Mary Glindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Glindon on 2015-11-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of child maintenance cases resulted in complaints in the (a) 2012 Child Maintenance Scheme, (b) 1993 legacy scheme and (c) 2003 legacy scheme; and what proportion of complaints were upheld in each year since 2010.
Priti Patel
From 10 December 2012 the 2012 Child Maintenance Scheme was opened to new applications with at least 4 qualifying children with the same two parents named in the application. From the 29 July 2013 the scheme then opened to new applicants with at least two qualifying children with the same two parents named in the application. From November 2013 the scheme opened to all new applicants.
For the 2012 Child Maintenance Scheme in 2013-14 and 2014-15 the proportion of complaints received against the total caseload was 0.7% and 1.7% respectively.
Following the launch of the 2003 Scheme for the years 2003-4 and 2004-5, the proportion of complaints received against the CSA caseload was 4.9% and 6.0%, respectively.
For the 1993 Scheme (excluding complaints managed off system), which had been in operation for 17 years, and which had not admitted new cases since March 2003, the proportion of complaints received against the live caseload in the years 2010-11 to 2014-15 was 1.5%, 0.9% 0.7% 0.4% and 0.2% respectively.
For the 2003 Scheme (excluding complaints managed off system), which had been in operation for seven years, and which had a reduced inflow of new cases following the introduction of the 2012 system, the proportion of complaints received against the live caseload in the years 2010-11 to 2014-15 was 1.9%, 1.6%, 1.4%, 1.1% and 0.7%, respectively.
Figures show the number of complaints received against the live/total caseload. There will be cases which have more than one complaint.
For the 2012 Child Maintenance Scheme, information on complaints upheld is not routinely recorded for management information purposes and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Data on complaints upheld includes fully and partially upheld complaints, but cannot be split between 1993 and 2003 Schemes. In the years from 2010-11 to 2014-15, the percentage of complaints upheld was 50.1%, 49.0%, 49.1%, 43.2%, 44.0% respectively.
