People who called the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have collectively spent more than 753 years waiting for their calls to be answered in 2023/24, a report has found.
The waiting time applied to more than 40 million calls made – although more than six million of these were abandoned.
It was revealed following the latest customer service survey carried out by the independent National Audit Office (NAO).
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More than 20 million people in the UK depend on pensions or benefits from the DWP, with £268.5 billion paid in 2023/24 – and around £7.3 billion spent on running the department.
The NAO found that pensioners were most likely to be satisfied with the services they received (93%), while those receiving personal independence payment (Pip) were least satisfied (77%).
The report also found that just 52% of Pip claims were processed within the 75 working day target, while 96% of new State Pension claims were completed within the expected 10 working day timeframe.
The NAO said the number of people claiming state benefits and pensions increased from 20.3 million in May 2019 to 22.7 million in May 2023.
Most of this was due to the increase in Universal Credit claims during the pandemic and the increase in the volume of Pips due to more people being unemployed due to long-term health problems.
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When it comes to answering calls faster, the report said: “[DWP] told us it is planning to make more use of text messaging to update customers, but noted that providing updated information is not straightforward due to the variety and complexity of its services.”
The NAO said DWP’s “limited transparency about service standards” makes it more likely that people will request an upgrade.
Of the eight benefits verified by the DWP, it was estimated that 31.6 million minutes of phone calls were avoidable – around 43% of time spent on the phone – during the 2022/23 period.
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A DWP spokesperson said: “We recognize the challenges set out in this report and are committed to delivering an efficient and compassionate welfare system.
“While we recognized that the majority of new benefit claims were processed on time, our modernization program will help drive customer service improvements, including improved support for Pip applications and a new online application service.”
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