Child Support Agency progress marks first year under Commission
28/10/2009
More children are benefiting from child maintenance, with more parents paying this quarter than in any previous quarter.
National statistics released today show that by the end of September 2009, over 797,000 children were benefiting from child maintenance.
The latest figures - marking a year since the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission took over responsibility for the Child Support Agency (CSA) - show;
- By the end of September 2009, 797,300 children were benefiting from maintenance via the statutory maintenance service
- The CSA collected or arranged £1,131 million in child maintenance in the year ending September 2009
- £152m arrears have been collected since September 2008
- More parents are paying for their children - by the end of September 2009, in 73% of cases where a liability to pay maintenance exists, non-resident parents met their obligation to make a payment via the CSA or through a Maintenance Direct arrangement
- In the 12 months to July 2009, 116,000 new enforcement actions were taken including 63,405 new Deduction from Earnings Orders.
Child Maintenance Commissioner, Stephen Geraghty, said:
These figures confirm we are getting more money flowing to more children as we continue to develop an entirely new system of child maintenance. In the year since the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission was formed, we have made good progress towards our goal of maximising the number of children benefiting from effective maintenance arrangements, developing new services such as Child Maintenance Options as well as continuing to improve the performance of the CSA whilst also taking firm enforcement action against those parents who refuse to accept their financial responsibilities.
