More benefits are to be able to be claimed online.

Treasury Minister Dr Alex Allinson has given an update on the ‘Transit - Transition to IT-enabled’ project.

He has supplied a written reply to a Tynwald question from Douglas South MHK Sarah Maltby who asked what the timeline is for the remaining roll-out of the programme.

So far, Incapacity Benefit and Income Support can currently be claimed online.

Dr Allinson said the project is currently assessed as a five-year programme of work but he expected it to progress at a faster pace in the coming years.

He said the initial phase - which has been completed - focused on establishing a new online service forming the framework for all digitised benefits.

There’s also a new registration process linking the existing Online Services (OLS) platform to the new Social Security division’s back-office system.

A new customer landing page has been created to support the incremental roll-out of digitised benefits, and two-way secure messaging set up for customers.

Since June 2023 individuals who have registered with OLS have been able to claim Incapacity Benefit online, and since May 2025 they have been able to claim income Support online.

The programme is currently focusing on enabling Employed Person’s Allowance and Jobseeker’s Allowance to be claimed online, as well as the Income Support review process.

Dr Allinson said: ‘Once this phase of work is complete, it is anticipated that digitising the claiming of the remaining benefits will be significantly less complex to digitise, allowing delivery to progress at a faster pace.’

As it stands, the plan is for Jobseeker’s Allowance and Disability Living Allowance to be made claimable online in 2026-27 followed by Attendance Allowance, Carer’s Allowance and Manx State Pension in 2027-28.

The final phase planned for 2028-29 will involve ‘Job Centre modernisation and fraud components’, Dr Allinson said.