§ Helen JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the average time taken to deal with claims for incapacity benefit submitted by people in receipt of the jobseekers' allowance in Warrington, North constituency in the latest period for which figures are available. [43386]
§ Mr. DenhamThe administration of Incapacity Benefit is a matter for Peter Mathison, Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to my hon. Friend.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Helen Jones, dated 2 June 1998:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what is the average time taken to deal with claims for Incapacity Benefit (IB) submitted by people in receipt of jobseeker's allowance (JSA) in the Warrington North constituency.Information is not available in the form requested. Such information as is available relates to the average time taken to process all claims for IB. We are unable to identify claims made by customers transferring from JSA.The following table compares the national average in days for actual clearance times for IB claims with that for the Benefits Agency's North Cheshire District, which includes the Warrington North parliamentary constituency, during the three month period ending March 1998.
North Cheshire National January 1998 10.0 12.9 February 1998 12.1 10.1 March 1998 9.0 10.1 Average 10.4 11.0
Prior to January 1998, Districts were not obliged to hold details of average actual clearance times and many Districts, including North Cheshire, did not record this information.I hope that this is helpful.
§ Helen JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people in Warrington, North in receipt of jobseeker's allowance have submitted claims for incapacity benefit over the past 12 months; and what percentage of those claims have been disallowed because the applicant had insufficient national insurance contributions. [43387]
§ Mr. DenhamThe administration of Jobseeker's Allowance and Incapacity Benefit is a matter for Peter Mathison, Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to my hon. Friend.
254WLetter from Peter Mathison to Helen Jones, dated 2 June 1998:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many people in Warrington North in receipt of Job Seekers' Allowance (JSA) have submitted claims for Incapacity Benefit (IB) over the past 12 months; and what percentage of those claims have been disallowed because the applicant had insufficient national insurance contributions.The information is not available in the form requested. Such information as is available is provided in the following tables. Please note that the areas covered by the Employment Services and Benefits Agency in Warrington are not co-terminus.
Table One: Flows from the Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) claimant count to Incapacity Benefit (IB) September 96 to August 97 Flow Great Britain 254,500 Warrington Employment Services 760 Notes:
Flows from JSA to IB are defined as all claims where a claim for IB is made within 28 days of ending a spell of JSA. Claims are also counted as flows when spells of IB and JSA overlap by up to seven days. The Claimant Count data is taken from the joint unemployment and Vacancies On-line System (JUVOS) Cohort file IB Link, which is a database consisting of a 5% sample of computerised claims for unemployment related benefits based on the customers National Insurance number. This count excludes a small number of clerically processed cases.
Table Two: IB claims allowed and disallowed (due to contribution conditions) September 96 to August 97 Total Incapacity Benefit claims allowed (excluding Statutory Sick Pay cases) Total Incapacity Benefit claims disallowed at outset (excluding Statutory Sick Pay cases) Percentage of total claims disallowed due to insufficient National Insurance contribution (excluding Statutory Sick Pay cases) Great Britain 418,920 447,349 52% Warrington Benefits Agency office 3,573 3,217 47% Notes:
Data source is the 100% scan of the Benefit Computer system and it therefore excludes a small number of clerically processed cases.
I hope this is helpful.