Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 14
14
Customer satisfaction with the CMS is no better than under the old CSA schemes.
Conclusion
Customer satisfaction with the CMS is no better than under the old CSA schemes. The Department’s internal survey results show that in the quarter ending December 2019 (before the pandemic), the Department’s customer satisfaction rating was 60%. This is lower than it was when the 2012 scheme was first introduced to replace the CSA schemes, which were widely regarded as having failed to manage child maintenance adequately. More recently, the Department has incorporated its customer satisfaction survey for CMG into is wider departmental customer experience survey. Under this measure, less than half (46%) of customers were satisfied with the service they received in the quarter ending September 2020.21
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
5a. PAC recommendation: The Department should use its digital transformation to develop performance indicators that enable it to fully understand why customer satisfaction is so low, and target improvement where data suggests there may be an underlying service issue, for example: where high numbers of complaints are upheld. 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 5.2 The department remains committed to continually improving the service it provides to its customers. The CMS sought independent evaluation of its customer service practices and is now in its third year of achieving the Cabinet Office Customer Service Excellence accreditation. 5.3 The department commenced a Transformation Programme in Autumn 2020 to improve outcomes for children, by enabling parents to put in place and manage sustainable child maintenance arrangements in a more efficient manner. So far, it has stream-lined and automated processes, introduced a live chat functionality, and launched a new on-line service: Get Help Arranging Child Maintenance. By 2024, when the programme completes, it will introduce further improvements that make it easier for customers to interact with the department, including increased automation to enable support that is tailored to customers’ needs. 5.4 The department is building on the development of its Customer Service strategy which will objectively analyse upheld complaints and review current measures. It will develop user research focussed on customer perception and introduce a programme allowing real time gathering of customer feedback through the introduction of “Voice of the Customer”. This programme will translate feedback into insight and help the department understand what customers are experiencing. This shares learning from customer contact and is part of an individual’s training and consolidation.