29 July 2005
The Child Support Agency's backlog of unresolved cases has continued to grow despite all the efforts to cut it, benefits minister James Plaskitt has revealed.
Responding to a parliamentary question, Plaskitt acknowledged that the backlog had risen to 260,000 in June this year, compared with 238,000 in November 2003.
However, a spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said this 'could be attributed to the fact that the CSA is now dealing with a higher number of applications and cases. 'The rise is proportionate to increased demand,' he added.
Other figures do not bode well for the CSA, though. One in four assessments undertaken by the agency is incorrect and proposed job cuts have had to be postponed because of the backlog.
New CSA chief executive Stephen Geraghty is due to report to ministers shortly on the agency's potential for improvement.
Plaskitt has said that no decision on the agency's future will be taken until the DWP has read Geraghty's analysis.
In January this year, former work and pensions secretary Alan Johnson warned that he could use the 'nuclear option' and close the CSA should it fail to improve its performance.
Johnson's warning followed a damning report on the agency by the Commons' work and pensions select committee.
The CSA has been blighted by IT problems, despite introducing a simplified payment formula for child maintenance in 2003. A £455m computer system has proved largely incompatible with payments made under the old formula, leaving staff with problems calculating transferred claims.
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