The DWP has issued a new update on the Child Maintenance Service as it faces fresh criticism in Parliament
The Department for Work and Pensions has made a clear admission over its own failings as it said ‘urgent action’ was being taken. The Child Maintenance Service has been heavily criticised this year by parents.
Mums told the BBC’s Panorama recently they had been left at breaking point’ by mistakes and arrears with partners not paying up – with one left in arrears of almost £10,000. Now the DWP has issued a new update as it faced fresh criticisms this week over one person’s case.
Olly Glover, Liberal Democrat MP for Didcot and Wantage, asked the DWP when it planned “to respond to the emails of 18th May, 8th June, 24th June and 19th August on the Child Maintenance Service” over a case he had raised with them.
Government guidance says that when a customer makes a complaint – and this includes when an MP contacts DWP on their behalf -the aim is to contact a customer within 15 working days to tell them of the outcome of their complaint, or, if not, to alert them to when they can expect a response by if the complaint is complex and needs more time to assess.
Now Lilian Greenwood, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions, has responded to the MP’s query – and made an honest admission of failures at the CMS. She said this as she spelt out ‘urgent action’ that was being taken to sort things out.
She said in a response issued this week: “The Department recognises that response times to hon. Members’ enquiries on behalf of constituents have not been consistently adequate in recent months, as higher complaint volumes and increasingly complex cases have affected our response times. The Department is actively addressing these pressures and driving improvements in both timeliness and efficiency.
“The Department is taking urgent action to improve complaint handling and response times, with a clear focus on resolving issues as quickly as possible, including at the earliest point of contact where appropriate.
“To support this, we have deployed additional resources to complaints and correspondence teams and prioritised activity to strengthen performance monitoring and improve timeliness. We have introduced enhanced senior oversight and improved case management processes to support faster, more consistent responses.
“Where a complaint requires formal investigation, the Department’s service standard aims to provide a full response within 15 working days. More complex cases may take longer; however, the Department seeks to keep customers informed of progress and expected timescales. CMS continues to investigate the case, and an update was provided to the hon. Member on 1 September 2026 outlining the current position.
“The Department is clear that hon. Members must be able to rely on timely and accurate information when representing their constituents. Improving response times remains a key operational priority, and these measures are intended to deliver a more timely and efficient service for customers and hon. Members alike.”
CMS complaints process and Gingerbread criticisms
If you have a problem with the child maintenance service, you can complain. The gov.uk web page on the process for complaining says you might want to complain over delays, mistakes, how you have been treated, or if you have not been kept updated.
It says it will not assess complaints about government law, legal cases or some other issues. It also says you can challenge a child maintenance decision by asking for something known as a mandatory reconsideration.
The campaign group Gingerbread, which fights for single parents and their children, said in August that the CMS was ‘failing in its duty’.
Gingerbread CEO, Abigail Wood, said at the time: “Child maintenance is money owed to children. The Child Maintenance Service should be ensuring maintenance payments are fairly calculated, paid in full, and on time.
“The CMS is failing in its duty, and there is now more than £790 million in unpaid child maintenance arrears. This is money that should have been paid to children to help protect them from hardship.
“A properly functioning service, where children receive the full maintenance they are entitled to, could reduce child poverty by 25%. We need a fair system that works for children, receiving parents and paying parents, and it must be properly resourced.”
Its website also states: “While the government has announced some changes to the CMS, there is still no clear plan or timetable for delivering meaningful reform. Single-parent families cannot afford to wait. Every month the government delays reforming the CMS is another month that children are going without the support they deserve.”
Visit the Gingerbread website here. For more on complaining to the CMS, go to the dedicated government web page.
