Jobcentres and Universal Credit: Telephone Services
(asked on 16th October 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average (a) speed of answer and (b) hold time was for callers to the (i) Jobcentre Enquiry Line and (ii) Universal Credit helpline in 2024-25 and 2025-26.
Answered by
Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The table below shows the Average Speed of Answer and the Average Hold Times for all calls to the Jobcentre Enquiry Line in an hours, minutes and seconds format (hh:mm:ss), itemised by Reporting Years 2024-2025 and 2025-2026.
Reporting Year | Product Line | Average Speed of Answer (hh:mm:ss) | Average Hold Time (hh:mm:ss) |
2024-2025 | Jobcentre Enquiry Line | 00:00:57 | 00:00:30 |
2025-2026 | Jobcentre Enquiry Line | 00:02:18 | 00:00:19 |
The table below shows the Average Speed of Answer and the Average Hold Times for all calls to the Universal Credit Helpline in an hours, minutes and seconds format (hh:mm:ss), itemised by Reporting Years 2024-2025 and 2025-2026.
Reporting Year | Product Line | Average Speed of Answer (hh:mm:ss) | Average Hold Time (hh:mm:ss) |
2024-2025 | Universal Credit | 00:02:43 | 00:00:09 |
2025-2026 | Universal Credit | 00:01:48 | 00:00:07 |
The table below shows the Average Speed of Answer and the Average Hold Times for all calls to the Personal Independence Payment helpline in an hours, minutes and seconds format (hh:mm:ss), itemised by each of the Reporting Years since 2020-2021. Please be aware that we DO NOT hold data for Average Hold Time for the Reporting Year 2020 – 2021.
Reporting Year | Product Line | Average Speed of Answer (hh:mm:ss) | Average Hold Time (hh:mm:ss) |
2020-2021 | Personal Independence Payment | 00:05:28 | Not Available |
2021-2022 | Personal Independence Payment | 00:18:10 | 00:00:25 |
2022-2023 | Personal Independence Payment | 00:19:21 | 00:00:29 |
2023-2024 | Personal Independence Payment | 00:17:33 | 00:00:42 |
2024-2025 | Personal Independence Payment | 00:12:18 | 00:00:37 |
2025-2026 | Personal Independence Payment | 00:12:13 | 00:00:37 |
*2026-2027 | Personal Independence Payment | 00:08:09 | 00:00:36 |
*Figures for reporting year 2026–27 are year-to-date and include data up to and including 11 October 2026.
Disclaimer
The above answer contains information that has not been routinely published as Official Statistics.
The figures provided are derived from DWP management information. The figures provided have been quality assured and assessed as fit for the purpose of addressing the information requested.