War Widow(er)s Recognition Payment

(asked on 7th May 2024) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the War Widows Recognition Payment Scheme.


Answered by
Andrew Murrison Portrait
Andrew Murrison
This question was answered on 15th May 2024

The War Widow(er)s Recognition Payment Scheme has received 330 applications and accepted and paid 209 claims since it was launched on 16 October 2023. Of those, 90 per cent of all claims have been processed and 97 per cent of payments made to those eligible within the published timescales. The Recognition Payment Scheme is delivering effectively to those it was established to recognise.

The shortest time taken between an application being received and a payment being made was 19 working days and the longest 88 working days, with an average of 56 working days.

The below table shows the number of applications made to the War Widow(er)s Recognition Payment Scheme in each month since it was launched on 16 October 2023.

Month

Number of applications received

October 2023

165

November 2023

86

December 2023

25

January 2024

15

February 2024

22

March 2024

10

April 2024

6

May 2024

1

Total

330

The scheme is administered by a dedicated team of six staff, and application support is available through the Veterans Welfare Service (VWS).

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