Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to improve customer service standards for claimants who contact Jobcentre Plus and DWP about Jobseeker’s Allowance payments, including call handling and access to written complaints routes.

The Department is committed to providing a high standard of customer service for claimants contacting Jobcentre Plus and DWP about all of its services, including Jobseeker’s Allowance.

We have recently relaunched our ‘Customer Support Standards’, which sets clear expectations for all customer interactions. These standards require staff to identify and respond to customers’ individual needs and vulnerabilities, record relevant information and ensure that support is consistently and fairly applied across all contacts to improve the overall customer experience.

We also undertake regular quality assurance activity to ensure that operational teams are meeting these standards, including checks on the quality of interactions, compliance with accessibility requirements, and how effectively support is provided to customers. The standards are applied across all communications to ensure no customer is left behind.

To improve call handling, the Department is analysing telephony demand and customer contact patterns. This includes identifying the causes of repeat contact, long waiting times and call abandonment, and taking action to reduce avoidable contact through clearer information, improved signposting and better handling of customer enquiries.

In addition, we are improving how customers are directed to the most appropriate channel, including promoting online guidance where queries can be resolved more quickly, helping to free up telephony capacity for those who need it most.

For complaints, the Department operates a single, consistent complaints process across all benefits, including Jobseeker’s Allowance. We have introduced a central Complaints Hub, providing staff with a single source of guidance to ensure complaints are handled promptly, consistently and to a high standard.

Customers can raise complaints through established written routes and with their Work Coaches. Staff are supported to resolve issues at the earliest opportunity and provide clear information on how to escalate concerns where necessary.