Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what measures are being tested to speed up the processing of benefit claims; what effect any such measures are having on processing times; and when he plans to implement any such measures in full.
The Department currently uses a suite of measures to track and manage the timeliness of payments for the range of benefits it administers.
We steadily increased the number of Jobseeker’s Allowance claims processed in 16 days from 85.8% in 2009-10 to 96.0% in 2014-15. We are now aiming to clear Jobseeker’s Allowance claims within 10 days. In 2009-10 we processed 70.8% in 10 days and this increased to 91.4% in 2014-15.
We have also steadily increased the number of Employment and Support Allowance claims processed in 16 days from 72.9% in 2009-10 to 93.6% in 2014-15. We are also aiming to clear Employment and Support Allowance claims within 10 days. In 2009-10 we processed 54.9% in 10 days and this increased to 87.5% in 2014-15.
We are planning to continue this approach across a range of other products.