§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, what are his latest estimates of the average, maximum and minimum times it takes to process a claim for (a) child benefit, (b) family income supplement, (c) unemployment benefit and (d) supplementary benefit.
§ Mr. NewtonThe information is as follows:
Processing time (Working days) Benefit Average Minimum Maximum Child Benefit Straightforward claims (computer processed) 5 5 10–14 Non-straightforward claim (manually processed) 21 5–9 n/a Family income supplement 15 3 n/a Supplementary benefit 8 n/a n/a Comparable figures for unemployment benefit are not available. 35.2 per cent. of unemployment benefit claims result in a payment within six days: 76.2 per cent. result in a payment within 12 days.