Sir.-As a civil servant based in the Child Support Agency in Basingstoke, I am extremely concerned at the effect the Government's job cuts will have.

These will not only affect the 80 people in my office, who now face the prospect of losing their jobs when it closes in September 2005, but also those who the agency is supposed to be helping - the children.

These job cuts come at a time when the CSA's productivity, efficiency and standard of customer service are at an all-time low. This is due solely, I feel, to the introduction of new computer and telephony systems in April 2003 at a cost to the taxpayer of millions of pounds, which, 18 months after their introduction, are still not performing to anything like an acceptable standard.

With new problems being discovered on a regular basis, money continues to be spent on consultants in the hope that somehow the system can be made to work.

So here you have the crazy situation of the Government robbing people in this town of their jobs, and discarding a wealth of experience to "save" money, but, at the same time, throwing good money after bad on a hopeless computer system.

This is the very thing that prevents staff from delivering the high level of service that they want to give to their customers and which children and those who look after them should be fully entitled to.

-Name and address withheld.