The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has acknowledged that response times for Child Maintenance Service (CMS) enquiries have not been "consistently adequate" in recent months, and said urgent action is being taken to address the issue.
The admission came in a written response from Lilian Greenwood, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the DWP, to a query from Liberal Democrat MP Olly Glover, who represents Didcot and Wantage. Glover had asked when the DWP planned to respond to emails dated 18 May, 8 June, 24 June and 19 August concerning a CMS case he had raised on behalf of a constituent.
DWP admits failings and outlines improvements
In her response, Greenwood said: "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."
She added: "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."
Greenwood detailed measures including deploying additional resources to complaints and correspondence teams, strengthening performance monitoring, and introducing enhanced senior oversight and improved case management processes. She noted that where a complaint requires formal investigation, the service standard aims to provide a full response within 15 working days, though more complex cases may take longer.
Background of criticism and Gingerbread's concerns
The CMS has faced heavy criticism this year, with parents telling BBC Panorama they had been left at breaking point by mistakes and arrears, with one parent owed almost £10,000. The DWP's guidance states that when a customer complains, including when an MP contacts the department on their behalf, the aim is to contact the customer within 15 working days with the outcome, or to advise when a response can be expected if the complaint is complex.
Campaign group Gingerbread, which supports single parents, said in August that the CMS was "failing in its duty". CEO Abigail Wood said: "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."
Wood added: "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."
Gingerbread's 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."
Greenwood confirmed the CMS continues to investigate the case raised by Glover, with an update provided to the MP on 1 September 2026.
