£118k IN BONUSES FOR CSA BOSSES DESPITE WORSENING CHAOS - LYNNE

11.44.31am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 8th Nov 2005

New figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show that that since the disastrous Child Support reforms were introduced in March 2003 £118,370 in performance related bonuses have been paid to senior management at the CSA.

Liz Lynne MEP, a former Liberal Democrat Social Security Spokesperson in the House of Commons, commented today:

"It's unbelievable that any bonus at all should be being paid within an organisation which is in chaos and failing children and families.

"They got rid of almost all the performance targets they used to have and even those they do have missed by miles in all but one case.

"One of the first things the new Secretary of State must do is sort out the shambles at the CSA."

ENDS

Note to Editors:

The annual report for 2002-03 measured performance against 27 targets. By 2004-05 they were measuring performance against just 4 targets. Some of the previous targets were made 'internal targets' others were discontinued. In 04-05 they failed by a substantial margin to meet the two targets on compliance and the target on accuracy. They met the target on cost per case.