No one knows what to do about the Child Support Agency. My critique last week prompted the comment: what is the alternative? It is apparent that no-one really has one.
Moving the CSA's functions to the Inland Revenue seems obvious, but even the advocates of that option caution that the Revenue messed up tax credits and is burdened by the merger with Customs and Excise. Could the Revenue cope?
Meanwhile, bounty hunters are to be dispatched to track down the 100,000 men not paying child maintenance.
This rough justice masks a deeper disrespect in Government circles for those caught in the CSA trap - people on benefit. Or to be more precise, mothers on benefit. But perhaps their dilemmas are telling us something important about ourselves as a society.
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