Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time was for the processing of Access to Work applications in the most recent period for which data is available.

From April 2025 to August 2025 the average waiting time for the processing of Access to Work applications was 94.9 days and it was 93.6 day for the most recent month of August 2025.

While we aim to make payments within 20 working days of receipt of all correctly completed claim forms and all required supporting evidence, unfortunately this is not always possible.

To protect employment opportunities, case managers prioritise Access to Work applications where the customer is due to start a job within four weeks, or cases that are up for renewal.

To support our customers several measures have already been put in place, including streamlining our delivery processes and recruiting additional staff.