Independent Case Examiner

2.Main Content

Independent Case Examiner

This page contains information about the Independent Case Examiner (ICE), including:
What it does
What complaints are eligible?
Cost
Timescale
Procedure
Outcomes

What it does
The Independent Case Examiner (ICE) was set up in 1997 to investigate complaints about the Child Support Agency (CSA). The CSA is responsible for assessing child maintenance payments and for collecting and enforcing payments between parents in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. From April 2007, the ICE can also investigate complaints about any service provided by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), including Jobcentre Plus, the Disability and Carers Service, and the Pension service.
The ICE also covers the work of the Northern Ireland Social Security Agency. The ICE is funded by the DWP, but it operates independently.
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What complaints are eligible?
The ICE can consider complaints about the way a case was handled. These are likely to be about:

Delays
Mistakes
Failing to take action
Rudeness by staff

One of the main problems identified by the ICE is the way the CSA handles complaints – many parents find it inaccessible and unclear. Despite recommendations and changes over ten years, this has changed very little.

The ICE cannot look at complaints about legislation or policy, or specific complaints about the level of child maintenance. If you believe the level of child maintenance has been calculated wrongly, you must first approach the CSA. There is then an independent appeals service. The same principles will apply to complaints to the ICE about the whole range of DWP services from April 2007.

Before you bring a complaint to the ICE, you must give the agency you are complaining about a chance to resolve the problem first. You can take the complaint to the ICE if you are not happy with their final response, or if they have not responded within eight weeks. If you try to complain to the ICE before then, they will not be able to accept the complaint. There is a time limit as well - your complaint must be brought to the ICE within six months of the agency’s final response.

In 2006-07 the ICE received 3,442 complaints, and 1,528 of those were accepted for investigation. Most of the rest were too early, and complainants were asked to give the agency a further six weeks to resolve the matter. After that the ICE will usually take the case on, even if there has been no response from the agency. Over the year 2006-07, only 25 complaints came back to the ICE because they hadn’t received a response within six weeks. However, 672 came back because the complainant was not satisfied with the answer.
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Cost
The scheme is free to complainants.
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Timescale
The time needed to resolve a complaint varies from case to case, depending on how complicated it is. Once an investigation begins, you will be kept informed about how long it is likely to take. The ICE aims to clear cases within 34 weeks; In 2006-07, the average time taken to sort things out was 18.5 weeks.
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Procedure
Complaints may be made in writing, by phone, or by email through the Independent Case Examiner website). You can also phone the ICE office for advice on making a complaint, and a member of staff will help you make the complaint.

There are a number of stages to dealing with a complaint:

The ICE will acknowledge all complaints within two working days
The ICE will decide within ten working days whether or not the complaint can be accepted – if it has been made too early, you may have to go back to the agency to give them a chance to resolve things
A member of the ICE staff will try to negotiate between the agency and the person complaining, to see if the problem can be resolved informally – over half of the complaints accepted were resolved in this way during 2006-07
If this is not successful, a full investigation will be carried out. Mediation may be suggested again at this stage, and if it is not successful, the ICE will issue a report and make a formal recommendation about how to resolve the problem. ICE recommendations are not legally binding, but they are nearly always followed by the agency

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Outcome
Among the remedies the ICE can recommend are:

action to put matters right
an apology
an explanation
compensation
a review of CSA procedures

Of the complaints investigated during 2006-07, 83% were fully or partially upheld. In 46% of these cases some financial compensation was recommended. However, don’t expect too much – the average amount is only around £250.

If you want to take matters further, or to complain about the ICE itself, you can go to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
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August 2007