Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the average waiting time for people for a mandatory reconsideration of their award after a work capability assessment in each of the last five months.

The Department publishes quarterly statistics on “ESA: outcomes of Work Capability Assessments including mandatory reconsiderations and appeals” which include figures on MR clearance times, available at Table 16 here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/esa-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessments-including-mandatory-reconsiderations-and-appeals-march-2019

MR is a key element of the decision making process for both the Department and claimants, and whilst ensuring they make quality decisions, decision makers work hard to clear applications without delay. Gathering the right evidence is critical at the MR stage if decisions are not to go to appeal; and we are reviewing our processes to not only obtain this, but to do so whilst continuing to make decisions timeously.