Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission brings three hundred new jobs to Leeds HQ

06 March 2009

The new public body responsible for child maintenance in Great Britain is to be based in Leeds. Around three hundred new jobs will be created at the city centre headquarters of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.

The Commission assumed control of the Child Support Agency (CSA) and its workforce of nine thousand from the Department for Work and Pensions in November 2008. It is also responsible for promoting financial responsibility for children and providing the new Child Maintenance Options information and support service for separated parents.

The Commission's staff in Leeds will play a leading role in developing and introducing an entirely new maintenance scheme which will replace the two schemes currently provided by the CSA from 2011.

Leeds was one of several major cities considered for our new headquarters,

says Commission Chair Janet Paraskeva.

The crucial factor was the high level of relevant skills in the West Yorkshire workforce – especially those in financial services: We are ultimately a financial organisation, albeit one that delivers public services in response to a very human issue.

Currently less than 50 per cent of children in separated families benefit from effective maintenance arrangements, whether through the service provided by the CSA or private maintenance arrangements. The Commission's goal is to significantly increase that percentage and to help us we are seeking to recruit the best and brightest people from the Leeds area.

Recruitment for new posts has already begun. The available jobs include administrative and professional roles in disciplines including information technology, human resources, and financial management.

The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission was established by the 2008 Child Maintenance Act which brought significant change to Britain's child maintenance system.

Central to the Government's reforms is extension of choice that allows all parents to make the child maintenance arrangements that best suit their own circumstances. When they cannot agree private maintenance arrangements the state system, currently provided by the CSA, will remain available with firm and fair powers of enforcement.