Computer costs for Child Support Agency rise

January 27, 2011

The Department of Work and Pensions has announced the introduction of a new computer system for the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC) to help enforce the new rules regarding parents and child maintenance agreements.

The system will be introduced in 2012 and will cost £155 million over the next five years. It will be linked to the Inland Revenue and have access to income data so that quibbling over alleged income details will disappear. Initially, only new cases will be entered onto the system and parties will not be charged for the first six months. It is hoped that by starting like this the problems that were encountered in 2003 when the previous computer system was introduced, will not occur.

There is still a backlog of cases and these will be gradually dealt with. However, as charges will be introduced for Child Support Agency help it is anticipated that parents will choose to come to direct agreements themselves so that the cases can be closed. It is thought that the charges introduced by CMEC will include an initial fee of £100 and then a percentage levy not yet determined but expected to be somewhere between seven and twenty percent. There will be added powers for dealing with non-resident parents, including the possibility of the compulsory sale of property.

This complicated and emotional area is not easy to regulate, dealing as it does with fractured families, but the hope is that, with CSA help, the new computer system will facilitate the transfer of payments between parents in a more amicable way.

Comments

  • Karl Harrett says:

    “There will be added powers for dealing with non-resident parents”..what about money grabbing PWC’s?… more tools to make men homeless…great…whats the point in living anymore…the whole point in life is now hopeless…

    I should just kill her, it would be cheaper in the long run.

  • Kev Blythe says:

    There maybe trouble ahead.

    Why are they charging ? what service do these poeple provide to me ? make sure i pay for my kids, i can do that without the csa/cmec or maybe something diffrent in the future.

    I wonder if it will be £100 + vat

    £100.00 x 1.200

  • Mr K says:

    So it looks like the Government are going for 3rd time lucky!!

    I don’t think so!

    It would be cheaper to just employ people with a brain & some compassion, and arm each of them with a solar powered calculator (to save on battery costs!).

    But that will never happen as those in power haven’t got a brain cell between them! They obviously live in their own little world, and couldn’t care less about the general public!

  • tonybach says:

    ive been paying 364 a month to my vile ex,i ended up in poverty very quickly,paying csa,and all the bills left me with no money to buy heating or food,i foned csa and they didnt care.so i had no option but to go on jsa.csa must be closed down!or at least be worth it to go back to work!life is tough!!…any body know of any cash jobs going anywhere???

  • Brian says:

    This f**king takes the PISS! remember your MP no doubt works on some parliament select committee supporting this crap. I think a man’s (fathers) life is not worth living anymore – WE ARE SCREWED.

    EVERYONE GET YOUR MP involved!! NO matter what.

    Regardless send them a copy of every letter you send to the CSA. Don’t let the MP do nothing! Stand up and get the MP over worked with local CSA cases guaranteed to piss them off and force the issues directly with higher CSA bods.

    Please pass this message on.
    CSA will only take notice if an MP gets pissed off

    Brian

  • shane says:

    the fucking wankers couldnt even get hold of my dad i feel as if im paying his arrears off.
    i have my daughter 3 days a week and still want me to pay 45 pound a week for arrears i already paid to my daughters scrounging mother. we might as well kill ourselves and let csa find money from elsewere

  • darren says:

    every comment that is said so far i agree the c s a have made my life hell for 3 years why should the X all ways get the money and she wont even let me see him the HELL WITH the C S A i cant even move on anymore now my HEALTH IS now going down hill fast wish the fucking C S A would just DIE ! ! THEY even think they are above the law AND DONT even tell you the right information just TAKE what they want and run JUST how FAR IS this c s a going to go i HAVE heard off ROBIN HOOD but the now he has a new name he now calls him self C S A THE MPs are as BAD as the C S A

  • kaycee says:

    OI arragent sods takes two people to make a baby, so your lucky they not taking half your wages, I mean I do not just spend 15% on my child for everything she needs and wants, I spend everything on my child and only after she got everything she needs etc this includes her education as she home educated, and we have to fund that ourselves as we choice to comply with the legal duty to educate our children ourselbes as its legally our duty as parents to home educate not the state, the state only provide a school for those who want ot fob there legal responsibilities of to strangers to do your job as a perent,, yes you can work and home educate, or run your own business and home educate, yes I am dyslexic but my child is gifted and talented child and my dyslexia has not affected my child’s education before you start on that one,

    As for paying, if we do not have men who lie about their income then they would not have to check wages with tax office to check you guys are telling the truth or not,

    When you have an ex like mine who pays when he wish’s refuses to allow the parent to have the money to spend on the child and only offers to pay the child which, which btw is fine with my child and I as she is old enough to deal with that responsibility, but under the eyes of the law she not old enough to make the jusgement yet,

    How ever I as the pwc has always been opren to answering to the csa ( not the ex) of justifying that the money was spent on the child’s up bringing, as long as the parent can show the state( not the ex) that the money awarded to the family was justified and needed and she was not wasting the money and not providing the child with at least basic needs then she can continue to keep it,

  • kaycee says:

    yes I am dyslexic but my child education is not affected,

  • darren says:

    this is a message to kaycee on march 7th you DONT GET IT do you intill you no what you are talking about back off why dont you be on the other end off the csa and you will no what I MEAN ! ! ! THE FUCKING C S A TAKE MONEY OFF ME 2 PAY FOR 3 KIDS I ONLY GOT ONE HOW DO YOU WORK THAT ONE OUT THEN SMART ASS ! ! ! i have NO arreas WHAT !! so EVER AND I AM PAYING £295 A MONTH WHAT THE HELL WOULD YOU NO ABOUT IT YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT ITS LIKE IF ANY BLOKES DO ANY CASH IN HAND JOBS BLOODY GOOD LUCK TO THEM THE C S A FORCE THEM TO DO WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE ENDS MEET HOPE THE C S A BURN IN HELL ! ! I HAVE LOST EVERYTHING BECAUSE OFF THEM GOOD LUCK GUYS DO WHAT YOU CAN BECAUSE I DONT BLAME THEM

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