Gareth Davies, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) of the National Audit Office, has qualified his audit opinions on the 1993 and 2003 Child Maintenance Schemes Client Funds Account.
He has qualified his audit opinions because the Department for Work and Pensions (the Department) has not managed 1993 and 2003 child maintenance schemes cases with sufficient accuracy. Incorrect maintenance assessments and inaccurate reporting of arrears in the past mean that the reported arrears balance is not correct (an adverse audit opinion). Receipts and payments based on these incorrect arrears balances are not in accordance with Child Maintenance legislation (a qualified regularity opinion). In addition, the C&AG has limited the scope of his regularity opinions over some arrears write offs due to deletion of case records, the absence of which meant that he could not obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to support the regularity of these write offs.
Without qualifying his opinions, the C&AG has also noted the impact of the deletion of case records on the audit of the 2012 Child Maintenance Schemes Client Funds Account.
