CSA – good money after bad?

John Hutton, the Work and Pension Secretary, has announced that the child support system in the UK is to be completely redesigned. He has found little evidence to suggest that outcomes under the CSA are any better than under the court system it replaced. He has ordered a full review and report back in the summer. £1bn of uncollected maintenance was written off last year and the agency has at present a backlog of 300,000 cases with £3bn of unpaid debts. A £120m interim improvement plan is to be implemented immediately with a quarter of this investment, £30m, being used to contract out some of the agency’s debt recovery to certificated bailiffs.