Call to axe agency if failings continue

The Child Support Agency is failing more than half a million
children and should be scrapped if it does not get tougher with
non-resident parents.

That was the verdict of the House of Commons work and pensions
select committee in a report out this week, which also called for
the government to abandon its plan to cut 25 per cent of agency
staff.

Committee chair Sir Archy Kirkwood said: “The CSA is operating on
borrowed time. Rapid, radical action is needed if the Department
[for Work and Pensions] is to deliver a service that children
deserve.”

The report blames senior managers for failings in implementing the
agency’s new IT system and a lack of guidance and inadequate
training for front-line staff.