Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent (a) assessment her Department has made of the trends in and (b) estimate her Department has made of the average processing times for applications made for maternity allowance.

The Department continues to closely monitor the volume of MA applications. We are aware of the current increase in outstanding MA applications, due to recent staff changes and we are working to resolve this.

We are urgently training new colleagues on this area of work and we expect work volumes to decline from mid-November onwards. We would advise people to apply as soon as they are eligible, 14 weeks before the week when their baby is due. We are fast tracking any emergency cases.