Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Child Maintenance Service is required to justify delays in its decision-making processes.

Child Maintenance customers can use the online service to track the progress of reported changes and view expected completion dates at any time without the need to call. They can also upload evidence and view any letters which have been sent to them. All calculation decisions made by the CMS can be appealed through the mandatory reconsideration process and beyond that, to the Independent Tribunal Service.

The CMS publishes timeliness data on some of the key decision-making processes such as determining applications, accounting for changes in circumstances and performing mandatory reconsiderations.

Decision making processes can vary in length depending upon complexity and whether both parties have a right to provide and/or contest evidence. Where customers are concerned that a decision has been delayed unreasonably, there is also a robust complaints process, which gives parents opportunities to seek redress when the CMS does not meet their expectations. When a client is dissatisfied, the CMS tries to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, without the need for a formal complaint. If the client remains dissatisfied, the Department for Work and Pensions Complaints Team looks at and responds to their complaint. After that, they can raise it with the Independent Case Examiner and finally with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, through their Member of Parliament.