Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of claims for Disability Living Allowance were processed within the 50 working day target between April 2024 and April 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The most recent information on processing times for Disability Living Allowance for children was published in the DWP annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (ARA) on 22nd July 2024. This shows that in 2023/24 DWP cleared 3.5% of Disability Living Allowance for children claims within the planned 40 working day timescale. The next publication of the ARA will include the percentage of claims processed in the Financial Year 2024 to 2025, which is due for publication in the summer.
Although, DWP has seen improvements in processing times across many service lines during 2023-24, continued high demand has meant that the Department’s ability to process claims consistently in a timely manner across all its services has come under considerable pressure, with performance remaining below standard in some areas including in Child DLA where demand has increased in recent years and is significantly higher than pre-pandemic volumes. During 2020-21 DWP deferred reviewing existing cases to focus on processing new claims. Since then, the high volumes of both new claims and the deferred renewal work has resulted in longer processing times. Additional resources have been deployed and cases are being cleared in date order to ensure fair customer service.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
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 a Personal Independence Payment reassessment after a claimant has reported improved health in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
PIP clearance times for New Claims and Reassessments can be found in the latest Personal Independence Payment statistics to January 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average wait time is for a PIP reassessment when a claimant reports improved health in South West London.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
PIP clearance times for New Claims and Reassessments can be found in the latest Personal Independence Payment statistics to January 2025 - GOV.UK. Figures are broken down by region and they are available for London.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average wait time is for a Work Capability Assessment reassessment when a claimant reports improved health.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
ESA clearance times for initial claims only are reported via Stat-Xplore and UC WCA clearance times are planned to be released under Phase 4 of the Universal Credit WCA statistics: release strategy - GOV.UK
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average wait time is for a Work Capability Assessment reassessment when a claimant reports improved health in South West London.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
ESA clearance times for initial claims only are reported via Stat-Xplore and UC WCA clearance times are planned to be released under Phase 4 of the UC WCA Release Strategy.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how frequently deaf awareness training is provided to (a) decision-makers, (b) people in customer-facing roles and (c) other staff in her Department.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) is mandatory learning completed by all staff as part of their induction into the department and can then be revisited at any time. Within the learning there is a scenario-based activity around deaf awareness.
In addition, all staff new to DWP complete customer service delivery learning which includes a module for deaf or hearing loss and the support DWP offers, including when and how to use interpreters for interviews. The learning explains the definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010 and how it relates to customers who are deaf or have hearing loss, which can also be revisited at any time.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the (a) benefit cap and (b) two-child limit on single parents.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy which will deliver lasting change.
The Strategy will look at all available levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, including considering social security reforms, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across Government and work underway in Devolved Governments.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims for pension credit there were from 28t October 2024 to 4 November 2024.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Data on how many Pension Credit applications made between 1 April 2024 and 22 September 2024 was recently published on gov.uk, Weekly Pension Credit claims received from 1 April 2024 to 22 September 2024 - GOV.UK.
On 28 October 2024, The Department announcedupdated Pension Credit applications and award statistics will be published on 28 November 2024. This publication will provide application volumes after 22 September 2024.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were waiting to be assessed for pension credit on 29 July 2024.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
As of 29th July, there were 33,883 claims outstanding and as of 28th October, there were 76,569 claims outstanding.
Since the announcement to means test Winter Fuel payments, to date we have increased the resource in Pension Credit claims by around five hundred more staff through a combination of internal redeployments, use of external providers and external recruitment. This is in line with the overall resourcing plan for Pension Credit claims and Winter Fuel payments.
Please note, the claims outstanding figures do not include Advanced claims. This data is sourced from the Pension Credit system and for internal departmental use only. As such, they have not been quality assured to the same extent as Official Statistics.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were waiting to be assessed for pension credit on 28 October 2024.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
As of 29th July, there were 33,883 claims outstanding and as of 28th October, there were 76,569 claims outstanding.
Since the announcement to means test Winter Fuel payments, to date we have increased the resource in Pension Credit claims by around five hundred more staff through a combination of internal redeployments, use of external providers and external recruitment. This is in line with the overall resourcing plan for Pension Credit claims and Winter Fuel payments.
Please note, the claims outstanding figures do not include Advanced claims. This data is sourced from the Pension Credit system and for internal departmental use only. As such, they have not been quality assured to the same extent as Official Statistics.