Disability Living Allowance (Hansard, 26 May 1993)

§ Mr. Scott

The administration of disability living allowance is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member and a copy will be placed in the Library.

Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. David Hinchliffe, dated 25 May 1993: As Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency, it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to the points raised in your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the efficiency of the contingency plan for the introduction of Disability Living Allowance (DLA). Firstly, I should explain that DLA was launched in February 1992 with an extensive publicity campaign. As part of this campaign we wrote to all existing Mobility Allowance (MobA) and Attendance Allowance (AA) recipients (approximately 1 million customers). Changes in the benefit were explained and an invitation extended, where appropriate, for them to claim extra money under the new DLA rules. In the meantime other external take-up campaigns were also being run. It had been expected that the initial launch of the new benefit would generate large numbers of claims in the months surrounding its introduction. Whilst planning had taken place for an increase in benefit claims, the success of the advertising campaign and the various take-up campaigns resulted in a much larger number of claims being attracted in the early stages than had been expected. There was also a huge increase in the number of claims to AA during the same period. This sudden surge of claims occurred as staff were adjusting to the new benefit processes and procedures. It meant that a backlog of cases built up in the weeks following the introduction of DLA. A recovery plan was quickly instigated. This consisted of several facets and included:

The setting up of a seniour management task force.
An increase in the number of staff, devoted to handling claims, by over 800. This represented an increase of approximately 25 per cent.
The use of overtime which equated to a further 300 staff.
The establishment and equipping of four remote processing units to increase output.
The conducting of a detailed review of procedures and organisation to speed up the process wherever possible.

As a result of these measures the throughput of claims was increased. The first phase of the recovery programme was successfully completed by the end of October 1992. The number of outstanding DLA and top-up claims had been considerably reduced from a peak of nearly 250,000 at the end of June to less than 115,000 by the end of October. During the same period outstanding AA claims had also been reduced significantly from over 150,000 to just over 52,000. Further reductions in the number of claims on hand have been made and at the end of April 1993 the number of outstanding DLA (including top-ups) and AA new claims was 35,000 and 34,000 respectively. This represents less than four weeks intake of work i.e. less than the target clearance time for both benefits. The majority of DLA new claims received since January 1993 have been cleared within their primary target. For the month of April 1993, 75 per cent. of DLA new claims were cleared within 30 days against the Secretary of State (SoS) primary target (65 per cent. in 30 days) and 91 per cent. were cleared in 55 days against the SoS secondary target (85 per cent. in 55 days). The results outlined clearly illustrate the overall effectiveness of the measures undertaken. The Benefits Agency will continue to strive to produce a thoroughly efficient service for all customers of DLA and associated benefits. I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy will appear in the Official Report. A copy will also be placed in the Library.

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