Former welfare minister claims Child Support Agency a failure

12.28.06pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 8th Sep 2005

In a disheartening letter to Tony Blair former welfare minister Frank Fields MP has claimed that the CSA is in worse condition than a year after 1997. This news came as no surprise to Liz Lynne MEP who has been calling for the end to the agency since she was Liberal Democrat Social Security Spokesperson in the House of Commons over a decade ago.

"When I was an MP I was flooded with complaints over mistreatment by the Child Support Agency. I hoped that after 1997 major changes would be made to overhaul the system. But little has changed and the entire operation has been not only a waste of taxpayer money, but has provided an ineffective and unresponsive system.

"Even after £456m was spent on just the IT facilities, the 2003 reforms have done nothing to improve service, and it appears that they may have made it even worse.

"The report issued by MPs earlier this year that called for a scrapping of the agency was ignored, and we are once again seeing that the service is failing those in need.

"Constant tinkering with an outdated and unsympathetic system based on a formula will not solve the problem. The CSA must be wholly scrapped and a new system of ensuring child support introduced."

ENDS.