Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number of complaints submitted by disabled service users to the Access to Work scheme which were not resolved within the 20-working-day target in the last 12 months.

The standard definition of a complaint across DWP is:

Any expression of dissatisfaction about the service provided which is not resolved by operational staff as normal business.

An ‘Official’’ complaint would be received in writing and usually via the local MP or authorised advocate on behalf of the customer. These complaints would be logged and dealt with in line with our official complaints policy.

‘Official’ complaints have a 20-working day target.

During the period 01/11/2024 – 31/10/2025, 106 were received and 3 were not resolved within the target date.

‘Other’ complaints are also received but are dealt with informally as part of normal business and are usually handled in real-time by our DWP Telephony staff.

Other complaints have a 15-working day target.

During the period 01/11/2024 – 31/10/2025, 909 were received and 4 were not resolved within the target date.

What is not a complaint

• about government policy or law
• that have already been investigated or are currently being investigated by the Independent Case Examiner or the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman
• that are, or have been, subject to legal proceedings, including legal settlements
• dissatisfied with a benefit or pension decision

Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.