Clause 3
Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill
3:00 pm
Paul Rowen (Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions; Rochdale, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move amendment No. 80, in clause 3, page 2, line 11, after ‘efficiently’, insert
‘and the Secretary of State may by regulation provide for the Commission to be liable to pay compensation where—
(a) maladministration by the Commission is accepted, or
(b) the Commission has exercised its power to write off arrears in accordance with section 41E of the Child Support Act 1991, as inserted by section 31 of this Act.’.
The clause deals with some of the general functions of the commission. The amendment seeks to ensure that something is set up and included in the Bill to deal with payment of compensation where there is a clear case of maladministration or where, as I mentioned earlier, the commission has exercised its power to write off arrears, particularly, as has been mentioned earlier, in the case of past debt.
Currently, the CSA, because it is an arm of the Department for Work and Pensions, uses the “Guide to financial redress for maladministration”, which allows financial redress if certain criteria are fulfilled. Given that CMEC will not be part of the Department, but will be an independent body, can such a financial redress guide apply? If it will not apply, what arrangements will the Minister put in place to ensure that clear criteria are set out to allow, in certain agreed cases, for financial redress?
At the moment, the system operated in respect of the “Guide to financial redress for maladministration” is not very good. I refer the Minister to the independent case examiners’ annual report 2006-07, which stated that a
“particular problem to date has been the Agency’s”—
that is, the CSA’s—
“failure to identify the need for financial redress despite acknowledging its maladministration. During the year, we identified 618 cases where the question of financial loss or an advance payment of arrears arose. Disappointingly, over 80% of these had not been considered for financial redress when the Agency itself looked at the complaint.”
That is a damning statement of the CSA’s current operation. We are now moving to the commission and I hope that the Minister will say that proper procedures and arrangements will be put in place to ensure that, when maladministration is demonstrated, a clear mechanism will be set out whereby a parent can receive the payment in compensation.
The Minister might say that the second route that will be applied is that of the parliamentary ombudsman. However, we all know that at present the recommendations of the parliamentary ombudsman are not binding on the CSA. They are only recommendations. Of the 618 cases that the case examiners looked at, the CSA had not even considered the payment of compensation in 80 per cent. of them. It is important to have a fresh start. We are saying that the new agency will change what has happened in the past. We must have an assurance or some mechanism to ensure that compensation will be paid when maladministration has been demonstrated.