Jonathan R Shaw (Minister of State (Disabled People), Regional Affairs; Chatham & Aylesford, Labour)

Most customers who wish to claim employment and support allowance (or incapacity benefit where there was entitlement before 27 October 2008) do so by making a phone call to a Jobcentre Plus contact centre. For customers who have difficulty making a claim by phone, a claim form can be completed instead. Face to face assistance with this is available at Jobcentre Plus offices.

When designing the employment and support allowance claim form, an external research company was commissioned to conduct research on potential customers, Jobcentre Plus advisers and intermediaries. Their findings informed the final design of the form.

In April 2007 the Department introduced a new format disability living allowance claim form for customers aged 16 to 65. Extensive consultation with customer representative groups and rigorous customer research took place during the design, development and testing of the form. The feedback did not indicate any specific concerns regarding the suitability of the form for young people (or any other age group). The new format reached the Plain English Campaign's accreditation standard and consequently attained the Crystal Mark. Subsequent improvements and refinements to the claim form have been based on feedback from customers and their representatives. The latest version was published in September 2008.

We have a regular cycle of review and a commitment to continuous improvement for claim forms.