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Child Support Agency marks three years of progress
Strong performance numbers complete the CSA's Operational Improvement Plan as clients praise caseworkers for professional service.
The Child Support Agency has collected or arranged more than £100 million in maintenance in a single month for the first time in its history. The milestone, passed in March 2009, marks a fitting end to the CSA's three-year improvement programme.
Better client service, increased maintenance collections and greater compliance by non-resident parents will enable further progress as child maintenance continues to evolve. The Agency is now the responsibility of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, which is developing an entirely new maintenance scheme to replace the two CSA schemes from 2011.
The Operational Improvement Plan was designed to address urgent issues facing the maintenance system as part of a two-stage approach to reform. The second will see more fundamental change with the 'future' maintenance scheme underpinned by new IT systems and improved processes for assessment, collection and enforcement.
Since March 2005:
* Annual child maintenance payments have soared by 42%. £1,132m was collected or arranged by the Agency in the year to March 2009.
* The recovery of maintenance arrears has more than doubled annually to over £158m in 2008/9.
* An additional 218,000 children are benefiting from CSA-arranged maintenance payments.
* The percentage of non-resident parents paying maintenance has increased to 71% from 63% in 2005.
"When we launched the Operational Improvement Plan in 2006, we warned that there would be no quick fixes to serious issues affecting the Agency's performance," said Child Maintenance Commissioner and former CSA Chief Executive Stephen Geraghty. "Thanks to the commitment shown by the Agency's people, I believe that we have started delivering results that instil greater confidence in the child maintenance service. These are firm foundations on which the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission will build as it develops the entirely new maintenance scheme that will replace the CSA's schemes from 2011."
Improving service to clients has been an area of especially strong progress. Uncleared cases - which once stood at 225,000 - have been reduced to less than 50,000 with 82% of new applications cleared within 12 weeks.
Calls to the CSA are now answered promptly with an average waiting time of just 13 seconds.
Steps to connect clients directly to experienced caseworkers have also been paying dividends. Agency people are receiving unsolicited praise from clients, many of whom were disappointed by the CSA in the past.
According to ambulance driver and parent-with-care Claire Anderson, "The CSA has got a lot better since the old days and they are providing a much improved service now. "
The sentiment is echoed by mother-of- three Bridget Carroll who says: "I was expecting the same old incompetence, failure to return phone calls and so on, but I was very pleasantly surprised to find my caseworker Mark Evens informative, calming, patient and understanding".
Speaking about his caseworker at CSA Dudley, father and non-resident parent Michael Bowring adds; "If her appointment is indicative of the sorts of people the CSA are now employing and the changes they are making, then that can only be a very good thing indeed." (Further details of these client comments are included in Appendix A)
The Agency has also renewed its determination to make full use of the powers available to it in order to deliver more money for more children. In one recent case a record-breaking single payment of £57,000 was delivered to a mother in Hertfordshire after the Agency took a legal charge on a property owned by her former husband.
In all, the Agency has taken 120,970 new enforcement actions in the past year, including 68,805 Deduction from Earnings Orders.
The most important change of the past year has been the removal of the compulsion on parents with care claiming benefits to use the CSA. Supported by the Commission's new Child Maintenance Options service, all separated parents are now free to choose the maintenance arrangements that best suit their own circumstances.
This might be a private arrangement agreed between the parties, or an enforceable case brought through the CSA. The change has already reduced the flow of new cases onto the Agency's books, enabling it to prioritise cases requiring active support.
Since its launch, Child Maintenance Options has already facilitated private maintenance arrangements benefiting around 30,000 children. The Commission will continue to promote the service to separating parents during the year to come.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The Child Maintenance & Enforcement Commission is a new body responsible for the child maintenance system in Great Britain. The Commission's role is to promote financial responsibility for children; offer the Child Maintenance Options information and support service; and to develop and direct the statutory child maintenance service currently provided by the Child Support Agency.
2. The Child Support Agency has not been 'replaced' by the Commission. The Commission is developing an entirely new statutory maintenance scheme that will replace the two schemes currently provided by the CSA from 2011. The CSA name and 'brand' will remain in use until all of its cases have been closed and parents have been invited to apply to the new scheme. This process will take until 2013/14 to complete.
3. In 2006, the Government announced plans to reform the child maintenance system this included introducing a body at arms length from the Government to provide an effective statutory child maintenance service with improved assessment, collection and enforcement powers. At the same time, the CSA launched an Operational Improvement Plan to drive forward improvements to its services.
4. Full details of the latest Quarterly Summary of Statistics from the CSA can be viewed at http://www.childmaintenance.org/ . The key statistics are included on the table in Appendix B below:
5. Child Maintenance Options is accessed by visiting http://www.cmoptions.org or calling the free phone number 0800 9880988
Appendix A: CSA Client Testimonials
Extracts from conversations with CSA clients who contacted the Agency to say 'thank you' for help provided by their caseworkers.
Shropshire-based father Michael Bowring's formerly poor image of the CSA has been eclipsed by his dealings with his caseworker at CSA Dudley, on whom he has lavished written and verbal praise.
"Some people assume separated fathers are criminals until proven otherwise, but Carole was different and so capable. If her appointment is indicative of the sorts of people the CSA are now employing and the changes they are making, then that can only be a very good thing indeed."
Ambulance driver Claire Anderson of Worthing, Sussex, battled long and hard to secure maintenance from her estranged partner and father of her nine year old son, who used the classic ploy of 'job-hopping' to avoid CSA Deduction from Earnings Orders.
Anderson says of CSA case worker Paul Smith, said "He was calm, sympathetic and patient even when I was crying and screaming down the phone in sheer frustration. But most importantly, he was persistent with my ex-partner's employers and he got the money. The CSA has got a lot better since the old days and they are providing a much improved service now."
Mother of three Bridget Carroll from Liverpool, has also noted the change for the better: "I returned to the CSA in 2007 after our voluntary arrangement for maintenance broke down. I was expecting the same old incompetence, failure to return phone calls and so on, but I was very pleasantly surprised to find my caseworker Mark Evens informative, calming, patient and understanding. This latest experience with the CSA has been really helpful for me in providing care for the children and receiving money again. It's taken much of the stress from our lives in terms of worrying about how we will pay bills and manage our budget without going into unmanageable debt or selling the family home, which was a distinct possibility a year ago."
Denise Gambles of Rotherham, mother of a teenage son, describes her recent experiences of the CSA as 'totally positive'. She approached the agency back in 2005, when she says it was 'a little bit hopeless'. She has since experienced a vastly improved service which has resulted in her receiving a substantial partial arrears payment from her former partner.
Gambles said "My caseworker Julie Bradford is absolutely fantastic, always phoning me back and keeping me informed. Even if it's just to say she hasn't got any further it's good to be kept in the picture. But it's not just Julie who has impressed me. When she's been away and others have taken my calls, they have been so helpful, looking up my case notes and telling me of any developments. I think the CSA must be training staff really well now, but it's not just training - you can train and train staff but unless they have the raw material, they won't be any good. The CSA are obviously now attracting the right people for the job. I have every confidence that they will secure the rest of my arrears for me."
ENDS
APPENDIX B: Jan- March 09 CSA Performance Indicators
Client Service: Five-Year Performance Trends
Performance Measure
Application March OIP End Year End Year End Year March
processing 2005 StartsMarch 1 2 3 2009
Percentage Actual 2006 Actual OIPMarch OIPMarch OIPMarch Plan
of new 2007 2008 2009
scheme Actual Actual Actual
applications cleared within:
- 12 weeks 30% 53% 61% 77% 82% 80%
(Dec intake)
- 18 weeks 37% 61% 64% 83% 81% 85%
(Oct intake)
- 26 weeks 46% 67% 78% 88% 90% 90%
(Sep intake)
Uncleared 225,300 220,400 153,300 106,700 49,200 90,000
new scheme applications
Telephony 1 min 59 seconds 26 20 13 Less
Average 40 seconds seconds seconds than 30
answer time seconds seconds
from queue
Percentage 16% 9% 3% 2% 1% Less
of lost than 5%
calls in year
Maintenance Outcomes: Five Year Performance Trends
Performance Measure
Outcomes March OIP End Year End Year End Year March
2005 StartsMarch 1 2 3 2009 Plan
Actual 2006 Actual OIPMarch OIPMarch OIPMarch
2007 2008 2009
Actual Actual Actual
Children 809,800
benefiting
CSA 561,100 623,000 683,300 749,300 779,800 790,000
Options - - - - 30,000
Cases in 403,800 454,300 504,400 561,400 593,100 579,000
receipt of maintenance
Maintenance 63% 63% 65% 67% 71% 69%
Outcomes % of cases with a current liability receiving maintenance
Maintenance £798m £836m £898m £1,010m £1132m £1,080m
collected /arranged In rolling 12 month period
1.These figures are subject to small revisions to reflect information which is received after the production of the previous QSS.
2. Children benefiting through options is based on the results of an internal survey.
