Potential claimants for the Disability Living Allowance have had to wait up to 19 weeks to have their application dealt with.
Treasury Minister Michael Crowe admitted the lengthy time but said it had improved since earlier in the year.
He told the House of Keys yesterday (November 3): “Currently the average time it takes to process new claims for Disability Living Allowance, from when a claim is received until the decision is made on the claim, is 11 weeks.
“That is a reduction from a peak of 19 weeks in May of this year.
“For Employed Persons’ Allowance, it is 10 calendar days and for Carers’ Allowance claims, it is five weeks.
“Processing times for Social Security benefit claims can be affected by a number of factors, including the time taken to obtain information from third parties, such as medical assessments or school records, in cases, or indeed from claimants themselves.
“A social security benefit can only be awarded once all the information needed to make a decision has been received.”
He added that applications for EPA could be be made online and they were processed in an average of five calendar days.
He was responding to a question tabled by Glenfaba and Peel MHK Katryna Baptist, who said she had spoken to a number of claimants who had been forced to wait longer than the average time for a decision on their DLA claim.
Online Option
Crowe said it was hoped that moves towards online applications would improve the speed of processing.
“Work to bring Disability Allowance Applications online is scheduled for 2027, with Carers’ Allowance to follow,” he said. “These developments should make the application process and simpler and improve communication with the claimants.
“Anyone who needs support while their claim is being processed should contact the Social Security Division to discuss their individual circumstances. Officers can help identify any other benefits they may be entitled to, subject to meeting other relevant eligibility conditions.”
Baptist expressed concern over the length of the process and asked what the problems were.
Crowe admitted: “Disability Living Allowance, in particular, is a complex benefit and there are multiple pieces of information that are required in order to make that assessment. Sometimes, unfortunately that does take some time.
“There have been some issues in terms of processing at that time, mainly due to staffing pressures, but members of staff have been reassigned to this area in order to facilitate the reduction in the waiting lists and the ability to redeploy and train staff is obviously an issue.
“That team is now fully staffed and trained and there has been a redeployment of higher grade officers into that team, specifically to facilitate the processing of Disability Living Allowance claims.”
DLA applications will be available online from next year and claimants will be able to check the progress of their application, he said.
“In the other benefits that have moved to an online system we have seen a significant reduction in the time taken to process such claims and I would look forward to seeing a significant reduction in the Disability Living Allowance processing at that time,” said the Minister.
He added that anyone who needed support while their claim was being processed could speak to the Social Security Division.
“Social Security may award in-hand payments in addition to any other benefits to help people manage until they recieve a final assessment and the commencement of their benefit payments.”