Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to improve Child Maintenance Service response times.

Through the Service Modernisation and Digital Transformation Programmes, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has made significant improvements to our service to improve response times.

The introduction of online services including ‘Child Maintenance Calculator’, ‘Get Help Arranging Child Maintenance’, ‘Apply for Child Maintenance, ‘Respond to Child Maintenance Application’ and ‘My Child Maintenance Case’ has significantly increased functionality and efficiency for our customers who have access to our online services 24/7 to:

• Receive information on what type of child maintenance arrangement would work best for them.

• manage their child maintenance arrangements through MCMC.

• receive progress updates.

• make card payments.

• report twenty-eight different types of changes and actions.

Through My Child Maintenance Case’ the customer now has the ability to process simple changes without the need for caseworker intervention, automatically speeding up the time taken to complete a change which has improved customer outcomes. These changes are a fundamental step towards the CMS modernisation goal of evolving our service to be online and quicker.

Although online communication is the preferred option, the CMS fully recognises digital is not suitable for all customers. 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. We have taken steps to make call routing more efficient, resulting in a higher volume of calls being allocated to case-owning teams, supporting customers to receive a more responsive service.

Furthermore, we have taken timely action to review, evaluate, and enhance tools and training material to support staff. 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 and quicker for caseworkers to understand and use.

Through greater use of SMS text and email and an extensive review of letters, making them easier for customers to understand, we can contact customers quicker.

As a result, the use of online services by customers has significantly increased, with more changes being processed quicker, call volumes have reduced and calls received are routed efficiently to caseworker teams who have access to enhanced Operational Instructions, SMS text and email, improving the CMS response times and delivering a quality service to our customers.

CMS is committed to continuous improvement. In July 2025, the CMS launched Customer Connect for income related changes: this new service enables caseworkers to instigate online conversations with customers to proactively gather information and administer their child maintenance case more efficiently. Customer Connect will be expanded to include other types of changes through a phased process. Customers who cannot digitally self-serve will continue to be contacted by phone or letter.

Additionally, as the demand for the service is increasing CMS continuously review our resources 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 and maintain our expected service levels. We have an ongoing recruitment campaign for 2025; this will ensure CMS is resourced to meet current and future forecasted service demand.

The CMS are committed to modernising and improving our service. We will continue to review, evaluate, and enhance our service to meet demand and deliver an efficient customer service. We regularly gather feedback from customers and stakeholders through the Customer Experience Survey; this insight is used to inform ways to improve our service.

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.