Child Maintenance Service - Customer Resolution Senior Lead

Government Recruitment Service; Newcastle upon Tyne; On-site; GBP 59,000 - 69,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Disability Confident

Job summary

Government Recruitment Service in Newcastle-upon-Tyne is seeking a Customer Resolution Senior Lead to oversee complaint handling and resolution across CMS. The role manages approx. 150 colleagues across locations, handling high-profile escalations and ministerial interactions to shape service strategies.

The post requires exceptional leadership, the ability to drive improvements, and a focus on delivering strong customer outcomes within a fast-paced public sector environment.

Qualifications

• Strong leadership and people-management skills.
• Proven ability to analyse data and drive improvements.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement.
• Experience handling complex, high-profile escalated cases.

Responsibilities

• Monitor and analyse complaint performance data to drive continuous improvement across CMS
• Identify areas for process improvement and lead initiatives to enhance quality and efficiency
• Work with colleagues and stakeholders across CMS and the wider Department to deliver results
• Build collaborative relationships across teams to understand and improve customer experience
• Prepare analysis and recommendations for senior meetings and present key information when needed
• Lead engagement with Members of Parliament and support parliamentary relationships
• Inspire teams to achieve objectives, delivering high performance and transforming outcomes
• Create an inclusive culture and empower teams to develop and grow
• Sign off high-profile and ministerial complaints on behalf of CMS Executive Team

Job description

Child Maintenance Service - Customer Resolution Senior Lead

Company: Government Recruitment Service

Salary: £58,961 to £69,399 a year

Hours: Full-time

Location: Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Job type: Permanent

Posting date: 3 Nov 2026

Closing date: 16 Nov 2026

As the UK government’s largest public service provider, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policies.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) supports parents who are unable to reach a private financial agreement by ensuring – and when necessary, enforcing – their legal responsibility to contribute to their child’s living costs.

Our mission is simple: to get money to children, because it makes a real difference in their lives.

While we’ve made significant progress in transforming our service, we remain ambitious about what more we can achieve for the families who rely on us. CMS is a dynamic and rewarding place to work. Step into any of our service centres and you’ll find passionate, dedicated professionals committed to supporting our customers.

We are proud to foster an inclusive and diverse workforce where everyone can thrive. If you're looking to make a difference, this could be the career for you.

This is a fantastic opportunity to start or grow a fulfilling career in the Civil Service. We offer a flexible work-life balance, along with opportunities for growth, challenge, and personal development.

You will lead around 150 colleagues across several locations. Your teams manage customer complaint handling and resolution, complex high profile escalated cases, and work relating to the Independent Case Examiner (ICE) and Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). These areas provide valuable insight into customer experience and service quality. You will use this insight to identify improvements and help shape future service strategies.

This is a challenging role which has Ministerial and Senior Leader interest.

The role of Customer Resolution Senior Lead encompasses a broad range of responsibilities and is high‑profile role within a fast paced, changeable and demanding environment. This position is a key operational leadership role, accountable for leading a number of teams across multiple service centres and routinely engaging with senior stakeholders across CMS and the wider DWP.

The role requires exceptional leadership skills, making effective use of resource to ensure performance targets and customer objectives are met whilst driving people engagement across their teams and providing transformational leadership to the team and beyond - inspiring colleagues through difficult situations, transforming performance and building high performing teams.

This role is fundamental to understanding and improving the experience our child maintenance customers have, and applicants will need to have a real desire to drive positive changes to support this.

The Key deliverables for a Customer Resolution Senior Lead:

Monitor and analyse complaint performance data to drive continuous improvement across CMS

• Identify areas for process improvement and lead initiatives to enhance quality and efficiency
• Work with a range of colleagues and stakeholders across CMS and the wider Department, communicating and influencing effectively to deliver results
• Work within and across teams building strong and collaborative relationships with a diverse mix of people at all levels to understand and improve our customer experience
• Prepare analysis and recommendations for senior meetings and present key information when needed
• Support development and delivery of our engagement approach with Members of Parliament
• Lead with confidence and resilience, and help teams improve performance, service quality and customer outcomes
• Inspire and empower others to deliver against all agreed objectives, ensuring that delivery and outcomes are completed to the required standards
• Create an inclusive culture where people feel valued, supported and able to develop
• Take all required action to sign off high profile and ministerial complaints on behalf of the CMS Executive Team

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

About Disability Confident Disability Confident is a government scheme. It encourages employers to recruit and retain disabled people and those with long term health conditions.