Chaos revealed at Child Support Agency

Staff at the Child Support Agency deliberately entered false
information onto the IT system and stockpiled claims which meant
they were not dealt with for years, a newly uncovered report has
revealed.

The study, commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions,
also found that staff passed work to people on long-term sick
leave, while others did not answer their phones.

Problems arose after a new child support scheme was implemented,
which included a change in the way cases were assessed, for all new
cases from March 2003.

The findings throw doubt on the government’s decision to blame
the introduction of a new computer system for problems at the
agency.

A CSA spokesperson said that the agency had acted to improve
services to clients since the research was carried out but added
that “there is still some way to go before the agency is delivering
to all its clients the level of service they are entitled to
expect”.

The study was conducted between March and September 2004 by the
University of Bristol, but was only recently found on the DWP
website.