Why benefits offices are in crisis over CMS2

The second-generation Customer Management System (CMS2) being rolled out across the UK’s benefits offices is part of a programme designed to improve the efficiency of the claims process.

New claimants no longer go to their local Jobcentre Plus (JC+) office for a paper form. Instead, first contact is handled by a call centre, where information is taken over the phone and keyed into CMS2. The call centre operative then makes an appointment for the claimant to see a financial assessor at their local JC+ office and the information held on CMS2 is automatically transferred to them.

Once the interview has confirmed the data held on CMS2, it is then automatically ‘pushed’ to the legacy processing systems for payment.

But there are problems at every link in the chain that are affecting benefits payments, according to sources contacted by Computing.

Call centres
Even when it works, the system’s design is bad, say call centre staff.

CMS2 forces operators to follow a set of scripted questions with each claimant. And because there is little flexibility, calls scheduled to take 20 minutes are taking as much as an hour. The result is huge backlogs and blocked phone lines.

‘There is a lot of information we have to ask that is not relevant to certain types of claim, but we have to ask them,’ said one contact centre operator.

‘It’s a problem with the design of the system. People struggle to get through on the phone due to calls taking so long because the system requires us to take redundant information.’

Delays in one region are so significant that applications for crisis loans have doubled since CMS2 went live.

Further design flaws then add to payment delays. For example, if a mistake is made, the record cannot be edited but must be deleted and the process restarted.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which is responsible for the system, says the issues are not with the software but with the way it is used. But staff blame lack of training.

‘They certainly have not trained people properly,’ said a call centre operator.
‘There are a lot of people who have been off sick with stress because they’ve felt they can’t use the system properly.’

As well as procedural problems, there are also issues transferring data from CMS2 to other legacy software at JC+ offices and benefits processing centres.

National figures, seen by Computing, for one week in July show that out of 4,333 attempted data transfers, 3,030 failed.

Local JC+ offices
Once information has been taken via the telephone, financial assessors (FAs) in local JC+ offices interview new claimants and check the CMS2 data before it is pushed to legacy DWP systems, handled by regional benefits processing centres.

Appointments with FAs, which are arranged by the call centres, are supposed to be organised for 48 hours after the call. But, according to information seen by Computing, in some areas appointments are taking as much as a week to organise because of the backlogs caused by CMS2.

JC+ staff are stressed and claimants are arriving at interviews increasingly frustrated.

‘When the customer gets to us it has already been at least a week and they are desperate for money,’ said one FA.

CMS2 should work with three benefits – Income Support, Job Seeker’s Allowance and Incapacity Benefit. All three have experienced problems when transferring information, but sources say the links for Incapacity Benefit do not work at all.

JC+ staff say CMS2 adds complexity and does not save time.

‘CMS2 just makes everything longer and makes so much more work because of the way it is designed,’ said the FA.

‘No one here wants to do the job because the stress is terrible.’

Local authority
The instigation of certain benefits claims automatically triggers contact with the relevant local authority to start a housing benefit claim.

But CMS2 delays the transfer of information until the initial claim is processed, which could be up to three months, according to one senior council employee.

‘Someone could be missing out on housing benefit for three months,’ said Nick Rowe, assistant head of revenues and benefits at the London Borough of Hounslow.

‘They would get their money eventually, but they are potentially suffering financial hardship in the short term. There is a pressing need for this to be sorted out or councils everywhere will experience the same problems.’

Benefits processing centre
CMS2 should automatically populate legacy benefits systems so that processing staff only need to check the details before proceeding with payment.

But often the technology does not work and no data is transferred, according to one member of a CMS2-enabled benefits processing section.

‘The best claims are the ones where CMS2 has been down and we have had to use the back-up method of using the old claim forms,’ said the source.

History of the management system

• The Jobcentre Plus (JC+) customer management system (CMS) being
  implemented by supplier EDS for the Department of Work and
  Pensions (DWP) was first piloted at the end of 2003
• Rollout of the second-generation CMS2 system began before
  December and is now live in more than 100 JC+ offices and call
  centres across the country
• National implementation is due to be completed by March 2006
• Once completed the system will run in more than 1,000 JC+ offices,
  up to 30 call centres and 77 benefits processing centres
• EDS says CMS2 has achieved 99 per cent availability and is meeting
  the service level agreements set by the department