Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Independent Case Examiner is taking to reduce the time taken for cases to be processed.

The ICE office continuously reviews its processes and operating model to improve productivity and reduce the length of time investigations take to be concluded, without compromising quality.

The overall ICE process has several stages. Once a case has been accepted, ICE will attempt to resolve it without a full evidence gather. If a resolution cannot be brokered, the case awaits allocation to an investigator who will judge first, once the evidence is available, whether the complaint can be settled. If this is not appropriate, or if settlement action cannot be agreed with the customer, an investigation is conducted and findings are made.

Since April 2022 ICE has recruited an additional 18 investigators who will become increasingly productive as they consolidate initial training. A further 5 staff are due to join the team from July. Additional resource will be focused on CMS work.