Jobseeker’s Allowance

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what proportion of claims for jobseeker’s allowance made by (a) telephone, (b) post and (c) an online claim form have taken (i) up to four weeks and (ii) four or more weeks from receipt of claim to payment of benefit in the last 12 months; (140393)

(2) what proportion of claims for incapacity benefit made by (a) telephone, (b) post and (c) an online claim form have taken (i) up to four weeks and (ii) four or more weeks from receipt of claim to payment of benefit in the last 12 months.

[holding answer 4 June 2007]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 11 June 2007:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions asking about the proportion of claims to Jobseeker’s Allowance and Incapacity Benefit made by telephone, by post and on-line that are cleared in under four weeks and over four weeks. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.

The information is not available in the format requested. The information that is available is contained in the following tables.

*Jobseeker’s allowance—cumulative 12 months May 2006 to April 2007*
Time band	Percentage processed
One to 21 working days	84.2
22 plus working days	15.8

*Incapacity benefit—cumulative 12 months May 2006 to April 2007*
Time band	Percentage processed
One to 40 working days	92.3
41 working days plus	7.7

We cannot identify the time taken to process claims by method of claim.

Volume 461: debated on Monday 11 June 2007