The Community Welfare Service (CWS) is committed to providing a quality service to all citizens, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible.
The vast majority of complete applications are finalised within 2 weeks and there is less than 2 weeks work on hands currently. Exceptional Needs Payment (ENP) applications are varied and often quite complex, reflecting the individual circumstances being experienced.
Where it is clear that a person has an urgent or immediate need, every effort is made to ensure that the claim is processed on the same day. Community Welfare Officers (CWOs) are very experienced and can generally assess when a case is so urgent that it requires an immediate response. Approximately 10% of CWS payments to customers across the country are made on this basis, which shows just how responsive the service is to an urgent customer need.
Where an application cannot be finalised promptly, the delay is normally due to additional information or documentation being requested from the person to support their application and the length of time that it takes for the information to be provided. This can result in longer processing times for these applications as greater flexibility is given to clients with extended time to respond. Upon receipt of this information, the application is then processed quickly.
