Guidance

DWP Complaints statistics: background information and methodology

Published 16 December 2025

Purpose of the statistics 

Context of the statistics 

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has over 20 million customers using its services. It operates a single-tier complaints service, which focuses on early resolution. A person can make a complaint if they are unhappy with the service provided by DWP. A complaint is defined as any expression of dissatisfaction about the service provided which is not resolved by operational staff as normal business. This does not include dissatisfactions with policy, a benefit decision or appeal outcome. It could include areas such as:

• mistakes have been made 

• there were unreasonable delays 

• a complainant feels they have been treated poorly 

• a complainant feels they haven’t been kept informed 

A person does not need to be a customer to make a complaint.

The typical complaints journey follows a number of steps: 

1. A customer raises dissatisfaction with DWP services or processes, to which the business attempts early issue resolution.

2. If the customer remains dissatisfied, the customer or business will escalate to the DWP complaints service, and the complaint is built onto DWP’s complaints management platform. 

3. The complaint is investigated and a final response is given with the outcome of the complaint, with redress if appropriate. 

4. The complaint outcome is provided to customer, with sign-post to the Independent Case Examiner.

Purpose of the statistics 

DWP has historically published information about complaints received by DWP as part of the DWP Transparency data and in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts. There has been interest from a wide range of users both within the DWP and externally to increase the amount of complaints data that is publicly available. This will allow users to better understand the reasons customers complain and the outcomes of complaints that have been investigated and resolved. 

The increased data available as part of this Official Statistics publication increases the transparency of DWP complaints and DWP customer experience.

Publication of additional complaints data will allow for the use of the data in Public Accounts Committees and Work and Pensions Select Committees, negating the need to produce ad hoc statistical publications. 

The DWP Complaints Official Statistics meet significant public interest in complaints data as evidenced through the increased volumes of Freedom of Information (FoI) requests on complaints data beyond what is currently published, seeking more detailed information about complaints upheld, cases closed and the reasons for these complaints.

Limitations of the statistics 

The Department moved to a single-tier complaints system as well as a new IT system in July 2020 meaning information recorded prior to this point may be unavailable or inconsistent. As such, we only have robust complaints data from September 2020.

When a customer raises a dissatisfaction with DWP services or processes, the business attempts early issue resolution. Data as part of this Official Statistics publication only includes official complaints that have entered the gateway and are built on the complaints management platform, and so does not include issue resolutions as part of the early issue resolution stage.

The subject of a complaint, known as ‘root cause’, is assigned from a defined list of root causes. This is a required field which is finalised upon closing the complaint on the complaints management platform. There can be more than one root cause linked to a complaint. The assignment is made manually by Complaints Resolution Managers (CRMs), who are trained on the appropriate categorisations to use.

Comparisons between the statistics 

These statistics relate to benefits or services administered by DWP in Great Britain.  

Social Security Scotland capture feedback on a two-tier complaints system, which cover only benefits that have been devolved and are administered by Social Security Scotland. As such the Social Security Scotland statistics are not directly comparable to these statistics. Further information about complaints at Social Security Scotland and links to their latest statistics are available at Social Security Scotland Feedback statistics to 31 March 2025.

DWP also publishes information annually on customer experience, in the Customer Experience Survey. This survey uses online and telephone interviews to measure customers’ satisfaction with DWP’s overall service and aspects of the customer experience. This can be used to give context to the complaints statistics, though is not capturing the same population or information.

Source of the statistics 

The data used is based on complaints recorded in DWP’s complaints management platform system, used to record and manage complaints and correspondence. This system allows consistent and efficient recording of complaints.  

Complaints data is downloaded from this system into Excel in a report which contains all data that is currently on the system at the time of download, around 13 months of records. Variables that contain sensitive information are removed from the report, and Power Query is used to extract variables that are required, which include: 

• complaint received date 

• DWP benefit 

• root cause of the complaint (selected from a defined list of root causes) 

• complaint closed date 

• outcome of decision (selected from a defined list of possible outcomes)  

Processing of the data takes place to append the new month’s data onto existing datasets which allows for retrospection and the most recent instance for each complaint to be used. This means there is a full time series of data from September 2020.

Definitions and terminology within the statistics 

Business Areas 

DWP complaints are divided into six business areas which contain different DWP benefits and services. Examples of these within each business area can be found below. This is not an exhaustive list as some services are historic and have since been replaced. These are not shown here. Not all the areas listed involve payment to a claimant. 

Retirement Services 

• Attendance Allowance 

• Carer’s Credit 

• Carer’s Allowance 

• Disability Living Allowance 65+ 

• New State Pension 

• Pension Credit 

• Pre-Retirement (Futures) 

• State Pension 

• Winter Fuel Payment

Universal Credit (UC) 

• UC Full Service 

• UC Live Service (pre-2018)

Working Age (excluding UC) 

• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) 

• Housing Benefit 

• Income Support 

• Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) 

• New Style ESA 

• New Style JSA 

Disability Services 

• Access to Work 

• Disability Living Allowance Adult 

• Disability Living Allowance Child 

• Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit 

• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

Child Maintenance Service 

• Child Maintenance Service 

Counter Fraud Compliance and Debt (CFCD) 

• Counter Fraud Compliance  

• Debt 

Closed complaint 

A complaint that has been investigated by a DWP Complaint Resolution Manager (CRM) and a conclusion reached. 

Independent Case Examiner (ICE) 

The Office of the Independent Case Examiner (ICE) provides an impartial review service for complainants who remain dissatisfied having concluded DWP’s complaint process.

ICE accepted complaint 

ICE has assessed a new complaint and determines it is eligible and suitable for ICE. 

ICE cleared complaint 

Accepted cases are cleared by either Resolution, Settlement, ICE Decision or withdrawn. 

ICE decision  

If ICE are unable to settle the complaint, they will judge the complaint on its merits and issue a decision letter. Where ICE find a complaint has no merit, or the business has already provided or offered appropriate remedy to the customer, or the facts of the complaint are already apparent, the ICE may judge on it earlier in the process.   

ICE early approaches 

Early Approaches are contacts from complainants who have approached ICE prematurely, before they have completed DWP’s own complaint process and received a final response. ICE can only accept a complaint if a final response has been issued from DWP. The final response signposts the complainant to the Independent Case Examiner if they remain dissatisfied with the outcome of DWP’s complaint response and wish to escalate their complaint further. 

ICE not upheld complaint 

There is no evidence of maladministration in relation to the complaint. 

ICE received complaint 

Any complaint about DWP sent to ICE.  

ICE resolved complaint 

When ICE accept a complaint for investigation, ICE may attempt to broker a solution between the complainant and the business, without having to request all of the evidence to inform an investigation. 

ICE settled complaint 

If ICE can’t resolve the complaint, the evidence will be reviewed, and the complaint will be allocated to an Investigator. Following a review of the evidence it may be possible to “settle” the complaint, if agreement can be reached on actions that satisfy the complainant.

ICE withdrawn complaint 

Where the complainant has withdrawn their complaint during the ICE investigation process. 

Not upheld complaint 

The CRM has investigated the complaint and has decided that DWP did not provide a service below the standards that they expect. 

Parent Text 

When a complaint is received, DWP staff assign root causes to the complaint to describe the subject or subjects of the complaint. Parent texts are broader categories that are used to group root causes together. There are seven parent text categories. 

• You haven’t given me the information that suits my needs: Root causes in this parent text include where a complainant does not think their questions have been answered, where they have been told something confusing or where they have not been kept informed and had correspondence replied to. 

• DWP staff don’t treat me with respect: Root causes in this parent text include where a complainant felt the service being provided was not helpful or was unprofessional, that their needs had not been considered, or staff were rude towards them. 

• I can’t access the system: Root causes in this parent text include where a complainant couldn’t get through to DWP, or was cut-off, if they felt passed from person to person, or if no one was available to help or see them. 

• You take too long: Root causes in this parent text include where a complainant felt it was too long before someone from DWP called or wrote back to them, or felt it took the DWP too long to process their new claim or their change of circumstances.  

• You’ve got it wrong: Root causes in this parent text include where the wrong entitlement was calculated, the wrong amount was paid, or a complainant feels DWP did not follow legislation or policy. 

• I have to contact a number of agencies to tell them the same thing: Root causes in this parent text include where it has cost a complainant money to get to the right place in DWP, or they felt time was wasted passing them to other departments or agencies. 

• Root causes in this parent text include where a complainant feels they have been discriminated against. Examples of this could be where a complainant feels they have been discriminated against because of a disability.

Partly upheld complaint 

Where a complainant has raised more than one issue, the CRM has investigated and agrees that a poor service was provided in some, but not all, of the issues the complainant raised and applies redress to the issues upheld. 

Received complaint 

Any complaint sent to the Department via official channels. 

Redress 

If a complaint is upheld or partly upheld, DWP may consider making an apology, providing an explanation, taking corrective action or making a special payment if a customer suffered financially. 

Upheld complaint 

The CRM has investigated the complaint and agrees that the service provided in each issue the complainant raised was below the standard expected and redress is appropriate. 

Revisions to the statistics 

These statistics will be revised quarterly as minor volatility in previous months data is possible due to retrospection in the data.

Status of the statistics 

Official Statistics in Development  

These statistics are Official Statistics in Development. Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). The OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.  

The Code of Practice for Statistics is built around 3 main concepts, or pillars:   

• trustworthiness – is about having confidence in the people and organisations that publish statistics  

• quality – is about using data and methods that produce statistics  

• value – is about publishing statistics that support society’s needs  

HM Government analysts work to a professional competency framework and Civil Service core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity, and impartiality. The data and analysis in this release have been scrutinised and quality assured in line with the AQuA Book and received sign off by the subject expert lead Senior Civil Service analyst.  

Frequency 

DWP complaints statistics are released on a quarterly basis. Quarterly data is published in March, June, September, and December alongside a statistical bulletin providing commentary on the latest statistics. The exact dates for the quarterly releases will be listed in the statistics release calendar. 

Rounding  

Figures contained within the statistical bulletin for DWP are subject to additional rounding unless otherwise stated. Figures have been rounded to the nearest five. Figures may not sum due to rounding.

Users should note that percentages shown within the statistical bulletin are calculated using numbers prior to rounding and rounded to the nearest whole percentage point. Percentages therefore may not add to 100%. 

Figures for ICE have not been subject to rounding. 

Coverage 

These statistics cover any complaint made to the Department for Work and Pensions, for benefits or services administered by DWP in Great Britain. This does not include devolved benefits or services. Complainants can be both customers and non-customers, and you do not need to be receiving a benefit to make a complaint.  

Quality Statement 

The analysis presented in this publication is based on administrative data. As well as detailed quality assurance (QA) specific to this data, further additional QA processes are in place that are consistent across all DWP statistical production processes.

These include: 

• peer review of approach 

• ensuring updates to code have been done correctly 

• checks for data completeness 

• comparing figures with previous publications 

• ensuring all figures are correctly cited in each of the statistical documents 

• ensuring commentary is impartial and accurate 

All issues are recorded on a quality log and rated according to their impact. Any issues that are detrimental to the quality of the statistics are made aware to users in the statistical bulletin. 

Feedback 

We welcome feedback. 

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments by email to: complaints.statistics@dwp.gov.uk.  

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing: regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the Office for Statistics Regulation website.