NEW CHILD SUPPORT SYSTEM RISKS REPEATING SOME OF THE MISTAKES OF THE CSA

Angus MP Mike Weir, SNP Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions, has expressed concern that the new Child Maintenance system currently being considered by Westminster could repeat some of the mistakes that undermined the current Child Support Agency.

Mr Weir is serving on the committee considering details of the Child Maintenance Bill which will set up the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission to replace the CSA.  Mr Weir has, however, expressed concern that the new system will initially add to the complexity of child maintenance payments.

“A huge amount of ill feeling has been created by the fact that the current CSA runs two separate systems, depending on when a case began. This means that two people with identical means can be paying or receiving vastly different amounts.”

“Under the present proposals this will be joined by a third system under the new act. The CSA was never able to run two systems competently, how the government expect CMEC to run three is a mystery to me.”

Mr Weir called for urgent action to put everyone on the same system.

“Only by ensuring that the system is fair and transparent can we build public confidence. The government must grasp the nettle and put everyone on the same system as a matter or urgency. Failure to do so will continue to poison attitudes to child maintenance and create the same problems in CMEC that undermined the CSA.”