Disabled Scots are suffering longer waits to access a lifeline benefit under the SNP Government. Average processing times have jumped to two months as vulnerable people face anxious delays for the Adult Disability Payment.
ADP, which replaced the Personal Independence Payment, gives extra money to people with a disability or a long-term health condition. Social Security Scotland, the devolved benefits agency, used to have a target for processing applications of between eight to ten weeks, but this was removed from their website.
The latest figures show median average processing times are on the rise again after falling at one point.
They increased from 49 days in April to 61 days in July. Of the applications in July, 50% were processed within three months compared with 63% in April. The proportion of cases processed in 141 or more days has increased slightly over the period.
Labour MSP Paul O’Kane, a critic of rising waits, quizzed SNP Cabinet Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville recently on the figures and whether a Government recruitment freeze was a factor.
He told the Record: “The SNP promised us a fairer, more compassionate social security system, but once again it has failed to deliver. Disabled people are being left in limbo as a result of SNP incompetence, waiting months on end for the lifeline support they need. Yet again the SNP is breaking its promises to some of the most vulnerable people in society.
“The SNP must act now to reserve this worrying trend and ensure disabled Scots get the support they need with the urgency needed.”
Somerville told MSPs this month: “I am pleased to restate my reassurance that the recruitment freeze in no way affects those who directly deliver benefit decisions for disabled clients or anyone else. The workforce is flexible and is managed flexibly, as I said in my original answer. It is important that we have that flexible workforce in the agency in order to ensure that we deliver for all clients. I assure Paul O’Kane that the agency continues to make improvements to the system, to deliver good processing times for both ADP and other benefits.”
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