Child Maintenance Service Caseworker

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 430289

**Salary**:

- £27,844
- A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

GBP

**Job grade**:

- Administrative Officer

**Contract type**:

- Permanent

**Business area**:

- DWP - Child Maintenance Services

**Type of role**:

- Operational Delivery

**Working pattern**:

- Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time

**Number of jobs available**:

- 30

**Contents**:

- Location
- About the job
- Benefits
- Things you need to know

**Location**:

- Plymouth

**About the job**:
**Job summary**:
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). We help parents who are unable to make private financial agreements in support of their child(ren)’s living costs. Our mission is to ‘get money to children’ because it makes a real difference to children’s lives.

CMS are committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workforce where everybody can thrive. If you want to make a difference to the lives of others and be part of the UK’s largest public services Department, then this could be the career for you.

**Job description**:
As part of a supportive and welcoming team, you will provide excellent customer service in a fast-paced service centre and telephony environment.

**As part of your daily responsibilities, you will**:

- **Be making and receiving telephone calls**in a contact centre environment whilst wearing a headset
- Address telephony queries and follow up on any resulting tasks as needed, escalating cases to other teams where appropriate (multi-tasking)
- Handle sensitive and sometimes challenging telephone calls in a positive and professional manner
- Manage your own caseload of work, managing multiple responsibilities simultaneously
- Provide high-quality customer service ensuring that all information provided to customers is accurate, timely and easy to understand
- Obtain information from a variety of sources to enable you to make accurate calculations and decisions regarding liability to pay child maintenance, precisely inputting necessary information on internal IT systems
- Negotiate child maintenance arrangements and payments with customers following child maintenance instructions and legislation
- Secure payments and clearly advise the consequences of non-payment
- Take payment enforcement actions where appropriate

We’ll be hosting a series of webinar sessions led by current CMS caseworkers, who will share insights into the Caseworker role, their personal experiences with training and support, and the benefits of working as a civil servant.

While attendance is optional, these sessions are a great opportunity to learn more about the vacancy and what it’s like to work at CMS. Each session will last approximately 60 minutes, take place via Microsoft Teams, and include a short Q&A segment.

Follow the link to book your place:
Tues 14 Oct 2025 - 5pm

Weds 15 Oct 2025 - 12noon

**Person specification**:
**What are we looking for?**
- People who are resilient and can remain calm in challenging situations. Sometimes difficult conversations on the telephone with our customers are needed, and we need you to be able to successfully resolve queries in what can be difficult and sensitive situations
- People with strong verbal and written skills, including the ability to communicate detailed information to others succinctly so it is clear to understand
- Enthusiastic people who are passionate about providing a really positive customer experience, ensuring that everybody you deal with gets great customer service
- People who are hardworking, well organised and can balance and prioritise a variety of tasks
- People who can gather and understand sometimes complex information, using guidance and legislation to make decisions
- Digitally competent people who can navigate multiple IT systems

Important: During the initial **11 weeks** of your employment, you are required to participate in **full-time, 100% office-based**training. Afterwards there will be a 3 month period to consolidate your learning, again **office based**. Once complete, your opportunity to undertake hybrid working may begin.

**Essential Criteria**
- **Excellent communication skills**
(The ability to effectively communicate in English, both verbally and in writing)
- **Exceptional customer service skills**
(The ability to resolve customer queries in what can sometimes be a sensitive or challenging environment)
- **Effective decision-making skills**
(The ability to gather and understand complex information to make informed decisions based on evidence)

Your personal statement will be assessed against these criteria. Please ensure you provide **specific, evidence-based examples** that clearly demonstrate how you meet each one.

**Behaviours**:
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

- Communicating and Influencing
- Managing a Quality Service
- Making Effective Decisions
- Delivering at Pace

**Benefits**: