Independent Review of Adult Disability Payment: consultation

Section 10 – Processing times

The time it takes Social Security Scotland to make a decision about an application for Adult Disability Payment is called the processing time. The processing time can be affected by several factors, including:

• dealing with many applications
• gathering supporting information
• the type of application (for example, those made under the Special Rules for Terminal Illness)
• applications which may require a consultation.

Some disabled people and stakeholders have expressed concerns have about how long it takes to decide whether someone can get Adult Disability Payment.

Social Security Scotland says it is making ongoing improvements towards reducing processing times for applications. The current average processing time for Adult Disability Payment has dropped by almost 40% to 59 working days.

Whilst processing times are coming down, there is little information available on whether they are having a different impact on some groups such as vulnerable and seldom-heard groups and not others.

The term 'seldom-heard groups' refers to under-represented people who face barriers in engaging with others. Examples of people who may be considered as having seldom-heard voices include:

• people experiencing homelessness
• people whose first language is not English
• people experiencing domestic violence
• people living in rural or island communities
• people with learning difficulties
• carers
• lone parents
• refugees and asylum seekers
• LGBTI people
• ethnic minority groups.

The following question asks about application processing times for Adult Disability Payment.

Question 19

If you have ever received a decision on an Adult Disability Payment application, how long after you submitted your application did it take for you to receive this?

• Less than 1 month
• 1 – 2 months
• 2 – 3 months
• 3 – 4 months
• 4 – 5 months
• 5 – 6 months
• More than 6 months

(a) How satisfied were you with this?

• Very satisfied
• Satisfied
• Somewhat satisfied
• Not very satisfied
• Not satisfied at all

(b) What in your view could have been done to improve your experience of waiting for a decision?