CHILD SUPPORT AGENCY

Motion Text

That this House deplores the continuing computer problems at the Child Support Agency, which have left approximately a million cases waiting to be transferred to the new scheme; acknowledges both the sense of injustice felt by those parents waiting to be reassessed and the needs of their children; notes that Doug Smith, the Chief Executive of the CSA, told the Select Committee on Work and Pensions in July that 'the software needed to do bulk conversions ... was intended to be available to us around the autumn of this year. It is now clear that that will not be available ... until the spring of next year'; and calls upon the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to confirm that there will be no further delays, that the software will indeed be available to the CSA by next spring, and to set a date for the transfer of old cases to the new scheme.