Child Support Agency meaning

In this issue: Children's social care Public procurement Social housing Governance Social care Local government finance Education Healthcare Planning Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Latest Q&A Children's social care Supreme Court dismisses appeal upholding care order procedures (The Father v Worcestershire CC) In The Father v Worcestershire County Council [2025] UKSC 1, the Supreme Court rejected the father’s challenge to the care order that placed his children with foster carers. He had applied for a writ of habeas corpus, asserting the order was made without jurisdiction and that the children were unlawfully deprived of their liberty. The Court of Appeal had already refused his bid, indicating that any objection to a care order must be pursued using the mechanisms in the Children Act 1989 and the Family Procedure Rules, not via habeas corpus. The Supreme Court endorsed that approach, noting the children were not detained but living...

In this issue: New technologies Internet Advertising, marketing and sponsorship Telecommunications LexTalk®TMT: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information New technologies MHRA establishes National Commission to develop AI healthcare regulation framework The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has set up the UK National Commission on the regulation of AI in healthcare to shape a fresh regulatory framework for AI within the sector. Its core aim is to turn the NHS into the world’s most AI-enabled health service. See: LNB News 26/09/2025 25. Commission launches consultation on serious incident reporting under Article 73 of the EU AI Act The European Commission has opened a consultation on draft guidance and a reporting template covering serious incidents tied to high-risk AI systems under Article 73 of the EU AI Act. The exercise is designed to support providers in readying for...

In this issue: Public procurement Children’s social care Social care Planning Governance Education Social housing Healthcare Prosecutions by local authorities Daily and weekly news alerts New precedent—template order approving instruction of an expert whose hours or rates exceed Legal Aid Agency limits—public law Public procurement Cabinet Office updates PPNs on data protection and payment spot checks The Cabinet Office has introduced two additional new Procurement Policy Notes within the refreshed set of PPNs republished alongside the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023) go-live—PPN 020: Guidance on data protection legislation and PPN 021: Payment Spot Checks in Public Sub-Contracts. PPN 020: Guidance on data protection legislation offers revised direction on relevant and applicable data protection obligations under the UK GDPR and the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) that regulate the transfer of personal data from the UK. PPN 020 takes effect immediately. It supersedes PPN 03/22, which provided streamlined guidance and refreshed model...

This Practice Note sets out what the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is and how it operates, co-ordinating voluntary support for children and their families across multiple services. It explains when a CAF is suitable and when more formal intervention is needed. What is a Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and when is it used? A CAF is a shared assessment and planning framework used across all children’s services and in every local area in England. The aims and objectives of the CAF are to: help practitioners working with children, young people and families to identify and assess additional needs provide earlier, more effective help to prevent, where possible, formal intervention develop a common understanding of needs and how to work together to meet them A core aim is to recognise needs early and arrange multi-agency support to prevent matters reaching crisis point. This is vital given the stretched resources of social care, health care and the court system. The assessment...

This Practice Note outlines the functions of the Secretary of State, operating via the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), in assessing and recovering child support maintenance, together with the respective scope of both CMS jurisdiction and that of the court. It also reviews particular scenarios where bespoke jurisdictional rules apply, including for consent orders, existing orders, maintenance agreements, and provision from a deceased parent’s estate, as appropriate. See also the Practice Notes: Statutory child support scheme; the Child maintenance and financial provision—spouses and civil partners; and the Maintenance provision for children under Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989. In relation to the courts’ general power to make orders in financial order proceedings on divorce or dissolution, see Practice Note: Financial proceedings—orders that can be made by the court. Role of the Secretary of State acting through the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) Statutory scheme—history From April 1993, maintenance for children of separated parents was set by the Child Support Agency (CSA), created under the Child Support Act 1991 (CSA...

This Practice Note sets out the statutory duties to safeguard children. It explains local authorities’ (LAs) obligations towards children in their locality and area, the specific arrangements for joint working between relevant safeguarding partners, statutory reviews of child safeguarding practice, and processes for reviewing child deaths. The government guidance document ‘Working together to safeguard children: A guide to interagency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (2023)’ (as updated periodically) describes safeguarding children and promoting their welfare as: offering help and support to address children’s needs as soon as difficulties first become apparent shielding children from maltreatment, whether at home or elsewhere, including in online contexts and settings preventing impairment to children’s mental and physical health or development making sure children are brought up in conditions that are consistent with safe, effective care supporting children to live with their birth parents, or otherwise within their wider family through a kinship care arrangement, whenever possible and when in the children’s best...

1 Introduction 1.1 This policy sets out the arrangements for leave and pay when an employee experiences loss of a child (parental bereavement). It also explains the practical measures we will take to support an employee while they are absent from work, and when they return to work. 1.2 The parts of this policy concerning parental bereavement leave (PBL) [and contractual parental bereavement pay] apply solely and exclusively to employees. They do not extend or apply to agency workers, consultants [, contractors] [, volunteers] [, interns] or casual workers of any kind under this policy. However, the provisions relating to statutory parental bereavement pay (SPBP) apply, for the purposes of this policy, to employees and also to those who are not employees but are in ‘employed earner’s employment’ with us [(which would include most qualifying agency workers)]. If you are unsure whether you fall within this category, please contact [the HR department] for further guidance and clarification. 1.3 An employee may have the statutory right to unpaid...