Unemployment figures and the number of furloughed workers are high, but our processing times are close to normal. January is always our busiest month. First applications are currently taking us around 14 days to process, and we expect processing times to remain at between 14 and 21 days for now unless something dramatic happens. The situation can naturally change with each review of the government’s coronavirus policy, but we do not have the details of such changes in advance.

What about follow-up applications?

Follow-up applications that require manual processing take us a little over a week to turn around. There is a few days’ margin of error with these applications, and the longest waits in January could be between 10 and 12 days. Follow-up applications with no changes can be turned around in a day.

What is the status with customer service? What is the best way to get in touch?

We are currently taking calls from Monday to Friday, but queues can be long at busy times. Try to avoid calling us first thing in the morning or at lunchtime unless you absolutely have to, as these are our busiest times. The queues are regrettable and we are constantly recruiting more call handlers. I highly recommend taking advantage of the chat option on our website. Our advisors are available to chat between 10.00 am and 3.00 pm from Monday to Friday and can help with the most common questions quickly that way. You can also find our customer service on Facebook. We try to reply to all messages sent via OmaYTK within around three days.

Latest statistics on the number of applications, calls and messages