Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average processing time is for claims of (a) employment and support allowance, (b) carer's allowance and (c) attendance allowance; and what plans his Department has to publish that data on a quarterly basis.

The data available in relation to this question is the Actual Average Clearance Time (AACT) which is the average number of working Days (excludes weekends and English Bank Holidays) between an application being made and the date the customer was notified of the decision on their claim.

The AACT for Carers Allowance Claims for the Financial Year which runs from April 16 to March 17 is 21.5 days

The AACT for Attendance Allowance Normal Rules Claims for the Financial Year which runs from April 16 to March 17 is 19.3 days

The AACT for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claims for the Financial year which runs from April 16 to March 17 is 7.9 days

The Department has no plans to publish these statistics on a quarterly basis.

Sources:

Attendance Allowance Computer System (AACS)

Carers Allowance Computer System (CACS)

Management Information System Programme (MISP). MISP is a Departmental performance management, data capture and reporting tool.