Campbell blasts failure of Child Support Agency

1.35.00pm GMT Thu 21st Dec 2006

Newtownabbey Alliance Councillor, Tom Campbell

The Alliance Party has hit out at delays announced in implementing changes to the much criticised Child Support Agency which are not now due to be implemented until 2013. He stated that financial difficulties experienced by people at this time of the year brought into sharp focus the problems experienced by many lone parent families.

Newtownabbey Alliance Councillor Tom Campbell said: "The writing has been on the wall for the CSA for a long time and it remains one of the worst examples of Government incompetence in many years.

"Millions of pounds of taxpayers money has been poured down the drain in an inefficient and ineffective administration. Unfortunately, a plan to simplify the basis upon which absent parents paid for the welfare of their children via the Child Support Agency has become a standing joke. What is not remotely funny is the plight of the many low income families who have been let down by the collective failure of the government to devise and enforce an efficient system for the collection of payments for the families concerned."

"The financial difficulties experienced by people at this time of the year underlines the problems experienced by many lone parent families.

"It is shocking to hear that the Government is to write off around £50m of the £3.5bn owed to the CSA. In addition to these unacceptable figures are the huge sums of public money lost on administration and on a computer system that failed to resolve the existing difficulties in managing collection.

"The fact no one is going to be held to account for these colossal and systematic errors is a reflection on how accountable our democracy is. Many families need help now. The notion that all families will be able agree financial maintenance between themselves shows that the is government out of touch with the real world."

ENDS