Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the communication of the Child Maintenance Service.

Through the Service Modernisation Programme, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has made significant improvements to both communications and digital service in order to provide separated parents a greater level of service.

The online digital service 'Get Help Arranging Child Maintenance ' through GOV.UK is a service open to any parent who needs to communicate with us and can receive unbiased advice and support to make an arrangement through CMS.

Through increased use of SMS text and email, an extensive review of letters, which focussed on making the letters easier for customers to understand, and by promoting self-service online through My Child Maintenance Case (MCMC), the CMS is ensuring customers have greater choice of how they communicate with us and access our service.

MCMC offers customers the ability to access and update information held on their case and request changes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. CMS has the ability to process simple changes through MCMC, automatically speeding up the time taken to make a change and greatly improving customer outcomes. These changes are a fundamental step towards the CMS modernisation goal of evolving our service to be predominately online.

Although online communication is the preferred option, CMS fully recognises digital is not suitable for all customers. For those customers who have to contact us by telephone, steps have been taken to update the service through efficient call routing. We have freed up resources to deliver a more responsive service which allows caseworkers more time to better assist customers who need to reach out to us via telephone. The CMS telephony opening hours are regularly reviewed based on the demand requirements; CMS has extended their telephony service to 6pm on weekdays to meet this demand.

On the 26 February 2024, the CMS removed the £20 application fee for those parents opting to use the service to ensure families on the lowest incomes do not face a barrier to accessing the service. As more customers apply to the CMS, the demand for the service is increasing. To allow CMS to meet this demand and provide an efficient service we continuously look at the resources we have and where we should focus our efforts in order to get the greatest value for money and deliver the best service to our customers. We review our overall resource supply twice yearly and take appropriate steps to ensure that staffing levels meet demands. We have an ongoing recruitment campaign for 2025; this will ensure CMS is resourced to meet current and future forecasted service demand.

Furthermore, we have taken timely action to review, evaluate and enhance tools and training material to support staff in delivering a quality service to our customers. We have improved training for new entrant colleagues and caseworkers and upgraded our Operational Instructions with around 90% transformed into Smart Instructions, making them easier for caseworkers to understand and use.

The CMS regularly gathers feedback from customers and stakeholders on our service. The Customer Experience Survey is a way in which the Department interacts with customers to understand their experience; this insight is used to inform ways to improve our service.

In the last month, CMS continued to exceed our official key performance indicators, demonstrating improved outcomes and service for customers. We are always working to modernise our service and how we communicate with our customers. Commencement of any additional activity as part of the Service Modernisation Programme will be informed by the value to our customers and the cost to the Department.