Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
FOI Reference: FOI/202300345027
Date received: 24 February 2023
Date responded: 24 March 2023
Request
Request for information 1: The number of FTE staff working on processing ADP payments.
Request for information 2: The number of applications for ADP for the last 6 months, broken down by month.
Response
Thank you for your request for information, please see our responses below.
Request for information 1:
I have interpreted your request as relating to the number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Social Security Scotland staff who are engaged in processing applications for Adult Disability Payment. You should be aware that staff across the organisation will also be involved in pre-claims advice and support, provision of clinical advice, processing of payments, ongoing case maintenance and supporting the system necessary for all staff activity relating to Adult Disability Payment. We are unable to break down the numbers of staff involved from those other activities as those staff work across multiple forms of assistance.
On the date of your request there was 1105.2 FTE staff processing Adult Disability Payment applications. This includes Case Managers, Client Advisors, Team Managers, Health and Social Care Practitioners and Performance Managers.
These staff have a range of duties beyond processing new applications. These include supporting the transfer of thousands of awards from the Department for Work and Pensions to Social Security Scotland, answering calls and web chats from people who need help or information, and ensuring changes in circumstances reported by benefit recipients are actioned.
It should also be noted that our workforce is increasingly multi-disciplinary and moves to priorities as per demand to meet benefit delivery. Therefore the above figure is an indication of FTE staff processing Adult Disability Payment applications on the date of your request, but should not be interpreted as a constant or historical staffing level for this benefit.
Request for information 2:
We routinely publish the number of applications for Adult Disability Payment broken down by month. Our most recent publication includes the information requested and is available here:
About FOI
Social Security Scotland is committed to publishing responses to requests. The Scottish Government also publishes responses to requests. You can view the responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.