Section: Benefits & Grants

Improvements in Processing Benefits

For the first time more than half of local councils are meeting or beating the Department for Works & Pensions' target of processing new Housing Benefit claims within 36 days. The quarterly figures show:

The number of councils meeting the national standard of 36 days for processing new claims increased from 33% in 2003/04 to 50% in 2004/05, and to 59% in the fourth quarter of 2004/05.
The average number of days to process new claims reduced from 50 days in 2003/04 to 46 days in 2004/05, and to 39 days in the fourth quarter of 2004/05.
Councils in the bottom quartile took between 42 and 101 days in the fourth quarter of 2004/05, compared with between 59 and 143 days in the same period in 2003/04.