The Performance of the Child Support Agency: Report
Author | : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Work and Pensions Committee |
Publisher | : The Stationery Office |
Total Pages | : 86 |
Release | : 2005 |
ISBN-10 | : 0215021479 |
ISBN-13 | : 9780215021472 |
Rating | : 4/5 (472 Downloads) |
Download or read book The Performance of the Child Support Agency: Report written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Work and Pensions Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee's report examines continuing concerns about the performance of the Child Support Agency (CSA), particularly in relation to its compliance and enforcement regime. Issues discussed include: the old and new child support schemes; performance targets and information management; the IT problems encountered; child support assessments; compliance targets and debt levels; enforcement measures in the UK and other countries, notably Australia; staffing issues including staff training, job cuts, pay and morale; and options for urgent action and longer term reforms. The CSA is found to be a failing organisation which is currently in crisis, and requires radical reform in order to provide an acceptable service. Senior management has failed to provide effective leadership through significant cultural shift, with deficient training given to frontline staff and inadequate monitoring procedures in place. The Committee strongly recommends that proposed job cuts be suspended until the Agency's business transformation programme, including its IT system, is proved to be fully functioning. If the recommended improvements are not made, the CSA may need to be wound up and alternative policies implemented to provide financial support and maintenance for children.