Child Maintenance Service: Telephone Services

(asked on 24th February 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average length of time was that callers to the Child Maintenance Service were on hold waiting to be put through to an adviser in (a) 2018 and (b) 2019.


Answered by
Mims Davies Portrait
Mims Davies
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 27th February 2020

For the 2018 calendar year the average wait time was 55 seconds.

For the 2019 calendar year the average wait time was 6 minutes 12 seconds.

Whilst figures for 2018 look significantly lower than the 2019 wait time, this is because the methodology in place prior to July 2019 was not accurate in terms of meeting the standard ASA measurement. It did not measure the end-to-end customer experience, instead only measuring the final stage. The BT reporting methodology was amended to ensure that the report did reflect the end to end customer experience,

There has also been a general increase in wait time due to the revised approach the Child Maintenance Group has adopted to customer service. Previously calls routed to the next available agent. We now only route calls to the individual caseworker or individuals with the appropriate skill sets. Whilst this can mean a potentially longer wait time, it does, however, mean the customer speaks to a person able to resolve their query at first point of contact, therefore improving the overall customer service experience.

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