30 April 2008 – Almost 750,000 children benefit with a record £1billion in child maintenance collected or arranged

National Statistics figures released today show almost 750,000 children across the UK are benefiting from child maintenance payments, as the Child Support Agency collected or arranged a record £1billion nationally in a 12 month period. This compares to £6.5 billion of maintenance collected or arranged in the previous 14 years of the Agency’s operation.

Since March 2005 – when improvements began to be made to the CSA’s performance – the Agency is collecting or arranging an additional £210m more in payments and supporting nearly an extra 200,000 children.  In the latest 12 month period, the number of children benefiting from child maintenance has risen from 683,300 to almost 750,000 and maintenance collected or arranged has gone from just under £900m to more than £1bn.

The National Statistics figures also confirm the Child Support Agency is now collecting more arrears owed by non resident parents, clearing applications quicker and improving customer service.

The Quarterly Summary of Statistics shows that:

• A total of 749,300 children are now benefiting from child maintenance, up from 561,100 in March 2005.
• In the year to March 2008, the Agency collected or arranged £1,010m in child maintenance, of which £126m was arrears. This is up from £798m in March 2005.
• Maintenance outcomes - the percentage of parents with a liability paying child maintenance - is up to 67%. The Agency is on track to meet its 69% target by March 2009, up from 63% in March 2005.
• 77% of new applications received in December 2007 were cleared within 12 weeks, up from 30% for December 2004 intake.
• The volume of uncleared new scheme applications is at an all time low of 107,000, a reduction of 119,000 since March 2005.
• The Agency answered 98% of telephone calls available to answer, with an average waiting time of 20 seconds, up from 84% answered with a waiting time of 1 minute 40 seconds in March 2005.

Secretary of State James Purnell said:

"It is really good news that a record £1billion in child maintenance is now benefiting almost 750,000 children. Payments of child maintenance currently lift 100,000 children out of poverty and we estimate that the successful implementation of the Operational Improvement Plan by April 2009 will lift an additional 40,000 children out of poverty.

“This strong performance should bring assurance to existing CSA clients that they will continue to see further improvements as the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is established later this year, and importantly, see that more money is getting to more children.”

CSA Chief Executive and Child Maintenance Commissioner Designate, Stephen Geraghty, added:

“The Child Support Agency and its Operational Improvement Plan (OIP) has delivered real improvements to the child maintenance system in areas such as customer service, compliance and collection. We are getting more money to more children and since March 2005, children benefiting from child maintenance has risen by more than 188,200 (561,100 in March 2005 to 749,300 in March 2008) while maintenance collected or arranged has increased by more than 200 million pounds up to £1billion. This creates stable foundations on which the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission can build.

“In the meantime, the CSA will continue to pursue parents who evade their financial responsibilities. Our message to them is clear. Act now or we will.”

Notes to Editors:

• A summary of the QSS is available on the news section at www.csa.gov.uk
• Latest QSS figures have been improved to increase accuracy. Although the total amount of money collected and arranged for children has not been affected; improvements in how all payments collected or arranged by the Agency are allocated has improved the accuracy of other key measures.
• Until now cases have only been counted as a positive outcome or as having children benefiting if the money collected from the non-resident parent has been allocated against an electronic collection schedule. There are a large number of cases where money is received from the non-resident parent but is not allocated to an electronic collection schedule, meaning that the Agency’s performance has been significantly understated. The new methodology now counts all cases where maintenance is collected from the non-resident parent.
• Clerical performance has also been included for the first time, which has the effect of an extra 18,900 children benefiting of the 749,300 at March 2008.
• The Operational Improvement Plan was developed from an April 2005 baseline, which was a low point in the Agency’s performance, and built on achievements already made in the 2005/06 year. Figures are given from this baseline up to March 2008 for comparison. The OIP is now coming into its third and final year.
• We continue to pursue those non resident parents who evade their financial responsibilities, in our commitment to get more money for more children.
• Last year, action by the Child Support Agency ensured that an average of 73 non resident parents a day received a bailiff visit or a court date because of refusal to pay for their child. In every month last year we deducted wages directly from an average of 114,000 parents’ paypackets – an average of 6,200 of these were new each month.
• Legislation for the creation of The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is currently going through Parliament. We anticipate Royal Assent in spring/summer 2008, with the Commission coming into force later this year.

Please note that figures prior to March 2007 do not include clerical cases. This only applies to figures given on children benefiting, maintenance outcomes and uncleared cases. All other figures are unaffected.

 

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