Guidance

COVID-19 Chapter 2: Participant identification, eligibility and referral

Updated 15 December 2021

This guidance was withdrawn on 14 April 2022

This guidance is no longer current and is not being updated. Find the latest Work and Health Programme (including JETS) provider guidance’

Applies to England and Wales

This is Work and Health Programme Coronavirus (COVID-19) specific guidance, including Job Entry Targeted Support (JETS).

Due to measures and restrictions imposed during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) period, some elements of the Work and Health Programme have been varied. These variations also reflect the contract variations CV01, CV04 and CV05 & CV06.

The following temporary guidance is for use only during this COVID-19 period, as defined by the period contract variations are in place. Procedures and guidance will revert to pre-COVID-19 versions as these variations are revised or revoked. A full version of the original Work and Health Programme guidance remains in publication for reference.

Introduction

1. To be eligible for WHP Core all Participants must be resident in England or Wales and be in one of the eligible categories and are expected to be of working age.

2. To be eligible for WHP Job Entry Targeted Support (WHP JETS) all Participants must be resident in England or Wales, fall into the eligibility criteria and be of working age. All referrals will be made by DWP. However, should it be required during the life of the contract, DWP may authorise self-referrals, as detailed in CV06.

What is Working Age?

3. Young people in England must continue in education or training until their 18th birthday. Young people do not have to stay in school; they can choose one of the following options post-16:

• full-time education, such as school, college or home education
• an apprenticeship
• part-time education or training if they are employed, self-employed or volunteering full-time (which is defined as 20 hours or more a week). Work and Health Programme is NOT classed as a training provider in this context.

4. In Wales young people can leave school on the last Friday in June, as long as they are 16 by the end of that school year’s summer holidays.

Resident in England and Wales

5. People currently legally living in England or Wales – UK passport holders (or eligible to hold UK passport); foreign passport holders as long as there is an endorsement in their passport allowing them to undertake paid employment – that is there are no employment restrictions/ prohibitions; holders of EU passports (subject to any endorsement prohibiting them from working in the UK). DWP reserves the right to amend these definitions following the UK leaving the European Union.

Participant eligibility and entry points

6. For WHP Core the majority of eligible Participants are likely to be claiming one of the benefits listed below but a small proportion of Participants may not be in receipt of a working age benefit (see paragraph 16 et seq.):

• Universal Credit (UC)
• Jobseekers Allowance (JSA)
• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Income Support (IS)

7. Further information regarding these benefits (for example differences between ESA Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) and ESA Support Group) can be found at the links provided in the last paragraph.

8. Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches will use their expertise and skills to perform the key role of identifying eligible Participants from the target groups to participate in the WHP Core and the WHP JETS and then engaging them to access the provision. For referrals made by Jobcentre Plus, they will continue to be the final decision maker for determining if an individual is eligible and should be referred to the WHP Core or WHP JETS.

9. For WHP JETS, referrals can be made on a voluntary basis or individuals can be mandated to attend and participate in their first appointment. To be eligible for WHP JETS potential Participants must:

• be of working age (16 in Wales, and 18 in England to State Pension age); and
• have the right to reside and enter employment in England or Wales; and
• be in receipt of UC and in the Intensive Work-Search regime; or New Style JSA at the point of referral; and
• be motivated to find work and require light touch employment support
• be unemployed for 13 weeks or more (not in any type of employment including zero hour contracts)
• be in receipt of benefits for 13 weeks or more (periods of furlough are not counted)
• are not on any other DWP contracted provision
• not already have a job offer or be about to start work
• not be in receipt of payments from the Self-employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS)

10. Work coaches will use the above criteria to assess eligibility and suitability for participation in WHP JETS.

Please Note:

• If the claimant is registered as self-employed with HMRC, they do not need to de-register to participate in JETS or WHP Core.
• State Pension age can vary by individual.

Equalities Act

11. For WHP Core and WHP JETS you need to ensure compatibility with the Equalities Act for example to enable communication with Participants who do not speak English as a first language, or who are deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment; and where the supplier is operating in an area with a high minority ethnic population, materials in the appropriate ethnic minority language must be made available on request. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes translation services.

Participants with Disabilities (WHP Core)

12. For WHP Core, Participants with a disability can be referred by DWP to the Contractor on a voluntary basis, at the most appropriate time when the criteria below are met, the Participant:

• has a disability or disabilities as defined by the Equality Act 2010
• can be helped, in the opinion of DWP and the Contractor where appropriate, by participating in the WHP Core
• if relevant, has already been helped by Jobcentre Plus with their core job search activity
• needs more support than can be provided within the standard Jobcentre Plus offer (or through other available services and provision) and
• has committed to the goal of finding employment within one year.

Please Note: for Participants with a disability, capacity to participate for any minimum number of hours per week/month will not form part of the decision to refer as there are no minimum hours of support/participation in the WHP Core.

13. Participants with disabilities will be referred on LMS/Find and Refer using the opportunity type WHP Disability Condition and WHP Minister for WHP Core (please see Annex 1).

14. Providers should note that there are Legal requirements for Participants with Autistic Spectrum Conditions; these are detailed at Annex 1.

Early Access Disadvantaged Groups (Not applicable to WHP JETS)

15. Early Access to the WHP Core will also be available to a number of disadvantaged groups (see paragraph 16 below). These are groups who may need additional support to move into employment and supporting these groups is a policy priority for DWP. Allowing early access to WHP Core will help provide support at the right time for these groups.

16. Referrals for these groups will be at the discretion of DWP, at the most appropriate time on a targeted voluntary basis, when the judgement of the Work Coach/Contractor is that the Participant would benefit from early access to the programme and the following criteria are met.

17. The following criteria will be used as a guide for the Jobcentre Plus Work Coach/ Contractor. The Participant:

• can be helped, by the offer
• if relevant, has already been helped by Jobcentre Plus with their core job search activity
• needs more support than can be provided within the standard Jobcentre Plus offer (or through other available services and provision); and
• has committed to the goal of finding employment within one year.

18. The Early Access Groups are set out below. If other groups are identified as policy priorities for the DWP then they may be added to the list set out below:

• an ex-offender (someone who has completed a custodial sentence or a community sentence), or offender (someone who is serving a community sentence)
• a carer
• an ex-carer
• a homeless person
• a former member of Her Majesty’s (HM) Armed Forces
• a member of the HM Armed Forces reserves
• a partner of current or former Armed Forces personnel
• a person for whom a drug/alcohol dependency (including a history of) presents a significant barrier to employment
• a care leaver
• refugee
• young people in gangs
• victims of domestic violence
• an Afghan resettler

19. These Participants will be referred on LMS/Find and Refer using the opportunity type WHP Early Access and WHP Minister Early Access (please see Annex 1).

Signposting Organisations (Not applicable to WHP JETS)

20. In order to make the WHP Core accessible to all eligible individuals, including those who are not regular customers of Jobcentre Plus, DWP approved Signposting Organisations (SOs) will be able to signpost individuals that they think will benefit from WHP Core to DWP. However, please note the final decision regarding a referral to WHP Core will remain with DWP.

European Social Fund (ESF) 2014 to 2020 Programme – WHP Core & WHP JETS eligibility, evidence requirements and initial activity (England only)

21. For information regarding ESF 2014-2020 please refer to COVID-19 WHP Provider Guidance including JETS Acknowledging referrals, initial Participant engagement and registering a start Chapter 3b.

Should you require a copy of any of the forms mentioned in this chapter, please email: whp.enquiries@dwp.gov.uk