Maintenance Enforcement Survey: Child and spousal support

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As of March 31, 2007, just over 401,000 cases were enrolled in a maintenance enforcement program in 10 reporting jurisdictions, down 1% from the previous year, according to the Maintenance Enforcement Survey. The figures do not include data from Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba and Nunavut.

These provincial or territorial programs assist recipients in collecting child and spousal support through monitoring payments and undertaking enforcement actions against payors when a case goes into arrears.

Survey results include cases enrolled in maintenance enforcement programs only, and should not be generalized to all support orders in Canada. Recent data from the General Social Survey indicate 59% of child support cases with court-ordered support and 30% of spousal support cases were enrolled in a maintenance enforcement program between 2001 and 2006.

Programs vary in a number of important aspects, such as client profile, enforcement powers and practices, and whether cases are automatically enrolled with the program at the time of the order. These differences have important implications for interpreting the survey data, and may be a major reason for varied results between programs.

Almost all cases enrolled (97%) involve a child beneficiary in the eight jurisdictions reporting such data. These jurisdictions were Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

On average, just over two-thirds of cases were in compliance with their regular payment due each month in 2006/2007. Average monthly compliance rates ranged from 54% in the Northwest Territories to 79% in Quebec. Compared with the previous year, the average monthly compliance rate increased, or remained stable, in most jurisdictions.

During 2006/2007, most of the money (80%) that was due was collected for the four jurisdictions reporting these data: Nova Scotia, Alberta, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

As of March 31, 2007, 65% of cases had arrears. Total arrears owing amounted to $2.4 billion for the 10 reporting jurisdictions. In the five jurisdictions that provide more detail on arrears (Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Alberta, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories), the 20% of cases owing the most arrears were responsible for about 68% of the total arrears.

In 2006/2007, more than 310,000 enforcement actions were initiated in the jurisdictions that reported enforcement data: Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. The majority of actions undertaken in all jurisdictions included tracing the addresses of payors and employers, initiating garnishments and issuing demands for information or payment.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3324.

The report Child and Spousal Support: Maintenance Enforcement Survey Statistics, 2006/2007 (85-228-XIE, free) is now available. From the Publications module of our website, under Free internet publications, choose Crime and Justice.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Information and Client Services (toll-free 1-800-387-2231; 613-951-9023), Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.