Research and analysis

Summary: DWP Customer Experience Survey: Benefit Customers 2023 to 2024

Published 29 August 2024

1. Overview

The Customer Experience Survey (CES) is designed to monitor customer satisfaction with the services offered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to inform improvements in service delivery. It is an ongoing cross-sectional study with quarterly interviewing. This research was externally commissioned by DWP with fieldwork independently conducted by Ipsos (previously known as Ipsos MORI).

The data in this report is based on 9,075 interviews conducted with benefit customers who had contact with DWP between April 2023 and March 2024. The survey covers eight benefits:

• State Pension
• Pension Credit
• Attendance Allowance
• Carer’s Allowance
• Disability Living Allowance for Children
• Personal Independence Payment
• Employment and Support Allowance
• Universal Credit

This report presents data on overall customer satisfaction as well as results from survey questions that map to 4 Customer Experience Drivers:

• Get it Right
• Make it Easy
• Communicate Clearly
• Professional and Supportive.

2. Methodology

2.1 Sample

CES is a survey of customers who have had recent contact with DWP, rather than all DWP customers. When CES replaced the previous Claimant Service and Experience Survey (CSES) in 2019, the sample design was revised: as the Universal Credit rollout replaced legacy benefits, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support customers were no longer included. CES covers the following 8 benefits:

• State Pension (SP)
• Pension Credit (PC)
• Attendance Allowance (AA)
• Carer’s Allowance (CA)
• Disability Living Allowance for Children (DLAc)
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Universal Credit (UC).

The sample includes benefit customers who have been in contact with DWP during each 3-month quarter^{[footnote 1]} to either: make a new claim; report a change of circumstances; or (for UC and ESA customers) attend a mandatory Jobcentre appointment. ‘Contact’ includes any time a customer has phoned, written a letter, emailed, visited a Jobcentre, filled in an online form, or used their UC online journal to get in touch with DWP. Customers are also included in the sample if a DWP staff member has contacted them using any of these methods. For the contact to be identified and the customer included in the overall survey population, it needs to have triggered a change in DWP administrative data during the three-month quarter.

A quota sample design is used to meet minimum interview targets for each benefit group and contact reason, with a random sample of customers drawn from the population to meet these quotas. Weighting is then applied to the data so that findings are representative of the survey population: data is weighted by age, gender, length of claim, contact reason and benefit type. For UC customers, data is also weighted by UC region.

2.2 Fieldwork

When CES replaced the previous CSES, the survey moved to a mixed-mode online and telephone data collection approach. In 2023 to 2024, fieldwork was conducted quarterly. The data in this report is based on 9,075 interviews, conducted with benefit customers who had contact with DWP between April 2023 and March 2024.

3. Main findings

3.1 Overall satisfaction

• Overall customer satisfaction was 85%
• Overall satisfaction for each benefit was:
  • Universal Credit: 84%
  • Employment and Support Allowance: 81%
  • Personal Independence Payment: 83%
  • Disability Living Allowance for Children: 88%
  • Attendance Allowance: 95%
  • Carer’s Allowance: 92%
  • State Pension: 91%
  • Pension Credit: 91%

3.2 Results by Customer Experience Driver

This section of the report is structured around four Customer Experience Drivers:

• Get it Right
• Make it Easy
• Communicate Clearly
• Professional and Supportive.

The questions presented below have been selected on the basis that they have the best coverage of survey respondents, as some questions are only asked to particular customer groups.

3.3 Get it Right

• 82% of customers agreed that DWP staff did what they said they would
• 80% of customers agreed that DWP staff provided them with accurate information
• 84% of New customers were satisfied with the time it took DWP to tell them the outcome of their claim
• 95% of customers agreed that DWP made payments when they said they would
• 93% of customers agreed that DWP paid them the amount they said they would.

3.4 Make it Easy

• 85% of customers who used GOV.UK reported that it was easy to find all the information they needed
• 79% of New customers found the process of making a new claim easy. For customers who reported a change of circumstances, 81% found the process easy
• 88% of UC customers reported that they found their UC online account easy to use.
• 76% of customers reported that when they were first in touch with DWP, they were able to get the information they needed the first time they tried
• 66% of customers reported that they did not have to contact DWP more than once to explain the same information
• 77% of customers agreed that it was easy to use DWP services.

3.5 Communicate Clearly

• 80% of customers agreed that DWP communicated clearly with them
• 79% of customers agreed they had a good understanding of what would happen next during the claims process/when reporting a change of circumstances
• 74% of New customers reported that DWP told them when they should expect a decision about their benefit eligibility
• 83% of New customers reported that decisions about their claim were explained clearly.

3.6 Professional and Supportive

• 79% of customers agreed that DWP staff understood their needs
• 73% of customers agreed that DWP tailored services to their personal circumstances
• 83% of customers agreed that DWP staff handled their request professionally
• 85% of UC and ESA customers who had a meeting with a DWP work coach were satisfied with the employment support they received
• 77% of UC customers who had a meeting with a DWP work coach reported that their work coach tailored their claimant commitment to their personal circumstances.

4. Customer characteristics

The following section explores overall customer satisfaction by age, gender, ethnicity, and whether customers reported having a long-term health condition.

4.1 Age

• Customers aged 66 and older were more likely to report being satisfied overall than customers in the age groups between 16 and 65 years old
• The differences in satisfaction between the 66+ age groups and the 25 to 65 age groups are statistically significant.

4.2 Gender

• Overall satisfaction was 86% for women and 83% for men, a difference which is statistically significant.

4.3 Ethnicity

• Satisfaction scores across ethnicity groups ranged from 73% for Mixed/Multiple ethnicities to 94% for those who identified their ethnicity as Asian/Asian British. At 68%, satisfaction was lowest for those who preferred not to disclose their ethnicity in the survey
• The differences between the Black/African/Caribbean/Black British and Asian/Asian British groups and the White and Asian/Asian British groups are statistically significant.

4.4 Long-term health conditions

• Customers who did not report having any long-term health conditions were more satisfied (90%) than those who reported having a physical health condition(s), a mental health condition(s), or both. The differences between the satisfaction of groups with long-term health conditions and customers with no long-term health condition are statistically significant
• Amongst customers who reported having a long-term health condition, those who had only a physical health condition(s) were more likely to report being satisfied (86%) compared to those who had only a mental health condition(s) (80%) or reported having both physical and mental health conditions (79%).

4.5 Long-term health condition profile

• 19% of customers reported having only a physical health condition(s); 15% reported having only a mental health condition(s); and 24% reported both physical and mental health conditions.

4.6 Digital propensity

• 94% of customers reported having access to the internet, either at home or elsewhere.
• 68% of customers reported that, if it had been available, they could have accessed government services using the internet without help. A further 17% of customers could have accessed government services online with help.

1. Because of the smaller number of DLAc customers, the sample was extended to include New customers who had contact with DWP over a period of 4 months for quarter one and to 5 months from quarter 2 onwards. This is to ensure robust results for the DLAc New customer group. ↩