The Department stressed that the crucial thing at the point people applied was for them to make clear if there was a time-critical element to their application.12 It told us that it prioritised applications from people who had a job offer and were due to start work within four weeks, which represented 6 C&AG’s Report, para 14 7 Q 10 8 See Annex: Summary of confidential written evidence 9 Q 9 10 Q 5 11 Qq 9-10 12 Q 10 10 about 10% of applications.13 From October 2023 to November 2025, the Department processed 55,706 (30%) of 188,106 applications in fewer than 20 working days.14