Universal Credit: Disqualification

(asked on 20th November 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will give universal credit work coaches greater autonomy over whether to apply sanctioning guidelines to a claimant when they consider that a sanction would hinder that person's ability to (a) engage further with Jobcentre Plus and (b) gain employment.


Answered by
Alok Sharma Portrait
Alok Sharma
COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
This question was answered on 28th November 2018

Work coaches do not apply sanctions. Sanctions decisions are made by decision makers.

Work coaches are required to set commitments that are tailored to individual circumstances, and to make referrals to a decision maker for consideration of a sanction where it appears that someone has failed to comply without good reason. In doing so, the claimant is asked to provide information they wish to be taken into account, for example, their reason for failing to attend an appointment with their work coach. A sanction is then only applied if the claimant does not show good reason for their failure to comply, and is applied according to current legislation and case law.

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