§ Mr. BradleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proportion of(a) new family credit claims and (b) renewal family credit claims are being processed within one week, four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks and longer than eight weeks. [23623]
§ Mr. Roger EvansThe administration of family credit is a matter for Mr. Ian Magee, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ian Magee to Mr. Keith Bradley, dated 15 May 1995:
207WThe Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the clearance times of new and renewal claims to Family Credit.The table below details the information you have requested. Such figures are produced on a monthly basis and I have therefore provided information for the month ending 30 April 1995 which is the latest full month available. For the purposes of this question, one week has been calculated as 5 working days.
Percentage 1 week (1–5 days 4 weeks (6–20 days) 6 weeks (21–30 days) 8 weeks (31–40 days) Over 8 weeks (41+ days) New claims 46.65 40.34 8.08 3.01 1.92 Renewal claims 45.92 44.6 646 1.88 1.14
The Family Credit Unit is currently operating a pilot section, introduced during April 1995, which is processing new claims from customers who have not previously claimed Family Credit. The pilot section accepts new (first-time) claims from one of the ten operational areas that process claims within the Family Credit Unit. These claims can be from customers who have recently started work but have not used the Fast Track service available through the Employment Service, had a change of hours and earnings, or have simply not previously claimed Family Credit.A claim form is submitted and any additional information required is, wherever possible, taken over the telephone which allows the claims to be processed more quickly. A verification exercise is then conducted on a sample of the claims where telephone evidence has been accepted. Figures for the month ending 30 April showed that 97.5% of customers using this system had their claim decided in 5 working days.I hope you find this reply helpful.