CSA to concentrate on short-term IT solutions

The agency needs a fundamental rethink, says the government

The Child Support Agency (CSA) is to concentrate on quick fixes to its IT problems rather than long-term solutions, while a review reconsiders the overall role of the organisation.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) secretary John Hutton told the Commons last week that it is not worth investing £300m in the organisation, as recommended by CSA chief executive Stephen Geraghty in November, because the agency is ‘not fit for purpose’.

Instead, Hutton announced a £120m Operational Improvement Plan to boost service levels in the short term. And former Liverpool City Council chief executive Sir David Henshaw is leading a review, due to conclude in the summer, that will consider long-term changes to the agency.

‘The sheer scale of resources required to transform the CSA clearly demonstrates that in its current state it is not fit for purpose,’ Hutton told MPs.

The agency has suffered continued technology problems since a new system went live in 2003. The system, developed by supplier EDS, uses a different formula for calculating payments.

According to the improvement plan, more than 250,000 new cases are still waiting to be cleared and two-thirds of these old cases have not yet been converted to the new rules.

Plans to convert all old cases are now on hold, pending Henshaw’s recommendations. And rather than addressing the totality of the system’s issues, the CSA and EDS are to establish what can be done for maximum benefit in the short term.

‘They are not going to take on the system as a whole, but will prioritise things with which they can make headway in the short term to bring immediate gains for customers and staff,’ said a DWP spokeswoman.

The Henshaw review is an acknowledgement that the CSA has more than just IT problems, says Ovum analyst Georgina O’Toole.

‘The technology was more of a problem a few years ago and has recently become somthing to blame for other, far deeper problems,’ she said.

‘The latest review saying there needs to be a complete re-organisation suggests that technology was not the whole problem – a computer system will only be effective if the processes it is based on are working properly.’

The changes will have little impact on EDS, says O’Toole. ‘EDS will continue to make incremental improvements until the major changes happen.’