CSA IT work drags on

The Child Support Agency (CSA) continues the slow process of transferring case records to a new IT system.

According to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), there are still 78,000 cases on the old system to be cleared, down from 130,000 a year ago.

In addition there are 680,000 financial support applications on the new system, of which 260,000 are still to be assessed.

The DWP said no 'bulk' transfer of cases to the new system has taken place yet, and this would only happen when the information on file is cleaned and the computer system is stable.

Lord Hunt, under secretary of state at the DWP told silicon.com: "The agency has had problems with its IT system but we are continuing to work closely with EDS and significant improvements have already been made. It would be irresponsible to transfer old scheme cases until we are confident the new scheme is working robustly.

He added: "The agency attaches high priority to reducing backlogs and this will form part of the current work being undertaken to develop a long term strategy."

Two IT upgrades implemented in December 2004 and May 2005 have already resolved some of the system performance issues, the government said.