Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission

We reported on the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission yesterday, and how they would have more power than the much maligned Child Support Agency. Solicitor Kim Fellowes raised her concerns over the power the new agency would have and how it could cause even bigger problems and make even bigger mistakes than the CSA have done so far, which themselves have been monumental.

The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission will attempt to get parents to make arrangements between themselves for payment of maintenance, though this of course has caused problems already with the CSA. Fathers who have made private payments and have no proof of the payments are having to pay again when the relationship with their ex breaks down and the CSA always take the mother’s word over the matter. They would though, that’s how they get their money.

The Citizens Advice Bureau are expected to help in these matters, though as they are already stretched it’s expected that they won’t have the time to take on the massive volumes of cases the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission would throw at them.

The new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission will also have the power to write off arrears from NRPs, though whether they do that is another matter.

Since the CSA launched there have been thousands of cases that have resulted in the money being written off because the CSA never took the necessary action in time, causing the six year period to elapse; after which money could not be collected.

Kim Fellowes says:

The Government has got a lot of bad publicity in the past over the CSA and now it wants to reduce its workload – and the outstanding debt owed to the CSA of £3.3bn. To do this they are sending people packing by getting them to make their own arrangements and will be writing off arrears.

There has been no comment from the Department for Work and Pensions about the criticism the bill has received.