DWP 4 major changes to ‘improve’ Child Maintenance Service – key details | Wales Online
Need to know
The DWP has confirmed four key Child Maintenance Service changes as part of a major CMS overhaul to make the system work better for parents
Lilian Greenwood, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions(Image: Parliament TV)
Child Maintenance Service set for overhaul – what you need to know
The Department for Work and Pensions has announced reforms to the Child Maintenance Service following mounting criticism from struggling parents.
The DWP has outlined four key changes to overhaul the CMS system. These include producing more accurate maintenance calculations and better identifying cases at risk of non-compliance.
Lilian Greenwood, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, detailed the modernisation programme in a new Parliamentary update. She said the CMS is “delivering a Modernisation Programme to improve customer access, efficiency and transparency.”
The reforms come after parents told BBC Panorama the agency was pushing them to breaking point. One mother resorted to food banks after the CMS failed to make her ex-partner pay child maintenance, leaving arrears of nearly £10,000.
CMS director Simon Hunter acknowledged the problems, telling the BBC: “To parents who have been affected by administrative mistakes… where we have made life difficult for our customers – I absolutely apologise for that.”
The changes aim to streamline case reviews and take more effective action to ensure compliance with payment orders.
