Benefits staff revert to paper

Claims backlogs force contingency plan of a return to clerical processes

More than half of Jobcentre Plus (JC+) contact centres using the CMS2 customer management system will revert to clerical processes, under contingency plans being finalised this week.

The aim is to cut the huge backlogs caused by CMS2, but local staff warn that problems are being pushed down the line.

Using CMS2, new benefits claimants ring a regional call centre. An operator calls back and takes details, which are entered into the system, and books an appointment at a local JC+ office.

But problems have resulted in delays in benefits being processed and paid. According to official figures seen by Computing, last month one call centre in the east of England answered only eight per cent of nearly 150,000 incoming calls.

Contingency plans have been developed after a review of the 23 CMS2-enabled call centres graded 21 as sub-standard (Computing, 15 September). Fourteen will revert to sending paper forms.

But staff at a Sheffield JC+ office already using clerical processes say that while call times at the centre have improved, the bottleneck has shifted to the local office.

One source said: ‘We have 600 outstanding claims. Before CMS we used to tell customers to expect their first payment in about 10 days, but now it could be several weeks.’

There are CMS2 problems all over the country.

A JC+ worker in London said: ‘It would be easier with an abacus and a chalkboard. The hurdles people have to go over are a disgrace, and the worst affected are the most vulnerable.’

A welfare rights adviser in the Midlands said: ‘Most new claimants I deal with now are waiting more than two months for their first payment.

‘People are going into debt, or not heating their homes, and sometimes we have to approach supermarkets for food vouchers.’

The CMS2 problems are not new to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). An internal report published last week notes criticisms including instability, insufficient training, inflexibility and backlogs.

A DWP spokesman said: ‘We are putting processes in place to ensure that customers are not adversely affected by delays.’