CMS problems not resolved, MPs told

Committee hears of the impact on staff and claimants

Problems with the Jobcentre Plus (JC+) customer management system (CMS) continue to affect citizens trying to obtain benefits, experts told a Commons committee last week.

In the second House of Commons Work and Pensions committee meeting looking at JC+, MPs heard evidence about the impact of issues with CMS.

The system is part of an organisational change to centralise benefits processing and deliver Efficiency Review savings.

Computing has reported extensively on problems with CMS, including claimants waiting two months for payments to start, huge backlogs of incoming calls going unanswered, and reversion to paper-based processes.

Pensions minister Stephen Timms told Computing earlier this month that the issues were being successfully addressed (Computing, 19 January). But witnesses to the committee were less convinced.

Vicky Pearlman, social policy officer for Citizens Advice, told the committee: ‘It would be fair to say that the situation is improving, but we still receive reports from bureaux of people having to spend hours, if not a day or two, trying repeatedly to get through.’

Dave Simmonds, director of the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion, criticised management of the change programme.

‘It is critical to get the people right, the timing right and the testing right – and this applies specifically to the introduction of call centres and CMS,’ he said.

‘Our assessment overall is that not enough has been done on all three counts.’
It is not clear if the changes have done lasting damage or can fairly be described as teething troubles, said Simmonds.

‘The jury is still out because JC+ has made improvements, but it has some way to go before it starts to catch up the loss of morale and standing,’ he said.

Witnesses questioned the wisdom of running such a major change programme at the same time as cutting staff numbers.

‘Other institutions and sectors that have made these sorts of changes would say that you have to make the major change programme first, and only then can you start to think about realising savings, including any reductions in staff numbers,’ said Kate Green, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group.