Child Maintenance Service - Apprentice Telephony Caseworker

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.

In the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) you will have the opportunity to continually learn and work with a great team.

We are here to support you with your learning and self-development throughout the apprenticeship and beyond. You will grow your skills and experience through working with more experienced colleagues and through the support of other people in the Operational Delivery Profession (ODP).

This is an exciting opportunity to earn as you learn and gain practical experience while you study towards achieving a Level 3 Customer Service Specialist Apprenticeship. You’ll receive formal learning to develop crucial skills, knowledge and behaviours for your career and be part of a great team.

Take a look at the DWP you tube channel to find out more https://youtu.be/DwG6S1XQy2Y

Job description

This is a telephony focused Customer Service Specialist Apprenticeship role at the heart of our busy Service Centre. As a valued member of a supportive and welcoming team, you will play a key part in delivering excellent customer service primarily through inbound and outbound telephone contact. The role is fast paced, rewarding, and central to supporting parents and families across the UK.

While you will occasionally support customers digitally, the core and essential requirement of this role is telephony work. This involves spending the majority of your working day handling telephone calls while using a headset, managing conversations professionally, and resolving customer queries in real time. There are no alternative non-telephony deployment options within this role.

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace and will consider workplace adjustments to support colleagues to deliver all aspects of the telephony role.

Key Responsibilities:

• Make and receive a high volume of telephone calls in a contact centre environment while wearing a headset, providing clear, accurate and compassionate support to customers.
• Address a wide range of telephony queries, completing any follow‑up actions and escalating cases appropriately, often managing multiple tasks at once.
• Handle sensitive or challenging conversations with professionalism, resilience and empathy.
• Support online customers digitally when required (these are secondary to telephony responsibilities).
• Manage your own caseload, balancing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Provide high-quality customer service, ensuring information given is accurate, timely and easy to understand.
• Gather information from various sources to make accurate calculations and decisions regarding liability to pay child maintenance, inputting information precisely into internal IT systems.
• Negotiate child maintenance arrangements and payment plans in line with legislation and guidance.
• Secure payments and clearly explain the consequences of non-payment.
• Take appropriate enforcement actions where required.

Supporting Candidates Live Events

We’ll be hosting a series of webinar sessions led by CMS leaders, Caseworkers and an Apprentice Specialist, 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 segment where you can ask questions.

If you would like to join the event, please click on the link below and complete your details to register interest. You will then be automatically enrolled onto the webinar and can access the event on the day via the link sent to your email address.

Friday 16 October 2026 at 12 pm

Wednesday 21 October 2026 at 4 pm

Person specification

What are we looking for?

• People with strong verbal and written skills, who can communicate well with customers via telephone (wearing a headset). Providing detailed information succinctly so it is clear to understand.

• 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 who are committed to delivering a high-standard customer experience, ensuring every customer received accurate information and respectful, professional support.
• People who are self-motivated, well organised, and able to use their own initiative to 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 will be required to undertake fulltime, 100% office-based training. This training is mandatory and non-negotiable.

This training is essential to ensure you gain the knowledge, confidence, and capability needed to support the CMS in delivering high-quality customer experience and service for the families who rely on us.

After completing the 11-week training period, there will be a further 3 month office-based consolidation phase to embed your learning and ensure service quality standards are met.

Attendance throughout both phases is compulsory, and individuals must be fully committed to completing the training and attending the office as required.

Hybrid working options will only be considered once both phases have been successfully completed.

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. If you don't have work-related experience, you can use examples from school, college, clubs, volunteering or other activities.

Level 3 Customer Service Apprent