§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many and what percentage of(a) attendance allowance claims, (b) new disability living allowance claims and (c) top-up claims since February 1992 have (i) resulted in an award and (ii) been rejected; and if he will publish a breakdown in each case of whether the claim was decided solely on the statement of disability or whether a medical examination, other evidence or both were required;
(2) what were the average clearance times for (a) new claims, (b) top-up claims and (c) requests for review of disability living allowance at each disability benefit centre for each month since September 1992.
§ 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. Paul Flynn, dated 19 May 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 (1) how many and what percentage of (a) attendance allowance claims, (b) new disability living allowance claims and (c) top-up claims since February 1992 have (i) resulted in an award and (ii) been rejected; and if he will publish a breakdown in each case of whether the claim was decided solely on the statement of disability or whether a medical examination, other evidence or both were required and (2) what were the average clearance times for (a) new claims, (b) top-up claims and (c) requests for review of disability living allowance at each disability benefit centre for each month since September 1992.Number of claims made and decided.You asked for the number of new claims and top-up claims for DLA together with the number and percentage of awards and refusals, including reasons for refusal. Annex 1 shows a breakdown of this information together with details of decisions based upon information provided on the claim form, medical examinations and other forms of evidence.A further breakdown detailing claims to AA from 1.2.92 to date is shown at Annex 2.National average clearance times.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.It may be helpful for me to say at this stage that new DLA claims are dealt with by the regional Disability Benefit Centres (DBC) Details of the clearance times for each DBC for each month between September 1992 and April 1993, inclusive of new claims and those made under the special rules are supplied at table I.Top-up claims are dealt with by the Claims Conversion Unit (CCU).A breakdown, therefore by DBCs is not available. I have provided details of available information regarding performance at table 2.299WFinally, Disability Living Allowance reviews are dealt with by the Disability Living Allowance Unit (DLAU). No information is, therefore, available in respect of each DBC. Table 3, however provides details of review performance figures for the specified period.I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy will appear in the Official Report. A copy will also be placed in the library.
Annex 1 1. Number of claims received February 1992 to April 1993 Number New claims 562,000 Top-up claims 235,000 AA claims 671,000
2. Adjudication officer decisions February 1992 to April 1993 Number As percentage New DLA Awards 298,000 53 Refusals 228,000 41
3. Adjudication officer decision by evidence type New DLA claims Top-up claims Awards Refusals Awards Refusals Statement of disability Number 134,000 84,000 124,000 32,000 Percentage 45 37 77 69 Medical examination Number 64,000 44,000 18,000 4,000 Percentage 22 19 11 8 Other evidence Number 89,000 74,000 18,000 8,000 Percentage 30 33 11 17 Cases with unrecorded evidence type Number 11,000 25,000 2,000 3,000 Percentage 4 11 1 6
Annex 2 AA65+—May 1992—April 1993 Awards Refusals Statement of Disability Number 244,000 56,000 Percentage 59 43 Medical Examination Number 67,000 33,000 Percentage 16 26 Other Evidence Number 45,000 13,000 Percentage 11 10
300W
New claims for DLA September 1992 Normal rules Percentage cleared Special rules Percentage cleared in 30 days in 55 days in 10 days in 15 days Edinburgh 22 41 48 55 Newcastle 35 63 36 37 Leeds 44 66 83 90 Manchester 38 60 79 80 Bootle 27 52 66 74 Birmingham 21 39 30 37
Number As percentage Others1 36,000 6 Top-up Claims Awards 161,000 69 Refusals 47,000 20 Others2 27,000 12 AA Claims Awards 433,000 — Refusals 133,000 — 1 Others - this category includes claims withdrawn, defective claims and claims otherwise disposed of. Note: AA statistics prior to April 1992 were kept on a quarterly basis and not monthly. Therefore it is not appropriate to give awards and refusals as a percentage of claims received. Due to rounding percentage figures do not always add up to 100 per cent.
AA65+—May 1992—April 1993 Cases with Unrecorded Evidence Type Number 60,000 27,000 Percentage 14 21 Note:—The breakdown of decisions by evidence type for AA are based on the period May 1992 to April 1993 as these statistics were not recorded prior to that period. The figures shown in this table will therefore not agree with those shown in table 2 which shows the number of adjudication officer decisions for the period April 1992 to April 1993. Due to rounding percentage figures do not always add up to 100 per cent.
Table 1
Primary Target for DLA normal rules cases in 60 per cent. Other in 30 days and for special rules 80 per cent. in 10 days. Secondary Target for DLA normal rules in 95 per cent. in 55 days and for special rules 90 per cent. in 55 days.
301W
Normal rules Percentage cleared Special rules Percentage cleared in 30 days in 55 days in 10 days in 15 days Bristol 32 69 86 90 Cardiff 34 60 59 61 Wembley 36 63 91 92 Sutton 33 59 55 64 Glasgow — — — — Great Britain 31 54 59 64
October 1992 Normal rules Percentage cleared Special rules Percentage cleared in 30 days in 55 days in 10 days in 15 days Edinburgh 21 41 48 55 Newcastle 49 72 44 49 Leeds 51 71 80 89 Manchester 55 77 89 91 Bootle 38 62 78 86 Birmingham 30 46 37 42 Bristol 56 75 91 93 Cardiff 54 74 77 80 Wembley 45 68 91 92 Sutton 49 68 69 80 Glasgow — — — — Great Britain 39 58 62 68
November 1992 Normal rules Percentage cleared Special rules Percentage cleared in 30 days in 55 days in 10 days in 15 days Edinburgh 35 54 60 66 Newcastle 65 84 66 66 Leeds 65 82 80 90 Manchester 70 86 94 97 Bootle 51 75 82 87 Birmingham 38 55 55 63 Bristol 61 80 96 96 Cardiff 63 82 84 89 Wembley 56 77 93 96 Sutton 53 72 69 80 Glasgow — — — — Great Britain 50 68 71 77
December 1992 Normal rules Percentage cleared Special Rules Percentage cleared in 30 days in 55 days in 10 days in 15 days Edinburgh 49 70 66 73 Newcastle 73 87 87 88 Leeds 69 86 81 89 Manchester 74 90 94 96 Bootle 47 74 84 90 Birmingham 38 62 54 59 Bristol 70 86 89 92 Cardiff 66 86 83 88 Wembley 56 78 80 87 Sutton 55 75 75 81 Glasgow — — — — Great Britain 55 75 73 80
302W303W
January 1993 Normal rules Percentage cleared Special Rules Percentage cleared in 30 days in 55 days in 10 days in 15 days Edinburgh 42 73 62 72 Newcastle 69 90 95 98 Leeds 62 85 83 89
Normal rules Percentage cleared Special Rules Percentage cleared in 30 days in 55 days in 10 days in 15 days Manchester 67 87 92 95 Bootle 41 80 86 89 Birmingham 40 71 59 69 Bristol 52 83 87 91 Cardiff 60 84 83 87 Wembley 47 74 81 91 Sutton 49 76 82 90 Glasgow — — — — Great Britain 49 76 76 83
February 1993 Normal Rules Percentage cleared Special Rules Percentage cleared in 30 days in 55 days in 10 days in 15 days Edinburgh 62 78 81 85 Newcastle 85 96 92 94 Leeds 73 88 88 94 Manchester 81 92 93 97 Bootle 73 92 88 93 Birmingham 56 76 82 87 Bristol 72 89 93 96 Cardiff 74 87 88 91 Wembley 58 78 87 91 Sutton 57 74 91 95 Glasgow 65 85 — — Great Britain 61 77 85 90
March 1993 Normal Rules Percentage cleared Special Rules Percentage cleared in 30 days in 55 days in 10 days in 15 days Edinburgh 69 83 82 90 Newcastle 87 98 99 99 Leeds 80 92 89 95 Manchester 83 94 94 96 Bootle 81 94 94 97 Birmingham 66 86 88 92 Bristol 86 96 96 97 Cardiff 85 94 90 93 Wembley 68 83 89 95 Sutton 61 77 84 91 Glasgow 62 85 75 75 Great Britain 71 85 85 90 Revised targets from April 1 1993 for normal rules are Primary 65 per cent. in 30 days and Secondary 85 per cent. in 55 days. Only one targets has been set from special rules cases 80 per cent. in 10 days.
304W305W
April 1993 Normal rules Percentage cleared Special rules Percentage cleared in 30 days 55 days in 10 days 15 days Edinburgh 76 96 92 96 Newcastle 87 98 95 97 Leeds 82 95 91 96 Manchester 86 97 92 94 Bootle 87 98 95 98 Birmingham 68 89 95 97 Bristol 81 97 94 95 Cardiff 78 93 84 91 Wembley 76 90 81 91 Sutton 67 86 83 89 Glasgow 67 92 68 71 Great Britain 75 91 88 93
Table 2 Performance indicators for top-up claims Primary Target 60 per cent, in 55 days Secondary Target 95 per cent, in 75 days Normal rules Percentage cleared Special rules Percentage cleared in 55 days in 75 days in 10 days in 20 days 1992 September 15 22 8 17 October 28 36 16 26 November 37 44 17 33 December 43 49 26 53 1993 January 46 55 18 35 February 57 64 36 52 March 57 63 27 50 April 71 76 21 44
Table 3 Performance indicators for reviews Primary Target 60 per cent in 55 days Secondary Target 95 per cent in 75 days Secondary Target 80per cent, in 75 days (from 1 April 1993)1 Reviews made in 3 months Percentage cleared Reviews outside 3 months Percentage cleared in 55 days 75 days in 55 days 75 days 1992 September 35 61 6 10 October 30 50 46 60 November 23 40 53 65 December 18 36 40 53 1993 January 11 24 30 47 February 11 25 31 48 March 18 29 39 51 April1 33 47 43 61