§ Baroness Jegerasked Her Majesty's Government:
What delays are being experienced in payments of social security benefits to claimants as a result of 976WA staff shortages; and what are the longest delays notified.
§ Baroness TrumpingtonThe table shows the national average time taken to process claims to benefit over the year 1985–86 and the period April to October 1986:—
Time taken (days) April—Oct Claims 1985–86 1986 Supplementary Benefits 7 7 Sickness Benefits 10 11 Retirement Pension 31 28 Information on the length of individual delays is not available. Although some individual claims may take longer to resolve, the average times show that the majority of claims receive prompt attention. In particular, the service provided to supplementary benefit claimants has been maintained against a background of rising workloads.
The Government have demonstrated their commitment to providing an efficient social security system by the allocation to social security local offices this year of 5,175 extra staff, to be in post by 1st March 1987. This allocation is in addition to the complement justified by normal staffing arrangements pending the outcome of a full review of staffing levels now in progress. I am pleased to be able to say that on 1st November 5,117 of these extra staff were in post and are having a positive impact on the service provided by local offices.