Summary of Measures in the Act Child Maintenance Current position
12.The CSA was established in 1993 to assess, collect and enforce child maintenance payments from non-resident parents. The CSA was to replace court arrangements, which were seen as cumbersome and failing children and their parents. The original scheme was introduced by the Child Support Act 1991. This was amended by the Child Support Act 1995 and the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000. The 2000 Act introduced significant changes including the introduction of a new scheme for calculating child support maintenance (the ‘new scheme’), and changes to section 6 of the Child Support Act 1991, under which the CSA could treat parents with care in receipt of prescribed benefits as having applied for child support maintenance.
13.The CSA was established as one of the Executive Agencies of the Department of Social Security. Executive Agencies were first established following Sir Robin Ibbs's ‘Next Steps’ Report in 1988. The intention was that they would take responsibility for, and bring a new more customer-focused approach to, individual executive (service delivery) functions within Government. This would leave their parent Departments to concentrate on policy development.
14.Executive Agencies operate as part of their parent Department under powers that are delegated from Ministers, as they do not hold statutory status as bodies corporate in their own right. Executive Agencies have a Chief Executive who reports to the Department and Minister against specific targets, and they are staffed by Civil Servants. The Chief Executive of the CSA is supported by an advisory board of executive and non-executive members.