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<p>Writing off some historic Child Support Agency (CSA) arrears was not a quick or
easy decision, and involved exhausting other approaches to deal with the debt, including
using debt collection agencies without success. Much of the debt that accrued under
the CSA is now old and generally uncollectable, and most parents accept this.</p><p>
</p><p>It is a long-established principle of the child maintenance system that where
non-resident parents do not pay the maintenance they are legally required to pay,
the obligation on the government is to do its best to ensure collection – not for
the taxpayer to pay the maintenance.</p><p> </p><p>We are making one last attempt
to collect the debt, where it is cost effective to do so and there is a reasonable
chance of collection. Debts of smaller amounts may be written off as part of the process.</p><p>
</p><p>Attempting to collect would have cost around £1.5bn, and would have recovered
between £0.1bn and £0.6bn. Had we not written off we would have needed to maintain
the debt indefinitely at a cost of £30 million per year.</p><p> </p><p>Addressing
these cases will enable us to close the CSA completely and focus on collecting money
that will benefit today’s children, and avoid the build-up of arrears in the Child
Maintenance Service.</p>
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