The New York Daily News (1/31, Straw, 3.94M) reports in its “DC” blog that even though more people are being awarded monies from the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, the amount of claims being processed still aren’t enough – and they aren’t being processed at a fast enough rate.

In mid-January of 2014, the VCF ruled that nearly 4,300 workers at Ground Zero would be eligible for award money. However, the total amount of potential claimants is around 53,000 – and about half of those are expected to be denied eligibility for their claims. Many of the problems could be related to the original VCF website, which was difficult to navigate. Recent updates and changes to the site could prove beneficial to those filing their claims online.

The good news? The VCF has about $2.7 billion in award money, and has handed out more than $135 million of it so far. That means there’s plenty of award money left for any remaining claimants. The bad news, however, is that the process for obtaining this money is an arduous one, and that relief has been slow in getting to the parties who need it most.

Hopefully, the recent uptick in numbers is a sign of good things to come for those in need.