Quote from Sandra Osborne on recent news articles re CSA non payment/arrears

16th July 2010

'The Child Support Agency was setup in the early nineties as the court system was failing families. However it was a bureaucratic and incomprehensible nightmare. For a system to work it needs to be efficient and seen to be fair. A number of changes have been made which has led to a simplified system but I completely agree with Gingerbread that there remains a totally unacceptable level of non payments and arrears. Too often the CSA seems to pursue easy targets where absent parents are making an effort to cooperate whilst failing to pursue those whose determination to go to any lengths to avoid fulfilling their obligation to the children they have brought in to the world knows no bounds.

I regularly deal with situations where lone parents are left to bring up children on a shoestring whilst their former partner lives a life of riley and tells barefaced lies about their income and assets. I therefore welcome the fact that the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is using its new powers to halt or reverse the sale and transfer of assets by parents who have unpaid arrears and are failing in their duty to provide for their own children.

However still more emphasis needs to be put on ensuring that children get the support they need and I will be raising this with the government.'