Guidance

Chapter 5: Provider Referrals and Payment System (PRaP)

Updated 30 October 2024

General information

5.01. The Provider Referrals and Payments (PRaP) system enables secure, automated exchanges of information about customers referred to DWP provision and payments from DWP for these customers.

5.02. You will access PRaP via DWP Authenticate and download information to your IT system, where you will be able to manage and update information about customer progress into PRaP.

5.03. Payment claims and calculations are generated automatically.

5.04. The PRaP system also provides transparent data about the cost and performance of DWP provision and payments, supporting contract and performance management.

5.05. For further information about PRaP, please see our PraP questions and answers

5.06. Information can also be found in the PRaP Operational, Digital and Database Support (PODDS) team Guidance for Access to Work which has been sent to you.

Security

5.07. To access and use the system, you have to meet your responsibilities under the Data Protection Act to keep all data securely and confidentially. You should be aware that system security monitoring is carried out.

5.08. You must ensure you meet relevant security requirements when contracts go live and thereafter. See details on Provider security information

Using the PRaP System

5.09. You will use the PRaP system to receive your referrals and to record customer activity.

5.10. Direct access to PRaP is limited to prime service providers/ contract holders (you).

5.11. You must ensure that you update the PRaP system promptly and accurately.

5.12. The opportunity type for an Access to Work Holistic Assessment referral has 3 outcomes. You must claim the outcome that relates to the assessment you completed.

5.13. The 3 different outcomes that can be claimed are:

• Standard Face to Face Holistic Assessment – for an assessment conducted in person
• Virtual Standard Holistic Assessment – for an assessment conducted virtually via video link or telephone or any other method permitted in your contract
• Enhanced Face to Face Holistic Assessment – for an assessment conducted in person for the customers with the greatest barriers to work, it requires greater in-depth conversations with employers due to their complex needs and support requirements

5.14. On receipt of the Standard Holistic Referral (Annex A) from the Access to Work Case Manager, and the associated PRaP referral, providers may commence engagement activities, for instance, booking appointments.

5.15. 1. If you have not received the associated PRaP referral one working day after receiving the Standard Holistic Referral (Annex A), you must e-mail the Access to Work Case Manager immediately sending a copy of the e-mail to the AtW Service Delivery Team atwprovider.contractcorrespondence@dwp.gov.uk. Use only the email address on the documentation, if no email address is evident then send the response only to the AtW Operations Service Delivery Business Support Team.

5.16. Alternatively, if you have not received the Standard Holistic Referral (Annex A) referral one working day after receiving the associated PRaP referral, you must e-mail the AtW Service Delivery Team atwprovider.contractcorrespondence@dwp.gov.uk . Please do not attempt to email the Access to Work Case Manager, use only the email address on the documentation, if no email address is evident then send the response only to the AtW Operations Service Delivery Business Support Team.

5.17. Failure to ensure the PRaP referral has been received could adversely affect your payments and performance. Also, you should not be assessing customers before a referral is received.

5.18. The Oracle User Productivity Kit (UPK) is accessed via the ‘Help’ function within PRaP. UPK should be used in conjunction with this guidance to ensure accurate and timely input.

5.19. The following paragraphs provide information on the actions you need to perform within PRaP.

Provider acknowledges a referral

5.20. Upon receipt of a referral from Access to Work Case Managers, you should access the PRaP system within one (1) working day and either acknowledge the referral or reject it.

There are 6 options for rejection:

• provision unavailable
• customer already on provision
• customer not eligible
• other
• excluded
• inappropriate referral

Start provision

5.21. The assessment must be arranged within two (2) working days of your receipt of the referral (not including weekends or public holidays), to meet your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and the start date must be recorded in PRaP.

5.22. There are 2 options after you acknowledge a referral on PRaP. These are:

• a start when a suitable appointment with the customer has been made
• cancel the referral

5.23. There are 3 options for cancelling:

• did not attend (DNA) when you are unable to contact a customer within two (2) working days of receipt of a referral. This may be, for example, when a customer does not respond to attempts to make contact
• did not start (DNS) when the customer does not want to participate any longer and/or is unable to agree a start. This could be, for example, when a customer’s original availability has changed, and they cannot undertake an assessment during the timeframe they were previously available
• no contact (NC) when the referral information is incorrect or is missing vital detail to allow effective contact to be made with the customer. This may be mismatch of names, incorrect NINO or missing postcode. This may also include missing employer or customer contact information

Please see Annex D MMIR template for more information regarding DNS and KPIs:

• Annex D MMIR template - Excel file
• Annex D MMIR template - open document file

5.24. You are required to input dates into PRaP to confirm the start. These are:

• a unique reference - this is something to easily identify this Advance Shipping Notice (ASN) to you. It could be a reference which relates directly to your own system or something to help you identify this customer. This must not contain a NINO
• date 1: the date you contacted the customer
• date 2: the date of your PRaP input

5.25. The following lines are available to be claimed for either a Face-to-Face, Virtual Holistic Assessment and Enhanced Holistic Assessment and TESG Enhanced Holistic Assessment:

• ATWHARELET001 – ATW Start
• ATWHARELET003 – Referral End
• ATWHARELET004 – ATW Re-work MI Only line
• ATW005 – ATW Standard Holistic Assessment Virtual Payment
• ATW006 – ATW Standard Holistic Assessment Face to Face Payment
• ATW007 – ATW Enhanced Holistic Assessment Payment

Please note: TESG recipients requiring an Enhanced Holistic Assessment will be referred to you as “ATW HA/Provider name/TESG”.

Use of Form PRaP 14

5.26. The PRaP 14 form is used to request the removal of incorrect data from PRaP. Guidance notes for completion are held on the form.

5.27. The PRaP 14 form can be used when you have claimed a line incorrectly, for example, if you have recorded the dates on the start line incorrectly. If you have made a claim to any of the lines and you have made a mistake, you must complete the PRaP 14 form and email a copy to the AtW Policy inbox atwproviderguidance.policy@dwp.gov.uk.

5.28. The AtW Policy team will then consider your request and you will be notified of the outcome. We may need to gather further information to enable your request to be processed. If the PRaP 14 request is agreed, it will be sent to the PRaP Operational Support Team (POST) prap.support@dwp.gov.uk. The POST team will then take action to remove the incorrect date(s) enabling you to input the correct ones, if required.

5.29. The AtW Policy team will then consider your request and you will be notified of the outcome.  We may need to gather further information to enable your request to be processed.  If the PRaP 14 request is agreed, it will be sent to the PODDS team prap.support@dwp.gov.uk. The PODDS team will then take action to remove the incorrect date(s) enabling you to input the correct ones, if required.

Assessment outcome payment

5.30. If after 5 working days, you haven’t received a request for re-work from the Access to Work Case Manager you are entitled to claim an outcome payment in PRaP.

5.31. Once the Holistic Assessment has been completed to the specified standard the Assessment Outcome Payment can be claimed in PRaP, ensuring the correct line has been chosen as per paragraph 5.22 of this guidance.

Please note: only one outcome line can be claimed.

5.32. Prior to claiming the Assessment Outcome Payment line, you must compete the Job Details screen:

• employment type, job title, job start date and working pattern fields must be completed. Other fields do not require populating and should be completed with ‘N/A’
• for ‘employment type’ select ‘employed’
• has been claimed the End Date must be recorded in PRaP
• for ‘Job Title’ insert the Primary Health Condition
• for ‘Working Pattern’ insert the Primary Health Condition Code. To ensure the MI is completed correctly you must use the below codes:

1 - Muscular Skeletal

2 - Difficulty in Hearing

3 - Difficulty in Seeing

4 - Learning Difficulty

5 - Progressive Illness

6 - Dyslexia

7 - Mental Health

8 - Other

• for “Job Start Date” enter the date the Holistic Assessment was returned
• for “Job End Date” enter the same date as the Job Start date

5.33. You must ensure that the correct outcome is selected before you make an outcome claim by selecting either:

• Standard Face to Face ATW Holistic Assessment
• Virtual Standard Holistic Assessment
• Enhanced Face to Face Holistic Assessment

5.34. You will be required to input dates into PRaP to confirm an Assessment Outcome has been delivered, such as:

• a unique reference - this is something to easily identify this Advance Shipping Notice (ASN) to you. It could be a reference which relates directly to your own system, or something to help you identify this customer. This must not contain a NINO
• date 1: the date you returned the Assessment
• date 2: the same date as Date 1

5.35. You must ensure that you only submit claims for payment to which you are entitled. DWP will, to the extent it deems necessary, undertake payment checks on claims to establish their validity. Any erroneous payments made will be recovered.

Referral end date

5.36. The End Date must always be recorded in PRaP even if the Assessment has not been delivered. For example, when a customer arranges an appointment and subsequently cancels it.

5.37. The following End Date information needs to be entered:

• a unique reference: this is something to easily identify this Advance Shipping Notice (ASN) to you. It could be a reference which relates directly to your own system, or something to help you identify this customer. This must not contain a NINO
• date 1: the date the end has been entered into the system
• date 2: the date the end has been entered into the system
• end reason: the reason the provision has ended

PRaP Leaver Code number	Standard End Reason Descriptor	ACCESS to WORK END REASON DESCRIPTOR
36	No longer engaging with JCP	Cancelled by customer
37	No longer eligible	Cancelled by Provider
39	Completed Provision	Assessment completed
42	Referred to Other Suitable Provision	Customer on wrong opportunity when acknowledgment and start have been claimed

Assessments rework management information (MI) only line

5.38. When Access to Work receive an assessment that is not fit for purpose, or needs rework, this line is used to record the action.

5.39. The following line is available for shipment: AtW Assessment Rework MI Only line.

5.40. This line can be shipped after, before or at the same time as the End Date line.

Please note: You will still need to ship an outcome line to receive payment after completing a rework and waiting 5 (five) working days, as mentioned in paragraph 5.26.

5.41. Prior to entering the ATW Rework MI only line, the job details screen must be completed.

5.42. Complete the Job Details Screen to show the rework has been undertaken.

5.43. Ship the AtW Rework MI Only line:

• a unique reference: this is something to easily identify this Advance Shipping Notice (ASN) to you. It could be a reference which relates directly to your own system, or something to help you identify this customer. This must not contain a NINO
• date 1: the date rework was requested
• date 2: the date rework was undertaken
• for ‘Job Title’ insert the Primary Health Condition
• for ‘Working Pattern’ insert the Primary Health Condition Code

Special Customer Records

5.44. The majority of claims for payment must be submitted via PRaP. However, where you have a claim for a customer who is granted Special Customer Records (SCR) status (as determined by HMRC Special Section D) you are required to submit the claim following the SCR clerical claim process. Where DWP identifies that SCR status is not granted the claim will be rejected.

5.45. If a Special Customer Records Customer is identified, please liaise with the Access to Work Business Support Management Team, by e-mail, at atwprovider.contractcorrespondence@dwp.gov.uk to determine appropriate action.

5.46. The Access to Work Business Support Management Team will then process a clerical payment that mirrors the PRaP automated process. All clerical documents carrying personal information should be retained securely.