Output 2—Child Support Agency: Performance
Page contents:
| Outcome |
| Effective and efficient delivery of social and health-related services, including financial assistance, to the Australian community |
| Output 2—Child Support Agency |
| Delivery of child support assessment, registration, collection and disbursement services |
CSA’s performance is measured on the cost, effectiveness and price of its outputs (see Table 6).
Detailed reports on CSA’s performance against each of those measures follow.
Figure 7 sets out the movement in the child support collection rate associated with CSA Collect domestic cases since 2002–03.
a Cost is calculated by dividing the actual expenditure for 2004–05 by the total child support credits for 2004–05
Figure 7 Child support collection—total credits applied to total liabilities (CSA Collect domestic cases), 2002–03 to 2004–05
Service delivery
In its 2004–05 business plan, CSA identified a number of challenges, strategies and objectives. The Child Support Agency Business Plan 2004–2005 provides more detail and is available on the CSA website, www.csa.gov.au. The challenges referred to in this section are those outlined in the business plan—they provide a framework for reporting aspects of CSA performance.
Role
CSA administers the Child Support Scheme, facilitating the assessment, payment and transfer of child support between parents. It helps parents meet their responsibility to continue contributing to the financial support of their children after separation. CSA is a semi-autonomous unit within the Department of Human Services (DHS) and is the service delivery agency for the Department of Family and Community Services Output Group 4.2.
Challenge 1: Influence a whole-of-government approach
As a key player in the family law system, CSA works with other relevant government agencies to ensure that children in separated families are adequately provided for by their parents. This collaborative approach focuses on promoting parents’ understanding of the system, focuses their attention on the needs of their children and builds on opportunities to encourage their access to the wide range of services available to them. This approach helps to address the many issues facing separated parents, which in turn increases their ability to meet their child support responsibilities.
Strategy: Contribute to the development and implementation of the government response and policy decisions relating to the recommendations of the Ministerial Taskforce on Child Support
CSA worked closely with colleagues in DHS and Centrelink in contributing to the Ministerial Taskforce on Child Support. Data, papers and briefings were provided to the taskforce.
Strategy: Contribute to the development of a submission on the government’s family law reforms
CSA and Centrelink worked with DHS to finalise a joint submission on the proposed Family Relationship Centres, under which CSA would provide services and information to parents visiting the centres.
Strategy: Enhance CSA’s stakeholder management
CSA recognises the importance of effectively engaging key client representative groups and has worked in partnership with them to promote greater understanding of the child support system and to provide improved access to support services.
The Specialised Client Services group was established in 2004–05 in recognition of the need to strengthen external relationships. This area will be a major focus in 2005–06.
Strategy: Develop products to support separated parents in collaboration with other players in the family law system
The ‘Me and My’ series of booklets is a collection of self-help books designed to assist parents with their parenting and financial and emotional issues after separation. This series commenced in 2003–04 as the result of a collaboration with CSA’s partners (both government and nongovernment) in the family law system. New titles released in 2004–05 were:
- What about me?—Taking care of yourself, a booklet which deals with emotional issues following separation
- Dealing with Separation, an interactive multimedia CD-ROM that aims to help parents navigate the complex issues of separation.
Challenge 2: Build a community focus
To build community understanding and support for separated parents, CSA works with key stakeholders, community service providers and employers on a range of initiatives.
Strategy: Build collaborative relationships with key community service providers
Newly Separated Unemployed Parents
The Newly Separated Unemployed Parents initiative continued to focus on the development and delivery of community programs and specific products and services, including the national rollout of a telephone support service for newly separated unemployed parents.
Since the initiative commenced in November 2004, 10,000 clients have received information tailored to their needs, more than 1,000 clients have used the telephone service, and more than 150 clients have attended face-to-face support programs.
Staying Connected workplace program
During 2004–05, CSA continued to present the acclaimed Staying Connected program, which is a half-day workplace program to help fathers deal with separation. The program’s outcomes have exceeded expectations, attracting national and international interest and recognition.
Direct Telephone Support Service
The Direct Telephone Support Service (DTSS) provides support services to newly separated parents and other parents identified as being at risk. Staffed by professional telephone counsellors and psychologists, it allows separated parents to be transferred directly to the provider by CSA staff in a three-way hook-up. The DTSS provider gives the parents counselling support, education, information and targeted referrals to other community-based services, including a peer education service.
The DTSS pilot operated from May 2003 to June 2005 in Queensland, with over 6,400 clients accessing the service (5,700 as new client proactive referrals and 700 as priority referrals for clients at risk). An additional 51,000 clients were offered the service during and after the registration process. A national referral model, based on the priority referral model in Queensland, is to be implemented in 2005–06.
Challenge 3: Encourage and support parental responsibility
CSA aims to increase parents’ independence and self-reliance in managing their child support responsibilities. To achieve this, CSA seeks to understand parents and their specific needs in order to offer them appropriate products and services following separation.
Strategy: Increase voluntary payment of child support and, where appropriate, enforce payment, through better targeted services
Increase Private Collect rate
CSA is committed to encouraging and supporting parents to manage their child support responsibilities independently, using Private Collect arrangements. Success in this area has continued, with 52.2 per cent of cases registered with CSA transferring their child support privately by the end of 2004–05. This is an increase from 51.8 per cent in 2003–04. A summary of movements in the Private Collect rate is set out in Figure 8.
Figure 8 Child support collection—Private Collect cases as a percentage of total cases, 2002–03 to 2004–05
National collection strategy
During the 2004–05 financial year, CSA successfully reduced Australian-sourced maintenance debt by almost $14 million, building upon similar results in 2003–04.
CSA has also successfully collected an additional $51.5 million in child support (since 30 June 2003) as a result of additional resources provided through the IDC budget initiative to target ‘hard debt’. Practices developed through the IDC initiative have also been extended to other parts of CSA, contributing to improved overall performance in the collection of debt.
Client segmentation model
The segmentation of CSA clients according to a range of factors, including case type, tax return lodgment status and income source, continued throughout 2004–05. Changes in CSA’s information technology system provided compliance and assessment values for every active client and allowed work to be allocated according to client segments to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of outcomes. A pilot which better aligns staff capability with client segments commenced in our Adelaide office in 2004–05.
Change of assessment
CSA parents with special circumstances can apply to have their child support assessments varied from the regular formula assessment using the change of assessment process. In 2004–05, CSA finalised 25,935 applications for a change of assessment.
Of the applications, 55 per cent resulted in varied assessments while 22 per cent resulted in no change, with the balance being withdrawn, incomplete or ineligible. Payers made 52 per cent of all applications and payees made 47 per cent.
The Child Support Registrar generated the remaining 1 per cent of applications. The registrar can initiate a change of assessment where it is suspected that the non-resident parent may be minimising their child support income. In 2004–05, the registrar initiated 393 such applications, of which 91 per cent resulted in varied assessments.
Challenge 4: Streamline agency service delivery
CSA is working to deliver services as efficiently, effectively and innovatively as possible in an environment of increasing parent numbers and community expectations. To achieve this, the agency is actively managing and further developing a range of parent contact channels, with a particular focus on electronic service delivery. In addition, CSA is working closely with other agencies in Human Services to share best practice and to improve the service provided to CSA parents and achieve better child support outcomes generally.
Strategy: Optimise cost-effective service delivery
Integrated service delivery model
CSA’s approach to helping clients meet their child support responsibilities is set out through the integrated service delivery model (see Figure 9). The model separates clients into key management streams, with each stream having a different combination of services, work practices and resourcing aimed at most efficiently and effectively meeting the needs of clients and achieving child support outcomes.
The New Clients stream seeks to enable newly separated parents to make sustainable child support arrangements by providing appropriate options, proactive support and quality referrals. Each client is consistently assisted by the same client service officer during the time that they are managed by the New Clients stream.
The Collection Support stream provides ongoing support for the changing needs of separated parents who generally meet their child support responsibilities. This ensures regular, reliable child support for children. Each client is consistently assisted by the same client service officer during the time that it takes to resolve any particular issue. Once the issue has been resolved, any subsequent inquiries will be directed to the first available client service officer.
The Debt Management Services stream provides intensive case management to collect outstanding child support from parents who are unwilling to pay their child support voluntarily. Each client is consistently assisted by the same client service officer during the time that they are managed by the Debt Management Services stream.
The International stream supports separated parents in cases where one parent resides overseas.
The channels through which CSA provides services are shown to the left of the pyramid in Figure 9, demonstrating the telephone as the channel of greatest demand, with an increasing trend towards electronic service delivery.
The business management framework underpins the CSA client service delivery model, ensuring that all activities and infrastructure are directed towards fulfilling CSA’s strategic intent and providing linkages to CSA’s quality improvement and governance focus (the cycle around the pyramid in Figure 9).
Figure 9 CSA service delivery model
Electronic service delivery
CSA continued to develop and implement electronic service delivery and payment products in response to identified current and future client needs and other business considerations. Highlights were the piloting of online statements for clients and online reconciliation for employers, and the launch of new client payment channels.
Challenge 5: Increase organisational capability and productiveness
CSA strives to ensure that its people have the capability, commitment and resources to deliver appropriate child support outcomes by focusing on:
- continually improving the skills and leadership capabilities of its people
- developing and maintaining systems and tools to support staff to deliver high-quality service to parents
- reviewing sourcing arrangements to ensure that CSA’s personnel, human resources and technological infrastructure supports are the best they can be—since moving to DHS, CSA has made considerable savings in this area.
Strategy: Enhance our staff capability
Learning and development
All CSA’s learning products have been consolidated into a national learning curriculum. These products are accessible via a multi-environment training database on CSA’s intranet.
In addition, an orientation package for Customer Service Officer Level 4 (CSO4) staff has been completed and is available for newly advanced CSO4s and for CSO3s who are ready for advancement.
Entry-level training modules have also been modified to include information about how to use interpreters and communicate with clients from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
Agency agreement
In March 2005, the CSA Certified Agreement 2005–2007, Balancing Performance and Wellbeing, was certified.
The focus of the agreement is on effective and accountable decision making. The agreement also contains strong, measurable links between productivity, people management and pay outcomes.
Challenge 6: Guarantee transparent and accountable service
CSA is responsible for providing a transparent and accountable service to the Australian community. The agency continually refines its performance framework to ensure a balanced view of how it is performing.
Strategy: Achieve a more balanced view of our performance
Parent feedback
CSA’s Clients Having a Say (CHAS) system provides ‘real-time’ parent satisfaction information and feedback through an interactive voice-recording system. Under CHAS, parents are randomly selected to volunteer feedback to an automated survey system at the completion of their call to a CSA client service officer. The questions relate directly to the commitments made to parents in the CSA Client Charter. Responses are used to promote further improvements in the agency.
Results are provided to CSA monthly, and since July 2004 there has been an overall improvement in the levels of client satisfaction. Results for all charter elements for the year were above 75 per cent. In general, clients from the New Clients stream were more satisfied than clients from the other streams. With 25 per cent of clients not satisfied, CSA has plenty of room for improvement and will continue to develop strategies in this important area.
Gathering feedback on a monthly basis has allowed CSA to look at the results and match these with workload cycles, external influences and other factors which may have an impact on client satisfaction. By doing this, CSA has also been able to better understand the results, identifying trends and movements which can be associated with initiatives being undertaken.
Professionalism Survey
The Professionalism Survey has been conducted in CSA since May 1998, measuring the professionalism of the agency against 20 defining attributes. The 2005 results have maintained the good gains made in 2004, with an overall rating of 3.8 out of 5. This exceeded the target of 3.7 out of 5.
Objections
Objections Under the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 and the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988, parents can object to most decisions that CSA makes. In 2004–05, CSA received 21,877 objections and finalised 19,508. Of all finalised objections, 44.6 per cent were disallowed or partially disallowed, 17.1 per cent were upheld, and 38.3 per cent were withdrawn or invalid.