Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what processes his Department has in place for people to escalate complaints where no response has been received after the standard timeframe for people contacting Access to Work during application and when finalising the details of a grant.

Customers who are unhappy with the service they receive from Access to Work, including delays or lack of response, can raise a complaint directly with the team handling their case.

If the issue is not resolved, the complaint can be escalated through the Department’s formal complaints process. This includes:

Stage 1: Contacting the business area or team directly to resolve the concern.

Stage 2: Asking for the complaint to be referred to the DWP Complaints Team for review, who will aim to resolve it within 15 working days.

Stage 3: If still dissatisfied, customers can escalate their complaint to the Independent Case Examiner (ICE) within six months of the final response.