3. Southeast Regional Child Support Enforcement Unit Improvement Plan

case analysts better preparing cases for guidelines calculations (or for two of them - doing the calculations), more resources will be put to reviews and adjustments as well, including the exceptions to the 35 month general rule. More accurate orders will result in a greater proportion of current support distributed. III. Paving Arrears Description This measure is the percentage of cases with arrears for which a payment was collected. The interesting thing with this measurement is that it is the number of cases for which a collection was made that is important, and not the amount of the collection. Line 29 Line 28 Cases paving towards arrearages during the review period Cases with arrears due during the review period In FFY 06, of 7,041 cases with arrears, 5,086 cases had collections on arrears, for a percentage of 72.23%. Of the eight regions, that was 3rd, with the top region at 74.63% In FFY 05, of6,812 cases with an'ears, 4,912 cases had collections on arrears, for a percentage of72.1 %. Of the eight regions, that was 2nd, with the top region at 75.3%. No region had a 2% improvement in FFY 2006 (though one region was close with 1.97% improvement), and three regions had a decrease. Analysis Some of the same tools that benefit the Current Support measure would also likely improve this measurement as well, in two ways. First, files that stay current are tiles that don't have arrears. Improving collection of current support ought to help limit the growing base of cases with arrears. The Fargo Region's increase (from FFY 2005 to FFY 2006) in the number of cases with arrears was more than all 7 other regions combined. W11ile part of that can be explained by the overall growth in caseload, there is no doubt that better collection of current support would help the performance of paying arrears. Second, the tools themselves will directly affect the ability to collect payments on arrears. Payment plans require the payment of arrears. The exceptions to the 35 month rule allow for more accurate support obligations, which make payments of arrears affordable, and for those that hud run into the 50% of net income limitation on income withholding, "withholdable". And while deduction orders may have more of an impact on the amount collected as opposed to the number of cases where a collection is made, that tool would also help increase performance. 5