People claiming disability benefits are experiencing an "unacceptably poor service" from the Government - with call waiting times averaging 10 times longer than usual, say MPs. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) took an average of 26 minutes and 53 seconds to answer calls from employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants in the year leading up to March 2024, as reported by the Public Accounts Committee.

This is in contrast to the average wait time of just two minutes and 45 seconds for Universal Credit claimants. The committee concluded that disability benefit claimants in particular are receiving a sub-par service, including long processing times for their claims. Committee chairman Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown expressed concern that people "are literally calling for help and receiving no answer". He suggested that the public "would be forgiven for thinking the state is AWOL just when it needs it most". Sir Geoffrey stated: "Our report's disheartening findings illustrate the stark disparity of experience between claimants for disability benefit and other users of the system.".

He urged the DWP to "do more to ensure that claimants are reunited with the money to which they are entitled, as well as to understand the needs of vulnerable claimants". The report also pointed out "unacceptably high" levels of fraud and error within the system. In the year leading up to March 2024, overpayments of benefit expenditure, excluding state pension, rose to £9.5 billion or 6.7%, up from £8.2 billion (6.6%) in the previous 12 months. Underpayments also increased, with claimants receiving an estimated £3.5 billion (1.5%) less than they were eligible for in the year to March 2023, rising to £4.2 billion less (1.6%) in the year to March 2024.

The DWP has previously attributed this to an "increasing propensity for fraud in society", which it claimed started before the pandemic and has continued to "place an upwards pressure on fraud in the welfare system". Last year, the department estimated that this "long-term behavioural trend creates a headwind that would cause fraud levels to grow at around 5% per year without action to reduce it". However, the committee criticised the DWP's "dangerous mindset" and insisted that it is the department's responsibility to "improve its defences and ensure benefit claimants receive the right amount of money". Sir Geoffrey stated: "We are also as concerned at the picture of growing underpayments as we are with overpayments, and have little sympathy for the DWP's argument that this rise is driven by a growing propensity for fraud in society.

"This amounts to saying that the DWP's job is too hard to do well not a defence that this committee is prepared to accept." The committee made several recommendations, including urging the department to outline plans to speed up its response times to calls from ESA claimants, simplify the process for claimants to report changes in circumstances, and explain how it intends to utilise the additional £110 million allocated in the autumn Budget to combat fraud and reduce overpayments.

The committee also expressed concerns about the potential effects on vulnerable customers of the department's use of artificial intelligence (AI), with Sir Geoffrey stating that "the onus is also on the DWP to prove it is using these powerful tools in a safe and fair manner". Richard Kramer, chief executive of the national disability charity Sense, commented that the report's findings came as no surprise.

He said: "We've been told again and again by disabled people that getting the help they're entitled to has been an ordeal. In our research, half of people with complex disabilities said the benefits application process made the impact of their condition worse it shouldn't be like this. "Disabled people have been paying the price of a broken benefits system for far too long. Sense is calling on the Government to use the upcoming Health and Disability Green Paper to make sure the welfare system allows disabled people to apply for benefits independently and with dignity.".

A DWP spokesperson defended their actions, stating: "We have reduced phoneline waiting times and are providing tailored help for customers with additional needs while also uprating benefits by 1.7% this April to ensure that customers get all the support they are entitled to. "The report does not consider that we are already taking action on fraud and error through our new Fraud Error and Recovery Bill, which will help us protect claimants by stopping errors earlier alongside saving an estimated £1.5 billion of taxpayer money over the next five years.".