Written Question
Wednesday 8th May 2024
Asked by:
Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question
to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many meetings a Universal Support scheme participant has with their personal adviser on average (a) prior to employment and (b) when in post; and what proportion of those meetings are (i) online and (ii) in person.
Answered by Mims Davies
- Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
For the first phase of Universal Support, which includes both Work and Health Programme Pioneer and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care, Providers and Local Authorities will tailor the level of support to an individual’s needs. Subsequently the DWP does not collect data on the volume and intervention type for meetings conducted with individuals participating in these programmes.
Written Question
Tuesday 7th May 2024
Asked by:
Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question
to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on the proportion of Universal Support scheme participants who (a) have successfully moved into employment since that scheme's introduction and (b) are still employed.
Answered by Mims Davies
- Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Members to the answer given on 24 April 2024 to PQ22549.
Written Question
Tuesday 7th May 2024
Asked by:
Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question
to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people that have been helped into work by the Universal Support scheme since 13 September 2023.
Answered by Mims Davies
- Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Members to the answer given on 24 April 2024 to PQ22549.
Written Question
Tuesday 7th May 2024
Asked by:
Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question
to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have been (a) identified through and (b) referred to the Universal Support scheme by (i) work coaches and (ii) contracted providers since 13 September 2023.
Answered by Mims Davies
- Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not available.
Statistics on the Work and Health Programme Pioneer element of Universal Support are planned to be published later this month, and we are committed to publishing Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care programme data in due course.
Written Question
Tuesday 7th May 2024
Asked by:
Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question
to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on the sectors of employment that people have successfully moved into after having participated in the Universal Support scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies
- Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not available.
Statistics on the Work and Health Programme Pioneer element of Universal Support are planned to be published later this month, and we are committed to publishing Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care programme data in due course.
Written Question
Tuesday 7th May 2024
Asked by:
Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question
to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which organisations are contracted providers to identify and refer potential participants for the Universal Support scheme; and how many participants each of those contracted providers has referred onto that scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies
- Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Support (US) is being delivered in two phases. The expansions to Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) and the Work and Health Programme (WHP Pioneer) are being rolled out for phase one of the service. IPSPC is not a Contracted Employment Provision, it is a grant awarded to Local Authorities (LAs) to deliver the provision and that could involve in-house delivery or contracted out to providers by the Grant Recipient (LA).
In order to make WHP Pioneer accessible to all eligible individuals, including those who are not regular customers of Jobcentre Plus, DWP Signposting Organisations (SOs), including contracted providers, will be able to signpost individuals that they think will benefit from WHP Pioneer to DWP. However, please note the final decision regarding a referral to WHP Pioneer will remain with DWP. For WHP Pioneer the majority of referrals will be made via this route by providers. A list of providers can be found here.
Information regarding how many participants each contracted provider has referred is not available.
Statistics on the WHP Pioneer data element of US are planned to be published later this month, and we are committed to publishing IPSPC programme data in due course.
Written Question
Wednesday 1st May 2024
Asked by:
Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question
to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what percentage of new Jobseeker’s Allowance claims have been completed within the planned processing timescales by (a) nation and (b) region in each year since 2010.
Answered by Paul Maynard
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Table 1 - Percentage of new claims that have been completed within the planned processing timescales by benefit.
| 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
Jobseekers Allowance | 88.6% | 86.8% | 80.6% | 53.1% | 82.5% | 87.1% | 67.8% | 58.7% |
Employment and Support Allowance | 84.6% | 85.3% | 73.3% | 96.1% | 70.9% | 42.5% | 47.4% | 39.5% |
State Pension | 87.9% | 73.7% | 86.8% | 86.7% | 76.2% | 45.6% | 72.0% | 96.2% |
Pension Credit | 71.0% | 55.2% | 53.4% | 44.8% | 88.2% | 74.3% | 45.7% | 77.7% |
Disability Living Allowance (child) | 96.8% | 96.5% | 96.2% | 91.3% | 92.1% | 35.6% | 4.6% | 3.5% |
Personal Independence Payment | 85.1% | 77.2% | 72.3% | 40.4% | 23.0% | 6.8% | 38.4% | 51.7% |
Child Maintenance Service | 82.8% | 87.4% | 88.3% | 91.6% | 84.3% | 84.3% | 79.4% | 79.6% |
Universal Credit | | | 80.4% | 85.2% | 90.9% | 85.7% | 84.4% | TBC |
Comments to note:
- Data has been provided for the years 2016-17 to 2023-24 (UC 2018-19 to 2023-24). Previous years requested are not retained centrally and the breakdown by nation and region for services except UC would only be available at a disproportionate cost.
- In the spirit of answering the question we have provided table 1 above.
Service Performance Context:
Jobseekers Allowance
- From the start of the pandemic until April 2021, JSA claims were subject to easements that meant face-to-face appointment was removed. In April 2021, Claimant Commitments and regular face to face engagement requirements were reintroduced.
Employment and Support Allowance
- ESA 2019-20 to 2023-24, the new claim process for New Style Employment and Support Allowance (NSESA) changed. In April 2020 a digital claim was introduced during Covid. Prior to this, as part of the new claim process, a period up to 10 days at beginning was never measured. With the re-designed process all time is included, so it is not possible to make a like-for-like comparison with the new claim process before April 2020.
State Pension
- Performance was severely impacted due to the need to repivot resource to other areas, such as Universal Credit, during the global pandemic. In 2021/22, resource was re-deployed to work through the backlogs. Investment in digital services in this area has also aided recovery leading to significant performance improvements in 2023/24.
Pension Credit
- 2019/20 was impacted by substantial spikes in claims following the BBC decision to remove free TV licences. Uptake in Pension Credit has been encouraged through campaigns and again led to unprecedented claims being received when entitlement was linked to additional Cost of Living payments. This created backlogs and impacted payment timeliness as these were recovered.
Disability Living Allowance (Child)
- Disability Living Allowance ceased in 2013 and is no longer an active benefit, it was replaced by Personal Independence Payment. Disability Living Allowance for Children continues to accept new claims and as such we have responded in respect of this benefit.
- Demand for Child DLA has increased in recent years and is significantly higher than pre-pandemic volumes.
- During 2020-21 we deferred case renewal activity to focus on processing new claims. Since then the service has had to service both high new claims volumes and the deferred renewal work which has led to longer processing times.
- We have increased the numbers of staff working on Child DLA to respond to increase new claims volumes, and clear cases in date order to ensure fair customer service.
Personal Independence Payment
- PIP performance represents a significant recovery compared to prior periods and the lowest average journey time recorded since 2018 (see published statistics)
- PIP New Claims demand is significantly higher than pre-Covid levels, despite the devolution of Scottish claims during this period.
Child Maintenance Service
- Child Maintenance Service application volumes have been sharply increasing with CMS receiving more than 50% more in 2023/24 than in 2021/22. This dip in performance over this time can largely be explained by this. More recently, the removal of the Application fee has also resulted in higher volumes.
Universal Credit
- Data has been provided for the years 2018-19 to 2023-24. Detailed data by local areas is available via Stat Xplore within the Universal Credit Published Statistics (Universal Credit statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). Previous years requested are not retained centrally or published and the breakdown by nation and region would only be available at a disproportionate cost.
- The 2023-24 figures for UC are not available until May as per the Statistics Release schedule.
- Planned timescales for all benefits are listed in table 2 below.
Table 2: Planned Timescales for new claims (current methodology)
Jobseekers Allowance | Within 10 working days |
Employment and Support Allowance | Within 10 working days |
State Pension | Within 20 working days of State Pension entitlement date or 20 working days of Initial date of claim if claiming after entitlement has started. |
Pension Credit | Within 50 working days |
Disability Living Allowance (Child) | Within 40 working days |
Personal Independence Payment | Within 75 working days |
Child Maintenance Service | Payment within 12 weeks |
Universal Credit | % Full Payment 1st Assessment Period |
Notes: The planned timescales detailed above relate to those used for the 23/24 financial year. The timescales and methodologies to calculate them have changed over time to reflect new processes, technology and demands on our services.
Written Question
Wednesday 1st May 2024
Asked by:
Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question
to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what percentage of new Disability Living Allowance claims have been completed within the planned processing timescales by (a) nation and (b) region in each year since 2010.
Answered by Paul Maynard
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Table 1 - Percentage of new claims that have been completed within the planned processing timescales by benefit.
| 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
Jobseekers Allowance | 88.6% | 86.8% | 80.6% | 53.1% | 82.5% | 87.1% | 67.8% | 58.7% |
Employment and Support Allowance | 84.6% | 85.3% | 73.3% | 96.1% | 70.9% | 42.5% | 47.4% | 39.5% |
State Pension | 87.9% | 73.7% | 86.8% | 86.7% | 76.2% | 45.6% | 72.0% | 96.2% |
Pension Credit | 71.0% | 55.2% | 53.4% | 44.8% | 88.2% | 74.3% | 45.7% | 77.7% |
Disability Living Allowance (child) | 96.8% | 96.5% | 96.2% | 91.3% | 92.1% | 35.6% | 4.6% | 3.5% |
Personal Independence Payment | 85.1% | 77.2% | 72.3% | 40.4% | 23.0% | 6.8% | 38.4% | 51.7% |
Child Maintenance Service | 82.8% | 87.4% | 88.3% | 91.6% | 84.3% | 84.3% | 79.4% | 79.6% |
Universal Credit | | | 80.4% | 85.2% | 90.9% | 85.7% | 84.4% | TBC |
Comments to note:
- Data has been provided for the years 2016-17 to 2023-24 (UC 2018-19 to 2023-24). Previous years requested are not retained centrally and the breakdown by nation and region for services except UC would only be available at a disproportionate cost.
- In the spirit of answering the question we have provided table 1 above.
Service Performance Context:
Jobseekers Allowance
- From the start of the pandemic until April 2021, JSA claims were subject to easements that meant face-to-face appointment was removed. In April 2021, Claimant Commitments and regular face to face engagement requirements were reintroduced.
Employment and Support Allowance
- ESA 2019-20 to 2023-24, the new claim process for New Style Employment and Support Allowance (NSESA) changed. In April 2020 a digital claim was introduced during Covid. Prior to this, as part of the new claim process, a period up to 10 days at beginning was never measured. With the re-designed process all time is included, so it is not possible to make a like-for-like comparison with the new claim process before April 2020.
State Pension
- Performance was severely impacted due to the need to repivot resource to other areas, such as Universal Credit, during the global pandemic. In 2021/22, resource was re-deployed to work through the backlogs. Investment in digital services in this area has also aided recovery leading to significant performance improvements in 2023/24.
Pension Credit
- 2019/20 was impacted by substantial spikes in claims following the BBC decision to remove free TV licences. Uptake in Pension Credit has been encouraged through campaigns and again led to unprecedented claims being received when entitlement was linked to additional Cost of Living payments. This created backlogs and impacted payment timeliness as these were recovered.
Disability Living Allowance (Child)
- Disability Living Allowance ceased in 2013 and is no longer an active benefit, it was replaced by Personal Independence Payment. Disability Living Allowance for Children continues to accept new claims and as such we have responded in respect of this benefit.
- Demand for Child DLA has increased in recent years and is significantly higher than pre-pandemic volumes.
- During 2020-21 we deferred case renewal activity to focus on processing new claims. Since then the service has had to service both high new claims volumes and the deferred renewal work which has led to longer processing times.
- We have increased the numbers of staff working on Child DLA to respond to increase new claims volumes, and clear cases in date order to ensure fair customer service.
Personal Independence Payment
- PIP performance represents a significant recovery compared to prior periods and the lowest average journey time recorded since 2018 (see published statistics)
- PIP New Claims demand is significantly higher than pre-Covid levels, despite the devolution of Scottish claims during this period.
Child Maintenance Service
- Child Maintenance Service application volumes have been sharply increasing with CMS receiving more than 50% more in 2023/24 than in 2021/22. This dip in performance over this time can largely be explained by this. More recently, the removal of the Application fee has also resulted in higher volumes.
Universal Credit
- Data has been provided for the years 2018-19 to 2023-24. Detailed data by local areas is available via Stat Xplore within the Universal Credit Published Statistics (Universal Credit statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). Previous years requested are not retained centrally or published and the breakdown by nation and region would only be available at a disproportionate cost.
- The 2023-24 figures for UC are not available until May as per the Statistics Release schedule.
- Planned timescales for all benefits are listed in table 2 below.
Table 2: Planned Timescales for new claims (current methodology)
Jobseekers Allowance | Within 10 working days |
Employment and Support Allowance | Within 10 working days |
State Pension | Within 20 working days of State Pension entitlement date or 20 working days of Initial date of claim if claiming after entitlement has started. |
Pension Credit | Within 50 working days |
Disability Living Allowance (Child) | Within 40 working days |
Personal Independence Payment | Within 75 working days |
Child Maintenance Service | Payment within 12 weeks |
Universal Credit | % Full Payment 1st Assessment Period |
Notes: The planned timescales detailed above relate to those used for the 23/24 financial year. The timescales and methodologies to calculate them have changed over time to reflect new processes, technology and demands on our services.
Written Question
Wednesday 1st May 2024
Asked by:
Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question
to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what percentage of new Employment and Support Allowance claims have been completed within the planned processing timescales by (a) nation and (b) region in each year since 2010.
Answered by Paul Maynard
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Table 1 - Percentage of new claims that have been completed within the planned processing timescales by benefit.
| 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
Jobseekers Allowance | 88.6% | 86.8% | 80.6% | 53.1% | 82.5% | 87.1% | 67.8% | 58.7% |
Employment and Support Allowance | 84.6% | 85.3% | 73.3% | 96.1% | 70.9% | 42.5% | 47.4% | 39.5% |
State Pension | 87.9% | 73.7% | 86.8% | 86.7% | 76.2% | 45.6% | 72.0% | 96.2% |
Pension Credit | 71.0% | 55.2% | 53.4% | 44.8% | 88.2% | 74.3% | 45.7% | 77.7% |
Disability Living Allowance (child) | 96.8% | 96.5% | 96.2% | 91.3% | 92.1% | 35.6% | 4.6% | 3.5% |
Personal Independence Payment | 85.1% | 77.2% | 72.3% | 40.4% | 23.0% | 6.8% | 38.4% | 51.7% |
Child Maintenance Service | 82.8% | 87.4% | 88.3% | 91.6% | 84.3% | 84.3% | 79.4% | 79.6% |
Universal Credit | | | 80.4% | 85.2% | 90.9% | 85.7% | 84.4% | TBC |
Comments to note:
- Data has been provided for the years 2016-17 to 2023-24 (UC 2018-19 to 2023-24). Previous years requested are not retained centrally and the breakdown by nation and region for services except UC would only be available at a disproportionate cost.
- In the spirit of answering the question we have provided table 1 above.
Service Performance Context:
Jobseekers Allowance
- From the start of the pandemic until April 2021, JSA claims were subject to easements that meant face-to-face appointment was removed. In April 2021, Claimant Commitments and regular face to face engagement requirements were reintroduced.
Employment and Support Allowance
- ESA 2019-20 to 2023-24, the new claim process for New Style Employment and Support Allowance (NSESA) changed. In April 2020 a digital claim was introduced during Covid. Prior to this, as part of the new claim process, a period up to 10 days at beginning was never measured. With the re-designed process all time is included, so it is not possible to make a like-for-like comparison with the new claim process before April 2020.
State Pension
- Performance was severely impacted due to the need to repivot resource to other areas, such as Universal Credit, during the global pandemic. In 2021/22, resource was re-deployed to work through the backlogs. Investment in digital services in this area has also aided recovery leading to significant performance improvements in 2023/24.
Pension Credit
- 2019/20 was impacted by substantial spikes in claims following the BBC decision to remove free TV licences. Uptake in Pension Credit has been encouraged through campaigns and again led to unprecedented claims being received when entitlement was linked to additional Cost of Living payments. This created backlogs and impacted payment timeliness as these were recovered.
Disability Living Allowance (Child)
- Disability Living Allowance ceased in 2013 and is no longer an active benefit, it was replaced by Personal Independence Payment. Disability Living Allowance for Children continues to accept new claims and as such we have responded in respect of this benefit.
- Demand for Child DLA has increased in recent years and is significantly higher than pre-pandemic volumes.
- During 2020-21 we deferred case renewal activity to focus on processing new claims. Since then the service has had to service both high new claims volumes and the deferred renewal work which has led to longer processing times.
- We have increased the numbers of staff working on Child DLA to respond to increase new claims volumes, and clear cases in date order to ensure fair customer service.
Personal Independence Payment
- PIP performance represents a significant recovery compared to prior periods and the lowest average journey time recorded since 2018 (see published statistics)
- PIP New Claims demand is significantly higher than pre-Covid levels, despite the devolution of Scottish claims during this period.
Child Maintenance Service
- Child Maintenance Service application volumes have been sharply increasing with CMS receiving more than 50% more in 2023/24 than in 2021/22. This dip in performance over this time can largely be explained by this. More recently, the removal of the Application fee has also resulted in higher volumes.
Universal Credit
- Data has been provided for the years 2018-19 to 2023-24. Detailed data by local areas is available via Stat Xplore within the Universal Credit Published Statistics (Universal Credit statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). Previous years requested are not retained centrally or published and the breakdown by nation and region would only be available at a disproportionate cost.
- The 2023-24 figures for UC are not available until May as per the Statistics Release schedule.
- Planned timescales for all benefits are listed in table 2 below.
Table 2: Planned Timescales for new claims (current methodology)
Jobseekers Allowance | Within 10 working days |
Employment and Support Allowance | Within 10 working days |
State Pension | Within 20 working days of State Pension entitlement date or 20 working days of Initial date of claim if claiming after entitlement has started. |
Pension Credit | Within 50 working days |
Disability Living Allowance (Child) | Within 40 working days |
Personal Independence Payment | Within 75 working days |
Child Maintenance Service | Payment within 12 weeks |
Universal Credit | % Full Payment 1st Assessment Period |
Notes: The planned timescales detailed above relate to those used for the 23/24 financial year. The timescales and methodologies to calculate them have changed over time to reflect new processes, technology and demands on our services.
Written Question
Wednesday 1st May 2024
Asked by:
Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question
to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what percentage of new Personal Independence Payment claims have been completed within the planned processing timescales by (a) nation and (b) region in each year since 2013.
Answered by Paul Maynard
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Table 1 - Percentage of new claims that have been completed within the planned processing timescales by benefit.
| 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
Jobseekers Allowance | 88.6% | 86.8% | 80.6% | 53.1% | 82.5% | 87.1% | 67.8% | 58.7% |
Employment and Support Allowance | 84.6% | 85.3% | 73.3% | 96.1% | 70.9% | 42.5% | 47.4% | 39.5% |
State Pension | 87.9% | 73.7% | 86.8% | 86.7% | 76.2% | 45.6% | 72.0% | 96.2% |
Pension Credit | 71.0% | 55.2% | 53.4% | 44.8% | 88.2% | 74.3% | 45.7% | 77.7% |
Disability Living Allowance (child) | 96.8% | 96.5% | 96.2% | 91.3% | 92.1% | 35.6% | 4.6% | 3.5% |
Personal Independence Payment | 85.1% | 77.2% | 72.3% | 40.4% | 23.0% | 6.8% | 38.4% | 51.7% |
Child Maintenance Service | 82.8% | 87.4% | 88.3% | 91.6% | 84.3% | 84.3% | 79.4% | 79.6% |
Universal Credit | | | 80.4% | 85.2% | 90.9% | 85.7% | 84.4% | TBC |
Comments to note:
- Data has been provided for the years 2016-17 to 2023-24 (UC 2018-19 to 2023-24). Previous years requested are not retained centrally and the breakdown by nation and region for services except UC would only be available at a disproportionate cost.
- In the spirit of answering the question we have provided table 1 above.
Service Performance Context:
Jobseekers Allowance
- From the start of the pandemic until April 2021, JSA claims were subject to easements that meant face-to-face appointment was removed. In April 2021, Claimant Commitments and regular face to face engagement requirements were reintroduced.
Employment and Support Allowance
- ESA 2019-20 to 2023-24, the new claim process for New Style Employment and Support Allowance (NSESA) changed. In April 2020 a digital claim was introduced during Covid. Prior to this, as part of the new claim process, a period up to 10 days at beginning was never measured. With the re-designed process all time is included, so it is not possible to make a like-for-like comparison with the new claim process before April 2020.
State Pension
- Performance was severely impacted due to the need to repivot resource to other areas, such as Universal Credit, during the global pandemic. In 2021/22, resource was re-deployed to work through the backlogs. Investment in digital services in this area has also aided recovery leading to significant performance improvements in 2023/24.
Pension Credit
- 2019/20 was impacted by substantial spikes in claims following the BBC decision to remove free TV licences. Uptake in Pension Credit has been encouraged through campaigns and again led to unprecedented claims being received when entitlement was linked to additional Cost of Living payments. This created backlogs and impacted payment timeliness as these were recovered.
Disability Living Allowance (Child)
- Disability Living Allowance ceased in 2013 and is no longer an active benefit, it was replaced by Personal Independence Payment. Disability Living Allowance for Children continues to accept new claims and as such we have responded in respect of this benefit.
- Demand for Child DLA has increased in recent years and is significantly higher than pre-pandemic volumes.
- During 2020-21 we deferred case renewal activity to focus on processing new claims. Since then the service has had to service both high new claims volumes and the deferred renewal work which has led to longer processing times.
- We have increased the numbers of staff working on Child DLA to respond to increase new claims volumes, and clear cases in date order to ensure fair customer service.
Personal Independence Payment
- PIP performance represents a significant recovery compared to prior periods and the lowest average journey time recorded since 2018 (see published statistics)
- PIP New Claims demand is significantly higher than pre-Covid levels, despite the devolution of Scottish claims during this period.
Child Maintenance Service
- Child Maintenance Service application volumes have been sharply increasing with CMS receiving more than 50% more in 2023/24 than in 2021/22. This dip in performance over this time can largely be explained by this. More recently, the removal of the Application fee has also resulted in higher volumes.
Universal Credit
- Data has been provided for the years 2018-19 to 2023-24. Detailed data by local areas is available via Stat Xplore within the Universal Credit Published Statistics (Universal Credit statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). Previous years requested are not retained centrally or published and the breakdown by nation and region would only be available at a disproportionate cost.
- The 2023-24 figures for UC are not available until May as per the Statistics Release schedule.
- Planned timescales for all benefits are listed in table 2 below.
Table 2: Planned Timescales for new claims (current methodology)
Jobseekers Allowance | Within 10 working days |
Employment and Support Allowance | Within 10 working days |
State Pension | Within 20 working days of State Pension entitlement date or 20 working days of Initial date of claim if claiming after entitlement has started. |
Pension Credit | Within 50 working days |
Disability Living Allowance (Child) | Within 40 working days |
Personal Independence Payment | Within 75 working days |
Child Maintenance Service | Payment within 12 weeks |
Universal Credit | % Full Payment 1st Assessment Period |
Notes: The planned timescales detailed above relate to those used for the 23/24 financial year. The timescales and methodologies to calculate them have changed over time to reflect new processes, technology and demands on our services.