General Chat

The Csa very nearly pulled my family apart when we nearly lost our home, the stress was utterly horrendous, they attack some families and leave others alone. carolxx

Good job - does not work - and causes my son loads of problems, he willingly pays but what he is left to pay his mortgage and live on is buttons. Surely they can think of a better system my son and many others still have to live. Mary

Their a waste of space, I havent heard one positive thing about them.

Good waste of tax payers money, Lil

I am not surprised, the whole thing has been shambolic.

Child Support Agency facing axe The troubled Child Support Agency (CSA) is being axed, while absent parents face being electronically tagged, under plans to be announced by ministers. Parents will be encouraged to make their own arrangements over child maintenance, with a new agency focusing on parents who refuse to co-operate. New powers would prevent absent parents from going out after work and allow passports to be confiscated. But the Conservatives are not convinced the changes will make any difference. 'Tough enforcement' The reforms will be unveiled by Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton in the Commons. They are intended to allow parents to keep more of their maintenance allowance before it affects their benefits. They come as a response to a review of child support arrangements by Sir David Henshaw, whose report is set to be published on Monday afternoon. He is understood to favour the replacement of the CSA by a new organisation that will not handle payments for all parents. Lord Hunt, a minister from the department, said he wanted to see more parents resolving issues for themselves without state interference. But he warned: 'It's very important that where parents are not prepared to support their children, there is tough enforcement.' He said the government had 'every right' to get tough with absentee parents, but he would not confirm reports of tagging, curfews or passport confiscation. It is thought that the agency will be given the power to use debt collectors, and a residual agency will be created to deal with the massive backlog which has grown under the CSA. 'Broken families' Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesman David Laws urged the government not to write off the £3.5bn of child maintenance arrears and 330,000 strong backlog of cases. 'The government must not abandon the hundreds of thousands of families failed by 13 years of CSA incompetence,' he said. 'The reforms which are being announced must be judged by one test only - will they get more money through to the children living in broken families?'

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