Maintenance pay computerised soon

Press, 23 May 1977, Page 1

Maintenance pay computerised soon

Maintenance payments dealt with by the Social Welfare Department would soon be managed by computer to speed up payments, said the Minister of Social Welfare (Mr Walker) yesterday. This was one of the measures envisaged to improve the collection of maintenance to help solo mothers.

Serious consideration would also te given to a recommendation of the Domestic Purposes Benefit Review Committee to make immediate and automatic orders for maintenance from defecting husbands.

This procedure, by a court officer, would not replace court decisions on maintenance. However, an

interim order, perhaps accompanied by an immediate attachment order to deduct payments from wages, would avoid the delays entailed in court proceedings.

The three women and three men on the committee. chaired by Mr J. R. P. Horn, S.M., of Wellington, had allowed that the making of an immediate attachment order for maintenance might be unfair to a willing prayer. One course might be for the order to be made after one or two maintenance payments had not been forthcoming. The Cabinet had already approved the employment of more social workers to assist in the counselling of

marriage partners when an application for a benefit was made. “We also need the extra staff to keep in touch with solo parents after a benefit has been paid,” said Mr Walker. “I do not believe that all marriages can be saved by counselling at the stage that a separation takes place, but I believe that many partnerships can be saved if both the husband and the wife are interviewed at the instant that an application for a benefit is made. Mr Walker said that interviews with both partners would be attempted in all cases of applications for a benefit.