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Launch of the Independent Case Examiner's annual report on their 10th Anniversary

INDEPENDENT CASE EXAMINER News Release (Annual) issued by The Government News Network on 28 March 2007

The Independent Case Examiner's (ICE) annual report 2006/2007 gives details of the achievements of the ICE Office during the last 10 years, including being awarded Charter Mark twice and receiving high levels of customer satisfaction.

The Independent Case Examiner, Jodi Berg, reports significant increases in the number of complaints received about the Child Support Agency. Referrals to ICE have risen by just over 10 per cent over the previous year and the number of complaints accepted for review has risen by over 12 per cent. More than 80% of the complaints examined in detail by ICE were fully or partially upheld. This is a similar proportion to previous years.

Delay, error and poor communication remain significant features of complaint referrals this year, alongside concerns about unsatisfactory enforcement action. Agency IT problems are a persistent theme in cases referred to the Independent Case Examiner and, in many instances, clerical processing has not led to resolution but has caused further problems.

However, Jodi Berg is pleased to acknowledge that the Child Support Agency is taking steps to bring about service improvements. In particular, it has developed a new approach to complaint handling.

The Independent Case Examiner said: "As we approach our 10th anniversary, the ICE Office has much to celebrate. We have a reputation for fairness and impartiality in our decision-making, and we set and achieve challenging speed of service and accuracy targets. In short we do all we can to fulfil our vision of being a first rate service provided by professional staff.

This year we have handled more complaint referrals from Child Support Agency clients than ever before. In previous reports, I have commented on problems faced by CSA clients, as a consequence of poor process and IT failures. Despite this, in my experience Agency staff want to do their best for people, although sometimes they are thwarted in these efforts by factors outside of their personal control.

In these circumstances, and following Sir David Henshaw's review, the Government's announcement of its proposals for future closure of the Agency was not surprising. However, it was perhaps somewhat ironic, as this year the Agency has begun to make real progress towards improving its service.

As Independent Case Examiner, I have been keen to support the Agency in its efforts to improve its customer experience, particularly in the area of our own work - its complaint handling. We find that many complaints can be addressed comparatively easily, and it should not be necessary for ICE to be involved. The review of the Agency's practice in this area has resulted in welcome changes. I hope that the new process will provide a better response for Agency customers than has been possible in the past."

Notes to Editors

1. The Independent Case Examiner's Office (ICE) opened for business ten years ago, and since then has developed into a modern independent complaint-handling organisation, which meets the highest standards.

Today ICE responds to more complaints than ever before, meeting the needs of our clients through our understanding of:

* The most efficient ways of addressing complaints
* What clients expect from complaint review
* How to balance fairness against proportionality
* The value of a clear customer focus.

1. ICE provides a free and impartial complaints Review and resolution service for clients of the Child Support Agency who, having exhausted the Child Support Agency's internal complaints procedure, remain dissatisfied with the response and/ or redress provided by the Child Support Agency.

3. During the 2006-2007 business year ICE received more than 3440 complaint referrals about the Agency, over 1520 of which were accepted for investigation. This represents an increase of over 10% in referrals, with an increase of over 12% in accepted cases.

4. Case clearance: the tables below show the number of cases cleared during the reporting year and the number fully or partially upheld. Figures for 2006-2007 relate to the period from 1 April 2006 to 28
February 2007.

Type of case clearance     2005-2006 2006-2007 Approx % of change
      Not accepted for action    1769      1875      6% increase
      Resolved to client's       714       961       35% increase
      satisfaction
      Clearance by full          455       283       38% decrease
      examination
      Withdrawn                  138       153       10% increase
      Total cleared              3076      3272      6% increase
      Cases outstanding at the   604       773       28% increase
      end of the year Full examination cases     2005-2006 2006-2007
      Findings                   No of     %         No of cases        %
                                 cases
      Fully upheld               190       42        119                42
      Partially upheld           196       43        117                41
      Not upheld                 69        15        47                 17
      Total                      455       100       283                100 

6. From April 2007 the ICE Office will be accepting complaint referrals from all Department for Work and Pensions businesses, including Jobcentre Plus, the Pensions Service and the Carers and Disability Service.

7. The Independent Case Examiner Jodi Berg will be available for down-the-line interviews on Wednesday 28 March 2007 from 1.00pm. Jodi Berg is also Independent Complaints Reviewer for the Charity Commission, the Audit Commission, Land Registry and several other public bodies.

8. The media and public can access the text of the Case Examiner's Annual Report from 1.00pm on Wednesday 28 March 2007, on the Independent Case Examiner's website at http://www.ind-case-exam.org.uk.