Children: Maintenance
(asked on 16th July 2015) - View Source
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much child maintenance was not collected in each of the last five years.
The table below shows the total amount of liability accrued each year and, by comparison, how much was received or adjusted and the difference at the end of the year. Liability accrued is compared with collections excluding and including amounts in respect of arrears and technical adjustments.
A new methodology was introduced in the December 2013 Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics which is only available for data from January 2012. Figures prior to this do not use a comparable methodology and are therefore not included.
Year ending: | Liability Accrued in the Year (£m)(2,3) | Regular Maintenance Collected in the year i.e. excluding amounts towards arrears and technical adjustments (£m) (2,4) | Difference in regular maintenance (£m) at the end of the year (6) | Total Credits in the year i.e. including amounts towards arrears and technical adjustments (£m)(2,5) | Difference in credits (£m) at the end of the year(7) |
| A | B | =A-B | C | =A-C |
Mar-13 | £915.7 | £655.0 | £260.7 | £828.3 | £87.4 |
Mar-14 | £942.4 | £688.0 | £254.4 | £849.0 | £93.4 |
Mar-15 | £840.7 | £629.3 | £211.4 | £767.4 | £73.3 |
Notes:
1)
a. Figures are against the 1993 and 2003 statutory maintenance services only, including cases managed off system.
b. Maintenance Direct cases are not included within this table. A Maintenance Direct case would not accrue liability on the CSA computer Systems, due to money being paid directly between parents.
2) Total Liabilities is the sum of the quarterly amounts of money charged as regular maintenance (excluding any technical adjustments).
3) Regular maintenance collected is the amount of money paid via the collection service excluding technical adjustments. This figure is derived by summing the quarterly figures together. It is possible that some of the maintenance not collected in one of the quarters might be collected in the next quarter as arrears; however this will not be included in the regular maintenance figures.
4) Total credits are the sum of the quarterly amounts of money paid, including technical adjustments and contributions towards arrears, via the collection service.
5) The difference in regular maintenance at the end of the year is the amount of liability not collected on time within each quarter.
6) The difference in credits at the end of the year is the amount of liability not collected. This is the total amount of liability accrued minus regular maintenance collected, technical adjustments and payments towards arrears.
7) Quarterly figures are published in the Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-of-statistics-march-2015