source of Fully Assessed cases, May 2001 - February 2003: Numbers
Table 1.3 Referral source of Fully Assessed cases, May 2001 - February 2003: percentages

Section 2: Non-resident Parent (NRP) and Parent/Person with Care (PWC) personal details

Table 2.1 Gender of Non-resident Parent and Parent/Person with Care
Table 2.2 Age of Non-resident Parent by age of Parent/Person with Care
Table 2.3 Region of residence of Non-resident Parent by region of residence of Parent/Person with Care
Table 2.4 Living distance between Non-resident Parent and Parent/Person with Care
Table 2.5 Repartnering of Non-resident Parent and Parent/Person with Care
Table 2.6 Number of Non-resident Parents associated with a Parent/Person with Care
Table 2.7 Accommodation type of Non-resident Parents

Section 3: Non-resident Parent (NRP) and Parent/Person with Care (PWC) financial details

Table 3.1 Benefit status of Parent/Person with Care and Non-resident Parent
Table 3.2 Maintenance assessment by benefit status of Parent/Person with Care and Non-resident Parent's employment status
Table 3.3 Maintenance assessment by Non-resident Parent's employment status/benefit type
Table 3.4 Non-resident Parent's net income for assessable purposes by employment status
Table 3.5 Maintenance assessment as a percentage of Non-resident Parent's net income for assessable purposes
Table 3.6 Maintenance assessment of Non-resident Parents by net income for assessable purposes
Table 3.7 Maintenance assessment of Non-resident Parents by age
Table 3.8 Non-resident Parent's method of payment by employment status/benefit type
Table 3.9 Payment compliance on regular payment accounts by maintenance assessment - Full Assessments
Table 3.10 Payment compliance on regular payment accounts by maintenance assessment - Interim Assessments
Table 3.11 Payment compliance on regular payment accounts by maintenance assessment as a percentage of Non-resident Parent's net income for assessable purposes
Table 3.12 Payment compliance on regular payment accounts by benefit status of Parent/Person with Care

Section 4: Time series of Non-resident Parent (NRP) and Parent/Person with Care (PWC) financial details

Table 4.1 Number and average value of maintenance assessments, February 1999 - February 2003
Table 4.2 Benefit status of Parent/Person with Care, February 1998 - February 2002
Table 4.3 Number of 'Live' and Fully Assessed cases, February 1999 - February 2003, by Non-resident Parent's employment/benefit status
Table 4.4 Average Maintenance Assessment, February 1999 - February 2003 by Non-Resident Parent's employment/benefit status
Table 4.5 Compliance levels for 'Live' and Fully Assessed cases, February 1999 - February 2003 - Numbers
Table 4.6 Compliance levels for 'Live' and Fully Assessed cases, February 1999 - February 2003 - percentages

Section 5: Time series of the numbers of qualifying children in Live and Fully Assessed cases

Table 5.1 Number of qualifying children in the maintenance assessment by IMA and FMA
Table 5.2 Benefit status of Parent/Person with Care by the number of qualifying children in the assessment
Table 5.3 Benefit status of Non-resident Parent by the number of qualifying children in the assessment
Table 5.4 Compliance levels for 'Live' and Fully Assessed cases, by number of qualifying children in the assessment
Table 5.5 Number of qualifying children in 'Live' and Fully Assessed cases by region and average maintenance

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Tables