"THE CHILD Support Agency (CSA) costs 50 per cent more a year to run than it recovers from absent parents, ministers admitted yesterday. The beleaguered agency - whose fate is to be decided by the end of this year - cost taxpayers £12 million last year in operating costs, but retrieved only £8 million from parents for child maintenance.
The CSA played down the figures, saying they only accounted for money retrieved from the initial contact with the parent and did not take into account any future payments made by that person. However, the figures, revealed to Paul Goodman, the shadow work and pensions minister, in a parliamentary question, triggered calls for the CSA to be scrapped."
In fact, it is only the enforcement unit of the CSA that costs more to run than it recovers, which puts rather a different light on the matter (although this is damning enough). Secondly, while there was an earlier parliamentary question, the information was revealed in a point of order raised by Mr Goodman following a letter from the CSA to him.
The accurate picture is shown here, quoting the Parliamentary intervention:
"On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, I received a letter from Stephen Geraghty, the chief executive of the Child Support Agency. The letter responded to a written question that I tabled about the enforcement directorate. In effect, it confirms that that directorate managed to retrieve £8 million last year, but that its running costs were more than £12 million. "
So much for the standards of The Scotsman.
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