The current head of the Child Support Agency is to run the independent body that will replace it.
Stephen Geraghty has been named commissioner designate of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC).
The Child Support Agency is currently run as part of the Department for Work and Pensions. But under proposals in the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill it will be replaced by CMEC.
As a non-departmental public body the commission will have more independence that the agency. The government believes this will help it achieve its aims, which include increasing maintenance collections to £970m by March 2008.
Geraghty said: "The commission marks a new era in child maintenance. It gives us operational freedom to develop new services to support parents to take more responsibility for their children."
Geraghty's appointment is conditional on the passage of the Bill through Parliament.
The Child Support Agency is currently run as part of the Department for Work and Pensions. But under proposals in the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill it will be replaced by CMEC.
As a non-departmental public body the commission will have more independence that the agency. The government believes this will help it achieve its aims, which include increasing maintenance collections to £970m by March 2008.
Geraghty said: "The commission marks a new era in child maintenance. It gives us operational freedom to develop new services to support parents to take more responsibility for their children."
Geraghty's appointment is conditional on the passage of the Bill through Parliament.
