Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average processing time is for Pension Credit applications; and what the target processing time is for the coming financial year.

DWP works to a planned timescale of 50 working days to clear Pension Credit claims. In 2023/24 DWP cleared 192,000 Pension Credit claims within the planned 50 working day timescale, equating to 77.7%. [Source: DWP annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK]

The latest available management information for week commencing 17^th February 2025 shows that the Average Actual Clearance Time for Pension Credit was 52.8 working days. This data aligns to the latest week included within the external publication of Official Statistics for Pension Credit

Pension Credit is a complex benefit, and some claims require additional investigation or information from the customer, which can result in longer processing times. As a result of the increase in Pension Credit claims following the Winter Fuel Payments policy announcement, the Department has deployed over 500 additional people to ensure it has the capacity to assess all claims in reasonable timescales.

Please note, The Average Actual Clearance Time figure shown is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. It is rounded to the nearest working day and based on the week the claim was cleared, rather than the week the claim was made.