Accredited official statistics

Background information and methodology

Updated 28 April 2021

Context of the statistics

This publication contains the most up-to-date tables and breakdowns on the 1993 and 2003 schemes operated through the Child Support Agency (CSA) only. The publication does not cover statistics on the 2012 Scheme operated by the Child Maintenance Service which are published separately, in line with our strategy for publication of 2012 Scheme information because of the differing intents of the two services.

The Government reformed the child maintenance system in 2012 so that it provides support to enable parents to work together after a separation. Child maintenance is financial support between separated parents to help with the everyday living costs of looking after children.

If they agree, separated parents can now arrange child maintenance themselves. This is called a ‘family-based arrangement’. A family-based arrangement is a private way to sort out child maintenance. Parents arrange everything themselves and no-one else has to be involved.

The Child Maintenance Service, which replaced the Child Support Agency (CSA), is for when the parents cannot agree to a family-based arrangement. Incentives were introduced to encourage parents to think twice about whether they could set up a family-based child maintenance arrangement without automatically turning to the statutory child maintenance scheme and for those parents who were not able to make their own family-based arrangement, the 2012 statutory maintenance scheme is available.

The 2012 child maintenance scheme was introduced on 10 December 2012, using a pathfinder approach to new applicants with at least four qualifying children with the same two parents named in the application. On 29 July 2013 the 2012 Scheme opened to new applicants with at least two qualifying children with the same two parents named in the application. On 25 November 2013, the Scheme opened up to all new applicants.

From 25 November 2013, all new applications for child maintenance were made to the 2012 Scheme. Proactive Case Closure of 1993 and 2003 Scheme cases began on 30 June 2014, using a phased approach to select cases in segments for closure. Details of the segments can be found in the Child maintenance: Ending liability scheme guidance. This was in line with the Government’s aim to have all statutory scheme clients assessed under one scheme, using one IT system, by the end of December 2017. Consequently, the 1993 and 2003 Scheme caseloads have steadily reduced as no new intake was received and cases closed.

The child maintenance compliance and arrears strategy, published in 2018, set out how government would address non-paying historical debt that built up on the CSA schemes. The CSA wrote to the Parent with Care (PWC) to ask if they wanted a last attempt to be made to try to collect their debt in cases where:

• it had built up on CSA systems and there had been no recent payment made
• the case started before 1 November 2008 and the debt was over £1000
• the case started on or after 1 November 2008 and the debt was over £500

This process is called ‘representation’. If the PWC responds stating that they still want their debt, the CSA or CMS (depending on where the case is held) determine whether there is a reasonable chance of collection and proceed appropriately, in most cases by writing to the non-resident parent.

Debt less than £500 (or debt less than £1000 for older cases) is written off without asking parents in these cases if they want their debt collected, as collection activity would cost more than the debt was worth, but a notification letter is issued to both parents explaining what has happened with their case. In cases with debt below £65, the debt is written off and notification letters are not issued.

All debt owed to government accrued in the CSA is written off as collecting this debt will not benefit families and it would cost more to collect than the debt is worth. This debt owed to government built up under a CSA policy that has now ended. This policy required the NRP to repay the government for some of the benefits paid to support their children. All cases on the CSA system have completed representation or write off and CSA IT systems fully closed in March 2020.

A number of cases with CSA historical debt remain on the CMS system and these cases will progress through representation or write off under the terms agreed in the compliance and arrears strategy.

Purpose of the statistics

The aim of the publication is to give an overview of the child maintenance activity operated by the Child Support Agency.

Users and Uses

The Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary Statistics are used by a wide range of stakeholders both internally and externally, for example:

• the public
• external interest groups
• Parliament
• Department for Work and Pensions Ministers
• ministers and officials in other government departments
• academics
• the media and external commentators
• Department for Work and Pensions policy and operational officials

The statistics are used for a number of purposes:

• monitoring and reporting of the Child Support Agency caseload and outstanding maintenance arrears as the 1993 and 2003 schemes are closed and replaced by the 2012 scheme
• monitoring and reporting of the representation process for Parents with Care and Non-Resident Parents
• provide a full view of how outstanding maintenance arrears on CSA cases have been handled through the Compliance and Arrears Strategy, including write-off, adjustment and collection of debt
• informing ministerial briefings and press releases
• answering Parliamentary Questions and Freedom of Information requests
• policy evaluation to help external users gauge the performance of the Child Maintenance Service

Definitions and terminology within the statistics

Arrears

Unpaid child maintenance.

Adjusted Debt

Historical debt balances which are adjusted (modified upwards or downwards) either because evidence has been received to show that the debt has already been paid or to correct inaccuracies on the CSA or CMS IT systems.

Current Liability

A case is classed as having a ‘Current Liability’ if it is open, has children of a qualifying age and has a positive liability (assessment to pay maintenance).

Debt above representation threshold

The CSA will write to the PWC to ask if they want a last attempt to be made to try to collect their debt in cases where it has built up on CSA systems and there has been no recent payment made, the case started before 1st November 2008 and the debt is over £1000 or the case started on or after 1st November 2008 and the debt is over £500. These cases are classed as having debt above representation threshold.

Liability

The legal requirement to pay child maintenance.

Live Caseload

The total caseload minus cases with no current or on-going liability, no arrears and no payments are being made.

No Ongoing Liability

A case is classed as having ‘No On-going Liability’ if there is no longer a child maintenance interest on the case (meaning the case has been cancelled or withdrawn), or there are no longer any children of a qualifying age remaining on the case.

Non-resident Parent

The parent who doesn’t have main day-to-day care of the child.

Off System

Due to technical issues with the CSA’s computer systems, some cases are not managed using the CSA’s main computer systems. This is also described as cases being processed ‘clerically’.

Outstanding arrears

If a case is not compliant or does not pay the full amount of liability owed then maintenance arrears will begin to build.

Parent with Care

The parent with main day-to-day care of the child.

Representation

The process of writing to parents to ask if they want us to make a last attempt at collecting the debt owed to them, where it is cost effective to do so.

Total Caseload

The total number of cases on the CSA 2003 and 1993 Schemes.

Written off Debt

CSA historical debt which has been written off, either because the parent with care has told us they don’t want this debt, it is debt owed to government only, it would cost more to collect the debt than it is worth or it has been deemed uncollectable.

Notes about the statistics

Table Conventions

Symbol used in table	Meaning
.	Not applicable
..	Not available
-	Less than the rounding threshold. In tables rounded to the nearest 100, this represents a figure of less than 50. In tables rounded to the nearest 5, this represents a figure of less than 5

Caseload and enforcement figures are rounded to the nearest 100.

Complaints figures are rounded to the nearest 10.

Collections and outstanding arrears figures are rounded to the nearest £0.1 million.

Experimental Statistics

These official statistics are experimental statistics. This is due to the ongoing development of the data systems and statistics used to support the compliance and arrears strategy. The methodologies used to produce these statistics are constantly monitored and is subject to revision as improved data sources and methodologies become available.

The statistics have been developed using guidelines set out by the UK Statistics Authority. Background to the decision not to seek a National Statistics designation for the publication is in the Child Support Agency statistics publication strategy.

Data quality and sources

Data sources

The statistics in the publication come from different data sources. Some of these are from administrative data, management information and some from clerical data. We have ensured that all our tables are based on the most accurate and relevant data available.

Administrative data

This is data generated from the Child Support Agency and Child Maintenance Service computer systems. Data on all parents using the service is collected and the quality of this information is good.

Management information

This is aggregate information and statistics collected and used by the Child Maintenance Service to manage the business, monitor performance and inform policies. It is usually based on administrative data but can also come from survey data. The terms administrative data and management information are sometimes used interchangeably. The quality of this information is good.

Clerical data

This is gathered manually and usually stored in spreadsheets. As the data is entered manually it goes through multiple checks to ensure its accuracy. The quality of this information is reasonable.

We believe all our data sources meet publishable standards.

The following table sets out the source(s) for each table.

Table	Table Description	Source
1	Caseload on CSA systems	Child Support Agency Administrative data
2	Outstanding maintenance arrears on CSA systems	Child Support Agency Administrative data
3	CSA arrears only intake and caseload on the Child Maintenance Service	Child Maintenance Service Administrative data
4	Child Support Agency arrears transitioned to the Child Maintenance Service	Management Information
5.1	Debt Owed to Parent with Care above thresholds summary – CSA system caseloads	Child Support Agency Administrative data
5.2	Debt Owed to Parent with Care above thresholds summary – CSA system values	Child Support Agency Administrative data
5.3	Debt Owed to Parent with Care above thresholds summary – CMS system caseloads	Child Maintenance Service Administrative data
5.4	Debt Owed to Parent with Care above thresholds summary – CMS system values	Child Maintenance Service Administrative data
6.1	Parent with Care representation progress – CSA system caseloads	Child Support Agency Administrative data
6.2	Parent with Care representation progress – CSA system values	Child Support Agency Administrative data
6.3	Parent with Care representation progress – CMS system caseloads	Child Maintenance Service Administrative data
6.4	Parent with Care representation progress – CMS system values	Child Maintenance Service Administrative data
7.1	Non Resident Parent representation progress – CSA system caseloads	Child Support Agency Administrative data
7.2	Non Resident Parent representation progress – CSA system values	Child Support Agency Administrative data
7.3	Non Resident Parent representation progress – CMS system caseloads	Child Maintenance Service Administrative data
7.4	Non Resident Parent representation progress – CMS system values	Child Maintenance Service Administrative data
8.1	Collections and write-off on CSA arrears only case groups	Child Maintenance Service Administrative data
8.2	Methods of debt collection for CSA arrears only case groups	Child Maintenance Service Administrative data and Clerical data
9.1	Debt adjusted or written off summary – CSA system caseloads	Child Support Agency Administrative data
9.2	Debt adjusted or written off summary – CSA system values	Child Support Agency Administrative data
9.3	Debt adjusted or written off summary – CMS system caseloads	Child Maintenance Service Administrative data
9.4	Debt adjusted or written off summary – CMS system values	Child Maintenance Service Administrative data
10.1	Complaints relating to the compliance and arrears strategy – CSA cases	Child Support Agency and Child Maintenance Service Administrative data
10.2	Complaints relating to the compliance and arrears strategy – CMS cases	Child Maintenance Service Administrative data

Read more details on DWP policy statements including quality guidelines.

Feedback

We welcome feedback.

We are constantly aiming to improve this release and its associated commentary. We would welcome any feedback you might have.

Email: cm.analysis.research@dwp.gov.uk