The Commonwealth Ombudsman, Prof John McMillan, today released a report of his investigation into Child Support Agency (CSA) decisions.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman’s report looks at the administrative procedure for making a change of assessment to a person’s child support payment. More than 1,000 decisions made over a six-month period were evaluated as to the standard of decision-making. The study focused on change of assessment decisions based on one or both parents’ income, earning capacity, property or financial resources.

‘Child support assessment is a complex and sensitive area of government decision making’, Prof McMillan noted. ‘The Child Support Agency plays the difficult role of making decisions that potentially favour one parent to the detriment of another. Decision-making in this area is unavoidably controversial. That in itself is a reason for close scrutiny of the quality of child support decision making.’

‘The study showed an acceptable quality of decision making in a majority of cases’, Prof McMillan said. ‘Yet improvement is needed. Close to twenty-five per cent of the cases analysed were rated as not being reasonably open or available to the decision-maker, not being the best possible decision or not being possible to categorise.’

The report pointed to regional differences in the quality of decisions and the criteria applied by decision-makers in assessing a parent’s liability or entitlement. ‘It is a cause for concern,’ Prof McMillan noted, ‘that the substance of a decision can vary according to where a person lives in Australia. It should be a core objective of every national government agency to iron out regional differences in decision-making and service delivery to the extent possible.’

The Commonwealth Ombudsman’s report made 12 recommendations. All were accepted by the Department of Family and Community Services and the CSA. The recommendations include the need for CSA to provide more guidance to decision- makers and to develop training programs that address areas of weakness and consistency.

Professor McMillan acknowledged that that the CSA had cooperated fully with his office in conducting the study and responding to the recommendations. The CSA showed a readiness to resolve problems promptly when they were identified in the course of the investigation.

The executive summary of the report is below.

Download the full text of the Ombudsman’s report

Executive Summary – CSA Change of Assessment Decisions

The Commonwealth Ombudsman receives a large number of complaints about the Child Support Agency (CSA) each year. As a result of issues that emerged in individual cases, the Ombudsman’s office identified a need to undertake a broader investigation of one aspect of the CSA’s operations. Specifically, the office examined the administrative procedure for making a ‘Change of Assessment’ to a person’s child support payment.

The Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 (Cth) contains a formula to be applied in calculating the amount of child support to be paid by one parent to another. The formula takes account of the situation of most families, but can result in inequities where there are special circumstances. Three such examples are, firstly, if a parent incurs extraordinary expenses to spend time with the children (such as long distance travel); secondly, if a parent incurs extra costs because the children have special needs; or, thirdly, if the statutory formula does not accurately pick up the income, earning capacity, property or financial resources of either parent.

To account for these special circumstances, the child support legislation enables either parent to apply to the CSA for a change to the default assessment arising from the application of the statutory formula. In all, there are ten reasons under which a parent may apply to have an assessment changed. The change of assessment process is unavoidably complex, discretionary and divisive. In 2002-03 the CSA dealt with 32 976 change of assessment applications – roughly 5% of the active child support cases registered with it.

The Ombudsman’s office identified a need to initiate an investigation into the decisions made in change of assessment cases. The investigation looked at 1156 decisions, made over a six month period, in which a change of assessment decision was made on the basis of parents’ income, earning capacity, property and financial resources. Among the main findings in the report are:

This report makes twelve recommendations for improvement to the change of assessment process. The main theme in those recommendations is the need for the CSA to initiate greater monitoring of decisions, development of guidelines, and training of decision makers.

The Department of Family and Community Services, which has portfolio responsibility for the CSA, provided a response to the report that agreed to all recommendations (with a qualification to one recommendation). The twelve recommendations and the Department’s response are at Appendix C.

Date of release: 15 June 2004

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      The Commonwealth Ombudsman, Prof John McMillan, today released a report of his investigation into Child Support Agency (CSA) decisions.

      The Commonwealth Ombudsman’s report looks at the administrative procedure for making a change of assessment to a person’s child support payment. More than 1,000 decisions made over a six-month period were evaluated as to the standard of decision-making. The study focused on change of assessment decisions based on one or both parents’ income, earning capacity, property or financial resources.

      ‘Child support assessment is a complex and sensitive area of government decision making’, Prof McMillan noted. ‘The Child Support Agency plays the difficult role of making decisions that potentially favour one parent to the detriment of another. Decision-making in this area is unavoidably controversial. That in itself is a reason for close scrutiny of the quality of child support decision making.’

      ‘The study showed an acceptable quality of decision making in a majority of cases’, Prof McMillan said. ‘Yet improvement is needed. Close to twenty-five per cent of the cases analysed were rated as not being reasonably open or available to the decision-maker, not being the best possible decision or not being possible to categorise.’

      The report pointed to regional differences in the quality of decisions and the criteria applied by decision-makers in assessing a parent’s liability or entitlement. ‘It is a cause for concern,’ Prof McMillan noted, ‘that the substance of a decision can vary according to where a person lives in Australia. It should be a core objective of every national government agency to iron out regional differences in decision-making and service delivery to the extent possible.’

      The Commonwealth Ombudsman’s report made 12 recommendations. All were accepted by the Department of Family and Community Services and the CSA. The recommendations include the need for CSA to provide more guidance to decision- makers and to develop training programs that address areas of weakness and consistency.

      Professor McMillan acknowledged that that the CSA had cooperated fully with his office in conducting the study and responding to the recommendations. The CSA showed a readiness to resolve problems promptly when they were identified in the course of the investigation.

      The executive summary of the report is below.

      Download the full text of the Ombudsman’s report

      Executive Summary – CSA Change of Assessment Decisions

      The Commonwealth Ombudsman receives a large number of complaints about the Child Support Agency (CSA) each year. As a result of issues that emerged in individual cases, the Ombudsman’s office identified a need to undertake a broader investigation of one aspect of the CSA’s operations. Specifically, the office examined the administrative procedure for making a ‘Change of Assessment’ to a person’s child support payment.

      The Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 (Cth) contains a formula to be applied in calculating the amount of child support to be paid by one parent to another. The formula takes account of the situation of most families, but can result in inequities where there are special circumstances. Three such examples are, firstly, if a parent incurs extraordinary expenses to spend time with the children (such as long distance travel); secondly, if a parent incurs extra costs because the children have special needs; or, thirdly, if the statutory formula does not accurately pick up the income, earning capacity, property or financial resources of either parent.

      To account for these special circumstances, the child support legislation enables either parent to apply to the CSA for a change to the default assessment arising from the application of the statutory formula. In all, there are ten reasons under which a parent may apply to have an assessment changed. The change of assessment process is unavoidably complex, discretionary and divisive. In 2002-03 the CSA dealt with 32 976 change of assessment applications – roughly 5% of the active child support cases registered with it.

      The Ombudsman’s office identified a need to initiate an investigation into the decisions made in change of assessment cases. The investigation looked at 1156 decisions, made over a six month period, in which a change of assessment decision was made on the basis of parents’ income, earning capacity, property and financial resources. Among the main findings in the report are:

      • the highest proportion of applications for a change of assessment (over one third) were cases in which one of the parties (usually the paying parent) was self-employed or had a business income
      • nearly one quarter of the change of assessment decisions made by the CSA were given a rating which suggested the need for an improved standard of decision-making (specifically, the decision was rated as being not reasonably open to the decision maker, not the best possible decision, or not possible to categorise)
      • there were noticeable regional differences in the nature and style of the decision making, including in the overall standard of decision making, the level of investigation undertaken by the decision maker, and the reasoning underlying the decisions.

      This report makes twelve recommendations for improvement to the change of assessment process. The main theme in those recommendations is the need for the CSA to initiate greater monitoring of decisions, development of guidelines, and training of decision makers.

      The Department of Family and Community Services, which has portfolio responsibility for the CSA, provided a response to the report that agreed to all recommendations (with a qualification to one recommendation). The twelve recommendations and the Department’s response are at Appendix C.

      Date of release: 15 June 2004