Benefits backlog continues

CMS problems leave new claimants waiting up to 13 weeks for payments

Benefits claimants are still facing unacceptable delays, despite contingency plans designed to resolve problems caused by the controversial new Jobcentre Plus (JC+) Customer Management System (CMS2).

At one job centre in Suffolk, Incapacity Benefit (IB) claims made now are unlikely to be paid before Christmas.

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

Computing reported last month on plans for more than half of all CMS2-enabled call centres to revert to clerical processes to cut the huge backlogs of incoming calls (Computing, 29 September).

But JC+ staff say that while the situation in the contact centres has improved, problems have moved further down the line and claimants are still no better off.

The target is for follow-up appointments to take place within four days of the call.

But in the badly-hit local office in Suffolk, backlogs are so severe that the earliest available appointments are 31 October, and late November for the worst affected.

‘The first appointments for IB are late November and until that meeting there is nothing done about a person’s claim,’ said a source.

‘People waiting this long probably won’t get any money before Christmas.’

Even where the system is supposed to be working there are unacceptable delays. Computing has learned that fewer than 15 per cent of appointments nationally take place within four days.

Telford call centre was not deemed sufficiently under-performing to revert to paper processes, yet claimants are still waiting up to a month for their money.

‘It takes about a week and a half for the call-back, then up to three weeks for the appointment, so it is generally about a month from first contact to payment,’ said a local source.

Claimants’ problems have been reported to the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). ‘We are being told both call centres and CMS2 have problems and there are delays of up to 13 weeks for people receiving payments,’ said a CAB spokeswoman.

The government says it is putting processes in place to ensure claimants are not affected.