Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure improved service from the Child Maintenance Service.

As more customers apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) the demand for our service is increasing. To allow us to meet this demand and provide an efficient service we continuously look at the resources we have and where we should focus our efforts to get the greatest value for money and deliver the best service to our customers.

We review our overall resource supply regularly and take appropriate steps to ensure that staffing levels meet current demands. We have an ongoing recruitment campaign for 2025 which will ensure CMS is resourced to meet current and future forecasted demand.

Through extensive modernisation to both telephony and digital channels, and by promoting self-service online, the CMS are ensuring customers have greater choice of how and when they contact us. Our service improvements allow customers to use the most appropriate and efficient contact method to quickly resolve their queries and reduce demand on our services.

Improvements to our digital service allow us to process simple actions automatically, speeding up the time taken to make a change. Through efficient call routing, we have freed up resources to deliver a more responsive service and allow caseworkers more time to better assist customers who need to reach out to us via telephone. We have improved all forms of communication, including greater use of SMS and email as well as improving letter content. Furthermore, we have taken timely action to further train, support and redeploy resource within CMS to where it is needed most.

The CMS continually reviews the service it provides by regularly gathering feedback from customers. The Customer Experience Survey is a way in which the Department interacts with customers to understand their experience. Through regular insight used to inform ways to improve our service and the ongoing review of resources, the CMS strives to ensure we have the capability to deliver the best service which is accessible to all parents within our growing caseload.