Birkenhead MP Frank Field has criticised the “appalling” delays in processing benefit claims, which he claims could affect hundreds of thousands of people across the country- including those in his own Merseyside constituency.
Mr Field, who has been MP for Birkenhead since 1979, cited figures that show a staggering 154,309 people waited more than 10 days for their Jobseeker’s Allowance claim to be processed.
And Field, a former welfare reform minister and current chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger, suggested that a reduction in the delay could reduce the number of people using food banks by a third.
Mr Field said:“The Department for Work and Pensions has made some welcome progress in the time it takes to process new benefit claims. But, for people with little or no money in the bank, to survive even a day, let alone two weeks, without an income is almost an impossible task.
“We therefore need further action to restrict the supply routes into hunger. If the department could deliver all new claims more swiftly within five working days it would immediately reduce by a third the numbers of people needing to rely on food banks.”