My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible.
Processing times vary across schemes, depending on the different qualification criteria. Also, means-tested payments can require more detailed investigation and interaction with the applicant, thereby lengthening the decision-making process.
As at January 2021 the average time for award of Jobseekers Allowance is 2 weeks with 96% of applications being processed within 6 weeks target.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.