The government is to give 2,000 temporary staff permanent roles at Jobcentre Plus to help cope with lengthening dole queues.
Temps brought in to help job centres with the switch from Incapacity Benefit to Employment Support Allowance next week are now to be retrained to deal with regular Jobseekers Allowance claims.
Official figures earlier this week showed that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits had jumped by 31,800 since September to 939,900, up nearly 10% on a year ago.
But the government denied claims that job cuts had left staff struggling to cope.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said it was on top of the increased numbers.
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“Thanks to the professionalism of the staff, we process claims in just under 10 days, which is almost two days ahead of target,” he said.
“Over the past few years, the restructuring of Jobcentre Plus has drastically cut down on the amount of backroom paperwork, and we have more people on the front line. We’re currently retraining 2,000 staff to ensure we continue to stay within those targets and help people find work as quickly as possible.”
