13 December 2006 - A fresh start for child maintenance
Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton today set out far-reaching proposals to replace the Child Support Agency with a tough new organisation to deliver a radically different system of child maintenance.
Led by a new Commissioner for Child Maintenance, the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (C-MEC) would deliver a simpler and more effective way of assessing, collecting and enforcing child maintenance and is one of the proposals set out in the Government’s White Paper, A new system of child maintenance, published today.
The White Paper contains proposals to empower and incentivise parents to make private agreements where possible, but with the confidence that C-MEC will have the powers to establish arrangements and enforce payments where they cannot agree. The Government has decided against a general power to write off debt; however, the current agency and the future body will be given additional powers to chase down debt, including from the estates of deceased non-resident parents.
Mr Hutton said:
“Parents have an absolute responsibility to support their children. These reforms will help ensure that this happens. The new system will be simpler and more effective. Its main focus will be on enforcing maintenance where parents cannot agree. But in future, we will do all we can to help parents reach their own agreements.
“Our proposals to get visibly tougher on enforcement send out a clear signal that non-payment of maintenance will not be tolerated.
“The proposals set out the way forward for a completely new child maintenance system. They establish and enforce clear rights and responsibilities. They offer better value for money for the taxpayer. And, above all, they will deliver a system that properly meets the needs of the parents with care and children who depend on it, helping to ensure that families and children do not slide into poverty when parents split up.”
The proposals follow the recommendations for redesigning the child maintenance system made by Sir David Henshaw earlier this year. The key proposals for change are to:
- Establish a completely new Non-Departmental Public Body to replace the CSA. The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (C-MEC) will be led by a new Commissioner for Child Maintenance and run by an independent board responsible for all aspects of the new child maintenance system. Following legislation, the Commission should be in place from 2008 and would provide a public face to reinforce the accountability of C-MEC.
- Promote parental responsibility by helping more parents to make their own child maintenance arrangements. The requirement that parents with care on benefit be treated as applying for child maintenance would be removed, and parents will have access to improved information and guidance. Legislation would also be changed to require both parents’ names to be registered following the birth of their child, unless it would be unreasonable to do so. We will consult in more detail on this issue and only legislate once we are sure that robust safeguards can be put in place to protect the welfare of children and vulnerable mothers.
- Help tackle child poverty by ensuring that all parents with care in receipt of benefit can keep the first £10 of child maintenance paid without it affecting their benefit. We would extend this to cases on the original child maintenance scheme, where maintenance is being paid, by the end of 2008, and significantly increase the amount of maintenance that all parents with care can keep before it affects the amount of benefit they receive in the future.
- Strengthen enforcement powers by enforcing the surrender of a non-resident parent’s passport or imposing a curfew on them where they have failed to pay maintenance. The names of non-resident parents who are successfully prosecuted or have a successful application made against them in court will also be published, wherever suitable.
- Increase efforts to collect and reduce debts by streamlining and strengthening the enforcement process and taking forward Sir David Henshaw’s recommendation to transfer debts to specialist collection agencies to recover child maintenance arrears.
- Simplify and streamline the application and assessment process by using latest tax-year information as the basis for calculating a child maintenance liability unless current income differs by at least 25 per cent.
- Use gross weekly income, rather than net, as a basis for calculating a maintenance liability, meaning that less reliance is placed on the non-resident parent’s co-operation.
In developing the proposals the Government has already consulted widely, but welcomes further views. The White Paper includes a series of questions to which stakeholders and members of the public are invited to respond.
Notes to editors
- A copy of the White Paper, A new system of child maintenance, is on the DWP website at: www.dwp.gov.uk/childmaintenance/
- Sir David Henshaw’s recommendations can be found at www.dwp.gov.uk/childsupport/henshaw_report.asp
- The Government’s response is also available at www.dwp.gov.uk/childsupport/gov_response.asp
- In the immediate future, it is essential that maintenance continues to flow between parents and that non-resident parents continue to pay. Prior to introducing the new organisation, the CSA will continue to deliver the improved services to clients and increased enforcement activity as set out in the Agency’s Operational Improvement Plan. As a result of our increased investment we will recover over £200m more debt over the period of the plan.
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