Part 1: The year in review
- Departmental overview
- Family and Community Services portfolio structure
- Organisational structure
- Financial performance overview
- Child Support Agency General Manager's review
Child Support Agency–General Manager's review
The Child Support Agency's (CSA) job is to help separated parents take responsibility for the financial support of their children. CSA has a dedicated team of over 2500 people who work with 1.3 million separated parents to help about 1.1 million children.
Our strategic intent is to maximise parental self-reliance and independence to achieve the best outcomes for children. Our success in realising our intent is evident, with more than half of registered separated parents now paying child support privately, and more than $2.1 billion being transferred between parents in 2003–04. Since CSA was formed, more than 95 per cent of all assessed child support has been transferred for the benefit of children.
CSA operates as a semi-autonomous business unit within FaCS. We collaborate closely with a range of areas within FaCS, while differing from other core areas in that we provide direct services for parents, employers and the community. CSA is accountable to the Secretary of FaCS, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Family and Community Services, and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. As General Manager I am a member of the FaCS Executive Board.
Each year provides its challenges for CSA in managing the community's Child Support Scheme. The year 2003–04 was no exception. CSA's Business Plan provides our comprehensive change agenda but it is worthwhile to comment on our key focus areas for the year:
- stemming the growth in gross maintenance debt and transferring more dollars for children at home and abroad
- working closely with other areas of FaCS to provide evidence-based submissions to and appear before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Community Affairs' inquiry into child custody arrangements
- making connections across the community and across government to support parents through the difficulties at separation
- improving our service to parents so they fully understand all the options available to them in meeting their child support obligations and are supported to act on them.
I am delighted with the progress we have made this year in each of our key focus areas.
Stemming debt and collecting more dollars for children at home and abroad
Gross maintenance debt grew by only $3.5 million in 2003–04 compared with an increase of $85.4 million in 2002–03. This resulted from an overall decrease in debt of $13 million associated with Australian cases and an increase in debt of $16.5 million in international cases.
This is a significant achievement, reflecting the increased efforts of all of CSA's people, and particularly the targeting of outstanding debt provided through the Intensive Debt Collection (IDC) Budget Initiative. The latter has resulted in contact with 15 100 parents and the collection of an additional $19.3 million in child support payments for children as at 30 June 2004. The late payment penalty incentive offer has been highly successful, with 27 per cent of parents targeted agreeing to accept the offer and pay their child support debt.
CSA has also strengthened its working relationship with the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) in order to better facilitate the transfer of monies from our international customers. Hand in hand with this process has been the significant increase of international cases with very high debts, in particular from New Zealand. Unfortunately this growth has contributed considerably to offsetting the significant gains made over the last financial year in reducing domestic debt. CSA is currently in discussions with New Zealand Inland Revenue/Child Support on how best to deal with this issue. Some of the joint approaches include more effective scrutiny before transfers start and joint case management. Early results from these endeavours look promising.
Supporting Parliament
As part of FaCS, CSA provided information and suggested improvements relating to the Child Support Scheme to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Community Affairs throughout its Inquiry into Child Custody Arrangements in the Event of Family Separation. Since the committee's report was released in December 2003, CSA has participated in a FaCS working group analysing and responding to the short- and long-term recommendations of the inquiry. This will continue to be one of our priorities, and some advances, such as improved communications with parents, have already been made.
Making connections across the community and across government
In May 2004 we launched an exciting new workplace program called 'Staying Connected', which was developed in consultation with a NSW-based community organisation, Interrelate.
This program addresses the needs of separated parents (in particular, men) by providing them with practical tips and hints on how to stay connected with their children post-separation. It deals with:
- the importance of taking care of their own physical and emotional wellbeing
- how to develop a businesslike relationship with the other parent
- how to maintain positive relationships with their children post-separation.
The program has been enthusiastically piloted by the Australian Defence Force and Australia Post. Since the launch in Kalgoorlie, local mining industry groups have undertaken to implement this program. The successful pilots and positive response from the private sector are a sound endorsement of the 'Staying Connected' program that recognise its positive contribution to the organisations' corporate bottom line as well as to the emotional and physical wellbeing of their workers.
Another successful pilot, implemented in May 2003 by CSA, is the Direct Telephone Support Service (DTSS), providing newly separated parents with referrals to appropriate counselling, legal, financial and other support services in the community. The referral service is designed to have a positive effect on supporting the physical and emotional wellbeing of separated parents. In the 2003–04 period, approximately 3323 parents were referred.
Some other initiatives that have been developed in response to research into the factors that contribute to voluntary payment of child support are:
- The Newly Separated Unemployed Parents initiative (NSUP). This program aims to help increase the earning capacity and parenting skills of some 31 500 unemployed non-resident parents over a four-year-period. Initial consultation with a range of community, government and job network providers has been completed. Information resources and a dedicated telephone counselling service have been made available to these parents as a part of the first phase of this initiative.
- The 'Me and My' series of self-help booklets is designed to address the financial and emotional needs of our parents, with a strong focus on children. This range has been expanded to include a revamped money management booklet, Me and My Money, and What about Me?, which deals with individual wellbeing post-separation. There are also plans to introduce two new booklets in 2004–05, which will address building a businesslike relationship with the other parent and managing issues related to re-partnering.
CSA's continuing focus to improve services to parents and the community
In addition to receiving feedback from parents and other direct sources, CSA this year embraced comments by the report on the Inquiry into Child Custody Arrangements in the Event of Family Separation–Every Picture Tells a Story. We have reviewed our communication with parents and will soon be launching revised products for newly separated parents. We have enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to enhance communication with Members of Parliament. We will continue our efforts next year.
Our annual Professionalism Survey was conducted with excellent results. This survey measures and tracks parents' perceptions of the professionalism of CSA staff, a key corporate outcome in CSA's Agency Agreement. This year I am pleased to report that we recorded significant improvements in all four components of our Professionalism Index, with the highest overall client satisfaction score since 1998.
CSA is also looking at innovative ways to evaluate our service standards with the introduction of a new national client satisfaction survey. An interactive voice recording system allows parents to confidentially provide feedback on how to improve our services. This client satisfaction measure is also aligned with our new Client Charter, which outlines our commitment to client service.
Into the future
CSA has plans for another busy year in 2004–05. We are continuing to focus on collecting outstanding child support and developing connections across the community and across government to provide holistic solutions for separated parents aimed at reducing conflict and focusing on the needs of children. We are developing infrastructure that supports future e-business solutions to enhance service options for parents.
CSA will ensure that any changes in legislation or recommendations that may result from the Government's response to the parliamentary inquiry into child custody arrangements are implemented effectively.
In short, the CSA will continue to build on the strong foundations already established, promote the principles of parental self-reliance and adapt to the changing needs of the Australian community. We will continue to strive to be a world leader in child support and work tirelessly towards our vision that all Australian parents meet their child support responsibilities.
About Catherine Argall
Catherine Argall, PSM, is General Manager of the CSA within the Australian Government Department of Family and Community Services. Since joining CSA in 1996, Catherine has built a leadership team and business development framework that are driving the transformation of what was once described as the most complained about agency in government.
Catherine was awarded the Public Service Medal in 1995 for outstanding service to public sector management as General Manager, Australian Property Group, and was further recognised last year as a recipient of the Centenary Medal. Over a career of 30 years Catherine has served the Australian Government in positions spanning other departments including Finance, Veterans' Affairs and Administrative Services.
' It is really satisfying to work in such a difficult and complex area of government administration with people who are not only highly skilled but also dedicated in making a difference to the lives of parents and children and building stronger families and community.'