§ Mr. HumeTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the processing of disability living allowance applications indicating average processing times per component, progress on the backlog of applications and any special measures taken.
§ Mr. HanleyResponsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Social Security Agency under its chief executive, Mr. Alec Wylie. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Mr. A. Wylie to Mr. John Hume, dated 3 March 1993:
As Chief Executive of the Social Security Agency, it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am replying, therefore, to the points raised in your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland concerning Disability Living Allowance (DLA).As you know, we conducted a highly successful publicity campaign to launch the new disability benefits in Northern Ireland. In addition, we wrote to some 55,000 existing Attendance Allowance and Mobility Allowance recipients to invite them, where appropriate, to claim extra money under DLA. Take up campaigns were also run by other organisations to encourage claims to Attendance Allowance and Mobility Allowance before they were replaced. All of these activities attracted a much larger number of applications in the early stages than was expected. Although we had expected an increase in applications the response far exceeded our forecasts.The surge of applications meant that we were fully stretched to cope with the volume of work. When I wrote to you in July 1992, I explained that appropriate measures had been taken to tackle the situation, including the recruitment of additional staff and working extensive overtime. Significant inroads have been made into the number of new DLA claims on hand. During the period from February 1992 to February 1993, 28,000 new claims were received and of these 20,000 have been cleared. In addition, almost all of the 8,000 claims 424W Unemployment Benefit without Income Support at Asylum Road, Lisnagelvin, Limavady and Strabane has been passed to me for reply.The most recent information available is attached.I hope you find this information helpful. A copy of this reply will appear in the Official Report and copies will be placed in the Library
received from existing beneficiaries have been cleared. Some 3,300 applications for review have been received of which 1,500 have been cleared.You asked about the average processing times per component. A claim to DLA is a claim for the benefit as a whole and not for a specific component or level of component of the benefit. The primary target set for the clearance of DLA claims is 60 per cent. of claims to be cleared in 30 days. We met the target in November and December 1992 but the average performance since April 1992 to date works out at 25 per cent. cleared in 30 days. While we are still some way, therefore, from meeting the target on a full year basis, the situation is improving and action is being taken to further reduce the backlog and thereby significantly improve the clearance times.The phased introduction of computerisation from October 1992 has speeded up the payment process and will lead to much greater efficiency when the conversion from the clerical to the computer system is completed at the end of March. There will always be, some case of course, where further enquiries have to be made or medical examinations arranged. While these have been reduced to manageable proportions, there has been a recent rise of some 50 per cent. in new claims with around 800 claims being received each week. An additional 40 staff were recruited in January this year to deal with the work on hand and a dedicated telephone section has been set up to help deal with customers' enquiries.I very much regret that, despite our best efforts, the service to many of our disabled customers has fallen far short of what they should receive. Although the intake of new claims has risen substantially, I am monitoring the situation closely and I expect that, as a result of the measures being taken, all backlogs will be cleared by April.I hope this is helpful.
§ Mr. HumeTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what information is available to compare application rates for each component of disability living allowance with those for attendance allowance and mobility allowance, award ratios by rate and review/appeal ratios.
§ Mr. HanleyResponsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Social Security Agency under its chief executive, Mr. Alec Wylie. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
425WLetter from Mr. A Wylie to Mr. John Hume, dated 3 March 1993:
As Chief Executive of the Social Security Agency, it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am replying, therefore, to the points raised in your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland concerning application rates for Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance and Mobility Allowance.Firstly, I should explain that a claim for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is a claim for benefit as a whole and not for a specific component or level of component. In addition, in comparing Attendance Allowance prior to April 1992 and DLA, it should be noted that Attendance Allowance was then also available to people aged under 65 years of age.Bearing this in mind, in 1991 there were 18,600 claims for Attendance Allowance and 7,800 claims for Mobility Allowance. From February 1992 to February 1993 there were 36,000 claims for DLA and between April 1992 and January 1993 there were 15,400 claims for Attendance Allowance which is now only available to people aged 65 or over.In terms of benefit awarded, the success rate for Attendance Allowance and Mobility Allowance in 1991 was 53 per cent. and 60 per cent. respectively. The success rate to date for new claims to DLA is 79 per cent. and for review applications 65 per cent.As regards reviews and appeals the details are as follows:426W
Numbers 1991 Attendance Allowance 3,116 Mobility Allowance 4,036
Numbers 1992–93 DLA 3,500
I hope this is helpful.