Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, (a) what data his Department holds on the percentage of Child Maintenance Service users who have reported difficulty using the telephone or online contact channels, and (b) what modelling has been undertaken on the potential for artificial intelligence to improve this.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is delivering a Modernisation Programme to improve customer access, efficiency and transparency. This includes integrated online application services, the My Child Maintenance Case (MCMC) service, which provides customers with online access to case information and payment schedules, and Customer Connect, which enables secure online communication between parents and caseworkers. Telephone and assisted digital support remain available for customers who need additional assistance.

The programme has also introduced improved digital communications, enhanced data sharing to support faster and more accurate maintenance calculations, and predictive analytics to help identify cases at risk of non-compliance, which allows us to review the cases more swiftly and take action to ensure compliance is maintained.

The Child Maintenance Service does not hold specific information on the percentage of users who have reported difficulty using its telephone or online contact channels. Where the Department is made aware of issues affecting a customer’s use of its services, those issues are managed and tracked through to resolution. While the Department records where customers choose not to use the online service, it does not hold information on the specific reasons for this.

The Department has not undertaken any modelling on the potential for artificial intelligence to improve these channels.