Guide · Updated 07/07/2026
Compensation for CMS failures: the special payments scheme
When maladministration by the CMS causes you real harm, the DWP operates a discretionary redress scheme — "Financial Redress for Maladministration", often called special payments. It is not widely advertised, there is no statutory right to a payment, but the published staff guide sets out exactly when payments should be considered. Ask, and cite it.
What counts as maladministration
Failing to act properly or fairly: excessive delay, mistakes and wrong advice, lost documents, failure to action reported changes, faulty procedures, discourtesy, failure to follow the published complaints process. One-off minor slips usually attract an apology; persistent, compounding failure is where financial redress lives.
The three heads of payment
| Head | What it covers | What to evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Loss of statutory entitlement | Money you were entitled to but lost because of DWP error — for a receiving parent, maintenance that proper administration would have collected | The entitlement, the error, and the causal chain |
| Actual financial loss | Costs directly caused by the failure: bank charges, interest, professional fees, travel, lost earnings attending avoidable appointments | Receipts, statements, invoices — direct causation required |
| Consolatory payment | The injustice of the poor service itself: gross inconvenience, severe distress, effects on health. No financial loss needed | The persistence of the failings and their impact; GP evidence where health is engaged |
How to pursue it
Ask within your complaint
There is no separate form. In your formal complaint, state: "I request consideration under the Financial Redress for Maladministration scheme" and set out losses under the heads above, itemised.
Escalate if refused
The Independent Case Examiner can recommend financial redress the CMS declined, and the Ombudsman can go further — PHSO has directed remedies including repayment of thousands of pounds wrongly collected plus sums for distress. Refusal at rung one is the beginning, not the end.
Interest and overpayments
Where CMS error caused you to overpay maintenance, seek repayment of the overpayment itself through correction of the decisions (revision back to the error), and redress for consequential costs through the scheme. Ask for both explicitly — they have different legal bases and one does not trigger the other automatically.
Consolatory payments are typically modest (commonly in the hundreds of pounds; more where failings are severe and prolonged). The scheme's real value is often the actual-loss and lost-entitlement heads, plus the discipline it imposes on the CMS to confront its own record. Claim precisely and persistently.
Sources
| Source | Type | Date | Credibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| DWP — Financial redress for maladministration: staff guide | Primary (official scheme guide) | Current | High |
| PHSO — CMS failings case (£8,500 overpaid) | Ombudsman finding | Published case | High |
| Independent Case Examiner | Official body | Current | High |