Overview
The CSA was originally established in 1993 as an executive agency of the Department for Social Security. Its agency status was removed in 2008 when it became the delivery arm of the newly formed Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC). Following the abolition of CMEC in 2012, the CSA became the delivery arm of the Child Maintenance Group within the Department for Work and Pensions.
Child support, or child maintenance, is the contribution from a non-resident parent towards the financial cost of raising their child, paid to the person with whom the child lives, (usually the other parent), referred to as "person/parent with care". The level and conditions of payment can either be mutually agreed between the two parties, or, in case of disagreement, decided by legal means.
Prior to the launch of the CSA, child support disputes were handled by a court based system. This system did not have the power to trace absent parents, and was criticised as "arbitrary and unfair". Nevertheless, the transfer of what had previously been a judicial issue of family law to a government agency was considered to "represent a significant break with the past." The CSA was given the task of assessing payments to ensure consistency, with the powers to collect, enforce and distribute the maintenance payments itself.
Read more about this topic: Child Support Agency