§ Mr. Nigel GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many requests for reviews of disability living allowance have been received in each region to date; how many have been cleared; and how many are outstanding;
571W(2) what was the average clearance time for claims and for review requests, at each of the regional disability benefit centres; and if he will list the various outcomes of disability living allowance reviews;
(3) how many claims for disability living allowance have been made at each regional disability benefit centre to date; how many of these have resulted in an award, a refusal, or have still to be adjudicated on; and if he will break down the figures for awards according to the component and rate awarded.
§ Mr. ScottThe 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. Nigel Griffiths, dated 29 April 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 Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking (i) how many requests for reviews of Disability Living Allowance have been received in each region to date; how many have been cleared and how many are outstanding. (ii) What was the average clearance time for claims and review requests at each of the Regional Disability Benefit Centres and if he will list the various outcomes of Disability Living Allowance reviews and (iii) how many Disability Living allowance claims have been made at each of the Regional Disability Living Allowance centres, how many of these resulted in an award, refusal or to be adjudicated on; and if he will break down the figures for awards according to the component and rate awarded.
Claims New Disability Living Allowance claims are dealt with by the 11 Regional Disability Benefit Centres.
The number of new claims (including special rules) received, awarded, refused and on hand to month end March 1993, per Regional Disability Benefit Centre are shown in Table 1.
Total number of decisions does not equal the total number of clearances due to the fact that decisons does not take account of claims withdrawn or defective.
The outstanding figure includes claims that have been to an adjudication officer who has asked for further evidence before a decision can be made and also includes claims where the adjudication officer has made a decision but the decision has not as yet been recorded on the DLA computer system.
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Table 1 Claims received and processed by 31 March 1993 Claims Claims Claims All decisions received cleared on hand Total Awards Refusals Edinburgh 51,247 49,494 1,753 48,975 24,788 24,187 Newcastle 30,371 28,979 1,392 28,675 12,866 15,809 Leeds 60,322 57,218 3,104 56,618 31,541 25,076 Manchester 42,390 40,257 2,133 39,834 17,331 22,503 Bootle 44,654 42,021 2,633 41,579 24,133 17,447 Birmingham 76,936 70,852 6,084 70,108 44,531 25,577 Bristol 29,349 28,111 1,238 27,815 16,925 10,890 Cardiff 41,159 38,500 2,659 38,096 21,610 16,486 Wembley 59,924 56,504 3,420 55,911 35,434 20,477 Sutton 52,872 48,961 3,911 48,447 29,221 19,226 Glasgow 8,076 5,099 2,977 5,045 1,980 3,065 Other management units 26,395 25,037 1,358 24,733 16,788 7,985 Great Britain 523,695 491,033 32,662 485,876 277,148 208,728 A breakdown of awards by rate is in Table 2.
Reviews
Disability Living Allowance reviews are dealt with by the Disability Living Allowance Unit at Blackpool.
It is only possible to provide the number of review requests received picking up the Disability Benefit Centre where the 1st tier decision was taken at disproportionate cost. This information is available once a decision is given on the request for a review.
Reviews can be made within three months of the decision on the claim on any grounds, these are shown at (a).
Reviews made outwith the three month period can only be accepted where there are particular grounds for review, these are shown at (b).
As at Month end March 1993 the total number, of requests for review of a Disability Living Allowance 1st tier decisions, cleared and outstanding were as follows:
Received Cleared Outstanding (a) Review within three months 79,088 40,404 38,684 (b) Review outwith three months 17,714 6,275 11,439 Total 96,802 46,679 50,123 List of various outcomes of DLA reviews, relating to 1st tier decision made at each of the DBCs are shown in Table 3.
Performance for month of March 1993
Performance on DLA is measured in terms of x per cent. of cases cleared in y days and it is therefore not possible to state an average processing time for claims and reviews on the new Benefit.
The majority (71 per cent.) of New DLA claims were cleared in 30 days (against a Secretary of State target of 60 per cent. in 30 days).
The majority (85 per cent.) of Special Rules claims were cleared in 10 days.
29 per cent. of reviews (within 3 months) were cleared in 75 days.
51 per cent. of reviews (outwith 3 months) were cleared in 75 days.
Reviews are being actively targeted with additional resources being deployed and clearing rates are increasing.
I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy of this reply will appear in the Official Report. Copies are also being placed in the Library.
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Table 2 Awards by rates of care and mobility by 31 March 1993 Care Mobility Higher rate Medium rate Lower rate Higher rate Lower rate Edinburgh 655 1,208 2,442 6,776 1,561 3,116 610 1,762 1,797 2,673 2,196 24,788 Newcastle 274 490 1,328 5.005 508 1,508 203 622 639 1,490 788 12,866 Leeds 856 1,524 3,205 9.643 1,530 4,142 760 2,037 1,586 3,747 2,499 31,541 Manchester 652 1,180 2,440 4,490 868 2,248 436 1,096 980 1,523 1,415 17,331 Bootle 441 968 2,190 8,605 679 2,441 572 1,922 1,133 3,605 1,569 24,133 Birmingham '1,807 2,277 3,737 12,770 2,277 6,111 1,201 3,090 2,836 4,905 3,525 44,531 Bristol 546 1,397 1,594 3,309 1,246 2,762 588 1,354 1,627 1,199 1,322 16,925 Cardiff 500 897 1,558 9,200 971 2,018 406 1,418 887 2,600 1,138 21,610 Wembley 1,469 2,041 3,653 6,848 2,471 5,305 1,323 2,591 2,801 3,327 3,621 35,434 Sutton 1,668 2,093 2,729 5,207 3,006 3,739 1,214 1,819 2,776 2,059 2,932 29,221 Glasgow 46 99 215 737 76 103 43 182 125 247 r06 1,980 Other management units 609 801 1,150 5,807 1,079 2,318 508 1,053 1,000 1,567 888 16,788 Great Britain 9,523 14,975 26,241 78,387 16,272 35,811 7,864 18,946 18,187 28,942 21,999 277,148
Table 3 All reviews on new DLA awards by 31 March 1993 Edinburgh Newcastle Leeds Manchester Bootle Birmingham Bristol Cardiff Wembley Sutton NFCO Others Total Withdrawn 13 8 9 5 11 15 8 8 24 10 88 0 199 Award Reduced 1 0 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 17 0 28 Care to LR 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 7 0 8 Mob to LR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Both to LR 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 4 0 9 Award Maintained 2,595 1,299 1,870 1,672 1,720 2,045 721 1,229 1,552 1,314 7,723 3 23,293 Award Varied 49 20 36 36 19 54 14 36 43 49 258 0 614 Awarded Increased 257 137 189 256 168 227 139 162 283 339 1,987 0 4,144 Lapsed 1 0 0 1 0 1 I 1 0 0 8 0 13 Allowed 1,198 825 896 1,280 728 1,041 619 766 1,151 1,310 5,621 1 15,436 Defective 1 3 4 1 3 3 1 0 3 5 14 0 38 No Grounds 33 26 30 17 28 31 12 16 20 34 188 0 435 Disallowed 225 144 207 189 205 207 96 137 192 143 716 0 2,461 Total 4,373 2,462 3,243 3,459 2,884 3,627 1,612 2,357 3,271 3,205 16,182 4 46,679 LR = Lower Rate Care = Care component Mob = Mobility component