diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-cache-policy-smq.c b/drivers/md/dm-cache-policy-smq.c
index e0c40aec5e964eb1428f53ee5e84814d7ba9b75a..d13d9edf8dfe4dc55d88065df4417c8f9ba94942 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-cache-policy-smq.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-cache-policy-smq.c
@@ -1214,7 +1214,11 @@ static void queue_promotion(struct smq_policy *mq, dm_oblock_t oblock,
 		return;
 
 	if (allocator_empty(&mq->cache_alloc)) {
-		if (!free_target_met(mq, false))
+		/*
+		 * We always claim to be 'idle' to ensure some demotions happen
+		 * with continuous loads.
+		 */
+		if (!free_target_met(mq, true))
 			queue_demotion(mq);
 		return;
 	}