Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate his Department has made of the average length of time taken to process an application for a Power of Attorney.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
As of 23/2/2021 the average time taken to process and dispatch a lasting power of attorney (LPA) was 57 days against the target of 40 days. The target includes a statutory four week waiting period. As a comparison, the October average came in at 61 days. The 40-day target was achieved in 2019/20.
The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) has seen an increase in the time taken to process an LPA since COVID-19 began impacting the workplace.
LPAs are paper documents that require a physical staff presence in an office to process and register. The number of staff available to attend the office to carry out the physical activities is significantly reduced due to COVID-19 and the need to maintain a COVID secure office through social distancing. Measures were introduced to focus on enabling as much remote working as possible and increasing the number of staff hours available in the office through overtime payments and weekend working.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - North Thanet)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the waiting time between the commencement of a personal independence payment appeal and a decision for claimants in Thanet.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The volume of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeals made to the tribunal has built up since it was introduced as a new benefit in 2013. As the number, and age, of appeals lodged increased so has the average waiting time.
Any disparity in waiting times is monitored and investigated locally. In general waiting times can fluctuate temporarily and geographically, owing to a number of variable factors, including volumes of benefit decisions made locally, availability of medical/disability members, venue capacity, and the complexity of appeals
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has been working with the judiciary to identify initiatives to increase the capacity and performance of the tribunal, including reviewing current listing practices. We are also in the process of recruiting over 350 judicial office holders to provide long term capacity in the tribunal.