Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to compel benefit claimants to participate in Restart placements.

Once a Universal Credit claimant has been referred to the Restart programme, participation on the programme is mandatory as part of their claimant commitment. Restart programme providers’ interactions must reflect their personal circumstances and preferences of each participant. All activities should be agreed together to encourage participants to complete them voluntarily, using a variety of methods and approaches to achieve this.

Providers may consider using mandation, where attempts to engage with participants have not been successful.