Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
FOI Reference: FOI/202300336618
Date received: 5 January 2023
Date responded: 2 February 2023
Request
Request for information 1: What is the average waiting time for an application decision?
Request for information 2: What is the current time target for applicants to receive a decision?
Request for information 3: How many applications are currently awaiting a decision?
Response
Please see our responses below. It may assist you in future to refer to our statistics publications page for ongoing statistical information about the benefits, which is available here:
Request for information 1:
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600.
Under section 12 of the Act public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600.
To provide the requested information relating to the Child Winter Heating Assistance benefit would require individual searches of tens of thousands of payment records on our Social Programme Management system.
The vast majority of Child Winter Heating Assistance payments are made automatically to those who qualify, and therefore no application is required. A very small number of people may have to apply if they are living outside of Scotland - Who can get Child Winter Heating Assistance - mygov.scot.
In order to assist you I have provided links to published information. Information can also be found on our statistics page: https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/about/statistics/social-security-scotland-statistics-publications
Request for information 2:
Social Security Scotland’s commitment in Our Charter is to handle client’s applications and enquiries as quickly as we can. For Funeral Support Payment our aim is to process completed applications within ten working days of receiving all supporting evidence for an application.
Request for information 3:
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600.
Under section 12 of the Act public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600.
To provide the requested information relating to the Child Winter Heating Assistance benefit would require individual searches of tens of thousands of payment records on our Social Programme Management system.
The vast majority of Child Winter Heating Assistance payments are made automatically to those who qualify, and therefore no application is required. A very small number of people may have to apply if they are living outside of Scotland - Who can get Child Winter Heating Assistance - mygov.scot.
In order to assist you I have provided information for Best Start Grant/Best Start Foods and the intended dates for future publication of information. Information can also be found on our statistics page: https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/about/statistics/social-security-scotland-statistics-publications
Benefit |
Information |
Best Start Grant/Best Start Foods |
Information can be found in published statistics: Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods: high level statistics to 30 November 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) |
Child Disability Payment |
Publication date for statistics which fall within scope of your request - 14 February 2023 |
Funeral Support Payment |
Publication date for statistics which fall within scope of your request - 14 February 2023 |
Job Start Payment |
Publication date for statistics which fall within scope of your request - 21 February 2023 |
Scottish Child Payment |
Publication date for statistics which fall within scope of your request - 28 February 2023 |
Adult Disability Payment |
Publication date for statistics which fall within scope of your request - 14 March 2023 |
Young Carer Grant |
Publication date for statistics which fall within scope of your request - 21 March 2023 |
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.