Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Child Maintenance Service is taking steps to reduce the time taken for complaints to be handled.

DWP aim to contact customers within 15 working days to clear their complaint or agree how to investigate it if it will take longer.

DWP now triage complaints giving priority to vulnerable claimants who may be at risk, and those with benefit payment issues. We continue to investigate all complaints as quickly as we can and, as part of the triage process, we write or call those customers, where there may be a delay in answering their complaint.

Since 2021, Child Maintenance Service complaints team has seen their response times to complainants steadily improve and are now responding to almost all complaints within the timescale.