David's Daily Diversions

Child Support Fiasco

Some of you may remember that I blogged about the problems with the Child Support Agency here in the UK. Now the Work and Pensions Select Committee of the House of Commons has finally seen the "chronic, systemic failures" of management at the agency.

The biggest problem was the compter system that never worked. EDS got paid half-a-billion pounds for it. However, the chairman of the committee noted, "This is not just about computers. It is a systemic, chronic failure of management right across the totality of the agency." It has been a failure to collect £0.75 billion and a write off of an additional £1 billion. 478,000 applications have been filed and only 61,000 non-custodial parents have made a payment.

The head of the agency resigned today, but I can't see that this is going to make any difference. The problems are much deeper than that.

A government that actively promotes single parenthood really has to get this right. If its ethos and social welfare policies are going to encourage and even reward those who go against the two-parent family model, the dependence upon child support payments is only going to increase. Single parents simply can't live off of the added government handouts.

Too many non-custodial parents are managing to avoid accomodation in a bedsit and are not really living hand-to-mouth. This is a clear failure of Government policy.