Guide · Updated 07/07/2026

The complaints ladder

Complaints deal with how the CMS behaved — delay, lost documents, wrong advice, failure to action reports, rudeness, repeated errors. They cannot change a maintenance decision (that is MR and appeal), but they are the route to accountability and compensation, and the two tracks run happily in parallel.

Rung one: complain to the CMS

1. Make the complaint

   By phone, online account message or letter — writing preferred, headed "Formal complaint". Set out a numbered chronology of failures, their impact on you (financial loss, distress, time), and what you want: correction, apology, explanation, and consideration under the special payments scheme.

2. Escalate internally

   Unresolved complaints move to a complaint resolution team and can be escalated to senior level. Push until you receive a letter clearly marked as the final response — the ticket to rung two. If the process stalls, ask explicitly: "Please issue your final response so I may approach the Independent Case Examiner."

Rung two: the Independent Case Examiner

The ICE is a free, impartial second-tier reviewer for DWP businesses including the CMS. Requirements: a final response from the CMS, and contact within 6 months of its date. ICE first attempts brokered resolution; failing that, a case manager conducts a full investigation with access to the CMS's records, and can recommend redress including financial remedy. ICE reports carry real weight — the CMS almost always implements the recommendations.

Rung three: the Parliamentary Ombudsman, via your MP

Still dissatisfied? The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman investigates complaints about government departments — but only referred by an MP (the "MP filter"), normally within 12 months of you becoming aware of the problem. Write to your constituency MP with a one-page summary, the final response, and the ICE outcome; ask them to refer the complaint. PHSO findings against the CMS are published and have included substantial financial remedies.

Building a complaint that succeeds

• Chronology is everything. Dated events, who said what, reference numbers. A subject access request gets you the CMS's own call notes to anchor it.
• Name the failures in the CMS's own terms: delay, misdirection, failure to action, failure to follow procedure. These map to the maladministration categories in the special payments scheme.
• Quantify impact: money lost, charges incurred, hours spent, health effects (with GP evidence if serious). Unquantified distress still counts — consolatory payments exist for it — but numbers focus minds.
• Stay factual. Anger is understandable; the file you are building will be read by ICE, an MP and possibly the Ombudsman. Write for that audience.