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| £82m owed to Child Support Agency | |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| More than £82m is owed to the Child Support Agency in Northern Ireland. | |
| The CSA is not allowed to write off debt and the £82.6m represents debts built up over six years. | The CSA is not allowed to write off debt and the £82.6m represents debts built up over six years. |
| The Northern Ireland Audit office said the agency had not been setting high enough debt collection targets. | The Northern Ireland Audit office said the agency had not been setting high enough debt collection targets. |
| In the financial year ending in March 2008 - the debt collection target was £1.5m - yet during that year the agency's debt increased by £11.6m. | In the financial year ending in March 2008 - the debt collection target was £1.5m - yet during that year the agency's debt increased by £11.6m. |
| That target has now been increased to £2.5m, but Auditor General John Dowall said he was disappointed the target is lower than the amount by which debt is increasing by year on year. | That target has now been increased to £2.5m, but Auditor General John Dowall said he was disappointed the target is lower than the amount by which debt is increasing by year on year. |
| He said more than £35m of the money could be collected. | He said more than £35m of the money could be collected. |
| He also said he was concerned at the level of mistakes made in calculating child support. | He also said he was concerned at the level of mistakes made in calculating child support. |
| In a random sample his office found errors in more than a third - which he said was unacceptable. | In a random sample his office found errors in more than a third - which he said was unacceptable. |
| Mr Dowdall acknowledged the CSA was two years into a three-year project to improve the situation. | Mr Dowdall acknowledged the CSA was two years into a three-year project to improve the situation. |
| But he said: "Despite the changes that have taken place already in the first two years of the project, controlling debt evidently continues to be a problem for the CSA with ever increasing debt levels." | But he said: "Despite the changes that have taken place already in the first two years of the project, controlling debt evidently continues to be a problem for the CSA with ever increasing debt levels." |
| Sinn Fein's Paul Maskey, chairman of the assembly's public accounts committee, said: "It's the children who actually suffer from this, because the children, the most vulnerable in our society, need to be given some of these payments. | Sinn Fein's Paul Maskey, chairman of the assembly's public accounts committee, said: "It's the children who actually suffer from this, because the children, the most vulnerable in our society, need to be given some of these payments. |
| "There wouldn't be a week goes past when some of us aren't dealing with issues like this when people are calling into our constituency offices with regards to payments from CSA. | "There wouldn't be a week goes past when some of us aren't dealing with issues like this when people are calling into our constituency offices with regards to payments from CSA. |
| "It can take many months to get some issues resolved, if you get them resolved at all." | "It can take many months to get some issues resolved, if you get them resolved at all." |