Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Transformation Programme on WPS claim response times.

The War Pension Scheme (WPS) Transformation Programme has been in place since September 2024, with the aim of improving the accuracy and efficiency of WPS claim processing.

A range of measures have been introduced to improve WPS claim processing times. These include flexible resource management, allowing teams to reallocate staff as needed and training personnel in multiple skillsets to enhance efficiency and resilience.

To accelerate the clearance of outstanding claims, overtime and weekend working have been implemented alongside the additional recruitment of administrative and caseworker staff.

With the operational system delivered, transformation continues via a WPS Recovery Taskforce, established in June 2025 to continue to support service delivery improvements. This taskforce focuses on stabilising the system, monitoring operational performance, and identifying further areas for improvement.

The capacity of the working resource is now considered to be sufficient and effective enough to complete the processing of as many claims as are being received.

Throughout the claims process, all cases are managed in strict date order at every stage to ensure fairness, with priority given to those with a terminal illness and to claimants over the age of 90.