WEIR EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER CSA REFORM

SNP work & Pensions spokesperson, Mike Weir, has expressed concern over reports that Ministers are preparing to write off £1.2bn in unpaid maintenance from errant fathers as part of a reform of the Child Support Agency due to be announced tomorrow. 

Mr Weir said:

“It is typical that the Secretary of State is concentrating on headline grabbing announcements on enforcement powers.  The basic problem with the Agency is not the lack of power, it rarely used what it did have, but rather the chaotic management and lack of fairness. 

“The fundamental challenge is to get a system that is fair and transparent.  Nothing did more to undermine the present system than the fact that there were two assessments systems running side by side with people on the same means paying vastly different amounts.

“Unless this is tackled no amount of tagging, naming and shaming or other measures will create a workable system.”