Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate his Department has made of average processing times for Access to Work Mandatory Reconsideration requests, and what steps are being taken to reduce delays.

Over recent months we have experienced an increase in the volume of Mandatory Reconsiderations being received into Access to work. However, the Department remains committed to ensuring that reconsideration requests are reviewed as promptly as possible and has taken steps to strengthen service delivery. This has included the redeployment of existing staff to focus on reconsiderations, in addition to the recruitment of additional staff to increase processing capacity, improve processing times, and support the clearance of the backlog by September 2027.