Source · Select Committees · Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 22
22
Accepted
Paragraph: 91
CMS strategy for poorly evidenced CSA-inherited arrears requires clarification and investigation.
Conclusion
We are concerned about the prospect that the Child Maintenance Service is pursuing arrears inherited from the Child Support Agency that cannot be properly evidenced, although we acknowledge not collecting such arrears would impact the relevant receiving parent. We request that the Department, in its response to this Report, set out what its strategy is for such arrears and investigate the potential to seek alternative ways of dispensing with arrears that are poorly evidenced, to ensure that both parents have faith in the sums being pursued.
Government Response Summary
The government states it has already addressed historic CSA arrears through an 'arrears cleanse' process, allowing parents to make representations and disputing debt. Uncollectable debt can then be considered for write-off through existing procedures.
Paragraph Reference:
91
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The problems with the old Child Support Agency (CSA) schemes have been well documented, and we acknowledge that it failed to adequately support families and children – this is why the CMS was introduced. The department needed to address the historic arrears that sat on the CSA systems. In short, the arrears were old, generally uncollectable, and most parents accepted this. Where receiving parents wanted the CMS to attempt to collect the CSA debt, the cases went through an ‘arrears cleanse’ process to ensure only stable debt balances were pursued and action was taken to retain any relevant data from the CSA system. Both parents were able to make representations during the process and paying parents were given an opportunity to provide evidence to dispute the value of the outstanding debt. If the CMS is unsuccessful in collecting the outstanding CSA debt it can then be considered for write-off. Writing off was not a quick or easy decision and involved exhausting other approaches to deal with the debt.