Adult Disability Payment Review: consultation
Section 10 – Processing times
The following question asks about application processing times for Adult Disability Payment as set out in Section 10 of the Consultation Paper.
About 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.