Editing Child Support Agency (section)

==Criticism==
The Independent Case Examiner (ICE) was set up in 1997 as an independent body to deal with complaints about the CSA. Three recurring themes are mentioned in multiple previous annual reports,<ref name="ICE-report">{{cite web |title=The Independent Case Examiner's Annual Report 2004/2005 |url=http://www.ind-case-exam.org.uk/reports.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060209100524/http://www.ind-case-exam.org.uk/reports.htm |archive-date=2006-02-09 |work=Independent Case Examiner |publisher=[[Department for Work and Pensions]]}}</ref> namely delay (51% of complaints in 2004-2005), error (24% of complaints in 2004-2005) and no action taken (14% of complaints in 2004-2005). According to Department for Work and Pensions statistics,<ref name="dwp-stat">{{cite web |title=Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary Statistics |url=http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/child_support/csa_quarterly_dec05.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060213213939/http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/child_support/csa_quarterly_dec05.asp |work=Child Support Agency |publisher=[[Department for Work and Pensions]] |date=December 2005 |archive-date=2006-02-13 }}</ref> the average length of time for a case to be cleared under the new scheme has increased from an average of 18 days in March 2003, to 287 in December 2005.

Updated statistics published in the [[Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission]] Annual Report and Accounts 2010/11<ref name="CMEC Annual Report and Accounts">[http://www.childmaintenance.org/en/pdf/annual-report/report-and-accounts-10-11.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120082329/http://www.childmaintenance.org/en/pdf/annual-report/report-and-accounts-10-11.pdf|date=2012-01-20}} CMEC Annual Report and Accounts 2010/11</ref> showed that, whilst payments were being made in 65% of CSA cases for the year April 2006 – March 2007, this had increased to 78% by March 2011.

Assessments based on the same financial criteria can give different results, depending on which rules the case is judged under. Non-resident parents who would pay less under the new rules could not get reassessed, except in special circumstances. While the CSA planned to move everyone to the same system in due course, in the interim different people with identical situations would pay different amounts, based solely on when the case was first assessed. One father, whose monthly payments would have dropped from £250 to £150 under the new rules, decided to take the CSA to the [[European Court of Human Rights]], claiming that this discrepancy amounted to discrimination under [[Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights|article 14]] of the [[European Convention on Human Rights|convention]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Father takes CSA case to Europe |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3931445.stm |date=2004-07-28 |access-date=2008-02-15|work=[[BBC News]] |publisher=[[BBC]]}}</ref> However, official statistics showed that the average weekly liability was slightly more under the new scheme. For the years 2006—2007, the average new scheme liability was constantly £23 per week, whereas the old scheme varied from £22 to £23.<ref name="dwp-stat"/>

In November 2004, the head of the CSA resigned amid widespread criticism of the CSA systems.<ref name="BBC-Nov04">{{cite news|title=CSA chief resigns amid criticism |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4018317.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=2004-11-17 |access-date=2005-11-20}}</ref> Sir Archy Kirkwood, chairman of Work and Pensions Committee, described the situation as "a systemic, chronic failure of management right across the totality of the agency."<ref>{{cite news|title='Basically, it doesn't work' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4019239.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=2004-11-17 |access-date=2006-05-18 |quote=The head of the Child Support Agency has resigned amid widespread criticism of the agency's work, including its computer system. Employees, customers and others express their views on the problem-plagued agency.}}</ref> In November 2005, [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Tony Blair]], admitted that the CSA is "not properly suited" to its job, amid reports that for every £1.85 that gets through to children, the CSA spend £1 on administration.<ref name="BBC-Jan06">{{cite news|title=The troubled history of the CSA |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4020399.stm |date=2006-02-18 |access-date=2006-06-24 |work=[[BBC News]] |publisher=[[BBC]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=CSA not suited to job, says Blair |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4441190.stm |date=2005-11-16 |access-date=2006-05-17 |work=[[BBC News]] |publisher=[[BBC]] |quote=Tony Blair says the Child Support Agency is "not properly suited" to its job and is being urgently looked at.}}</ref>

Even prior to its opening, the CSA was subject to criticism, with MP [[David Tredinnick (politician)|David Tredinnick]] describing the CSA as a "sequel to [[Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984]]" due to concerns about "CSA Snooping".<ref name="BBC-Jan06"/> In February 2006, [[Secretary of State for Work and Pensions]] [[John Hutton (Labour MP)|John Hutton]] asked [[Sir David Henshaw]] to redesign the child support system<ref>{{cite news|title= 'Unacceptable' CSA faces overhaul |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4695544.stm |date=2006-02-09 |access-date=2006-03-03 |work=[[BBC News]] |publisher=[[BBC]] |quote=The under-fire Child Support Agency is to be completely overhauled, Work Secretary John Hutton has told MPs.}}</ref> with three key areas of focus; how best to ensure parents take financial responsibility for their children when they are apart, the best arrangements for delivering this outcome cost effectively and the options for moving to new structures and policies, recognising the need to protect the level of service offered to the current 1.5 million parents with care.<ref>{{cite web |title=Recovering Child Support: Routes to Responsibility |url=http://www.dwp.gov.uk/childmaintenance/pdfs/Henshaw_complete22_7.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090612055741/http://www.dwp.gov.uk/childmaintenance/pdfs/Henshaw_complete22_7.pdf |date=July 2006 |archive-date=2009-06-12 |publisher=[[Secretary of State for Work and Pensions]]}}</ref>

On 24 July 2006, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, John Hutton MP, announced that the CSA was not working and as a result would be axed and replaced by a "smaller, more focused" body.<ref>{{cite news|title=Child Support Agency to be axed |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5208864.stm |date=2006-07-24 |access-date=2007-10-08 |work=[[BBC News]] |publisher=[[BBC]] |quote=The Child Support Agency (CSA) is being scrapped, with absent parents facing curfews and the suspension of their passports, MPs have been told.}}</ref>

In March 2008 a website, CSAhell.com, allowed people to publicly post their stories and receive feedback.<ref>{{cite web|title=CSAhell.com |url=http://www.csahell.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111218232657/http://www.csahell.com/ |archive-date=2011-12-18}}</ref> The website was quoted in the national press on CSA-related stories.<ref name="bbc_12325763">{{cite news|last=Baxter |first=Anthony |title=Home DNA kits to test paternity go on sale in shops |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-12325763 |work=[[Newsbeat]] |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=2011-01-11 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Donnelly |first=Laura |title=The perils of the £30 paternity test |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/8306269/The-perils-of-the-30-paternity-test.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204232354/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/8306269/The-perils-of-the-30-paternity-test.html |date=2012-02-05 |archive-date=2012-02-04 |work=[[The Sunday Telegraph]] |publisher=[[Telegraph Media Group]]}}</ref> Since its creation, the website has published almost 2,500 stories and complaints about the CSA, and has itself been criticised by the [[Public and Commercial Services Union]].<ref>{{cite news |title=CSA Staff Under Attack |url=http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/department_for_work_and_pensions_group/dwp-news.cfm/id/344ED7E8-0DC8-4BD8-871DC8821140D4B |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112064010/http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/department_for_work_and_pensions_group/dwp-news.cfm/id/344ED7E8-0DC8-4BD8-871DC8821140D4B0 |work=Recent information from the union in DWP |publisher=[[Public and Commercial Services Union]] |archive-date=2012-01-12 |quote=PCS members working in the Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission (CMEC) in particular have been coming under increased attack on Facebook through the so called CSA Hell site.}} </ref>