Guidance

Chapter 3: Acknowledging referrals, initial Participant engagement and registering a start (WHP Core)

Updated 27 November 2024

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/work-and-health-programme-including-jets-provider-guidance/chapter-3-acknowledging-referrals-initial-participant-engagement-and-registering-a-start

Please note: Please follow the processes outlined for WHP Core for WHP Pioneer. Elements that are exempt from this can be found in Chapter 2b WHP Pioneer eligibility and entry points

Referral

1. You will need to work with DWP and your local Jobcentre Plus contacts to ensure an effective referral and engagement process with the Participant.

2. Information will be transmitted to you via the Provider Referrals and Payments (PRaP) system interface.

Participants referral from Jobcentre Plus  

3. As part of the referral Jobcentre Plus will send over information on the individual to support initial engagement. 

4. Information sent as part of the referral is special category data within the meaning of the Data Protection Act and handling, processing and transmission rules apply. The information sent as an anticipated minimum will include: 

  • full name including title  
  • National Insurance number (NINO)  
  • full address including post code  
  • telephone number Inc. area code  
  • other telephone number (mobile)  
  • aims (free text field)  
  • job preferences  
  • preferred hours  
  • if the Participant has voluntary or mandatory participation  
  • Incident Marker – notification where a Participant has had an incident recorded while working with Jobcentre Plus. The Jobcentre will issue you with a notification of control measures form by post to make you aware of any measures following an incident. Further information on incidents can be requested by contacting Jobcentre Plus 
  • Disability Status – notification that the Participant has informed Jobcentre Plus that they are disabled. Disabled Participants may require special arrangements when you meet with them  
  • childcare needs/arrangements, for example lone parent, preferred working pattern  
  • Voluntary Early Entry Category  
  • Jobcentre Plus agreed employment restrictions on availability  
  • Welsh language written or spoken  
  • referral ID  
  • provision ID
  • date of referral  
  • Participants who require additional support – this will be notified by the inclusion of the wording “May require reasonable adjustment or additional support” on their action plan  
  • Disadvantaged marker set Y (yes) or N (no). Where information states disadvantaged marker set ‘Y’ you will need to ask the Participant to disclose any disadvantages they have

Provider acknowledges referral

5. You are required to ‘acknowledge’ the Participants referral in PRaP within 2 working days of referral being received by you. This is an existing Customer Service Standard (CSS) on which you are performance managed. Further information can be found in Work and Health Programme Provider Guidance Chapter 16: Performance Management, Assurance and Compliance Monitoring.

Actions

  • access PRaP
  • acknowledge Referral

Consequence

If you fail to acknowledge a referral, you will be unable to record a start date and unable to receive an outcome.

Procedure for MAPPA cases  

6. The DWP Designated Officer will contact your nominated officer to discuss any restrictions that should be in place for each MAPPA referral.

7. There are exceptional circumstances when you may receive the MAPPA J Form, but this will only be for those occasions where the Jobcentre Plus MAPPA SPOC has sought the permission of the Responsible Authority/Lead Agency to share the MAPPA J with you. Where there is a need to share this information with you, the Jobcentre Plus MAPPA SPOC will inform you how and when this will be shared.

8. The MAPPA J form and any other clerical documents for each claim must be held securely, with restricted access, following the same process as you would for SL2’s. Under no circumstances should a MAPPA J form be held on an IT system. 

9. The DWP Designated Officer will also confirm the Participants contact details.  

10. You can set up normal electronic records on your IT systems for MAPPA Participants. However, the record must only contain minimal information and should be marked training and employment restrictions apply and that further information can be obtained from your nominated officer. Therefore, access to this record does not need to be restricted. 

11. Further information on document retention can be found in the Generic Guidance, Chapter 2.

Referral - Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) cases

12. MAPPA cases who have not been given Special Customer Record (SCR) status will be referred through PRaP.

Actions

  • the DWP Designated Officer will contact your nominated officer to confirm contact details and any restrictions that may be imposed on the Participant
  • you must take the same action on PRaP as for non-MAPPA cases to acknowledge and start the Participant

MAPPA referrals made to provision but with no notification from Jobcentre Plus

13. In exceptional circumstances, you may receive a referral for a Participant who has MAPPA restrictions applied but there has been no contact from the DWP Designated Officer to advise of those restrictions.

14. If at the initial meeting, the Participant discloses that they have a restriction, or you identify through discussions that MAPPA restrictions may apply, you will need to liaise with your nominated officer. You should stop the meeting and advise the Participant that the meeting will be rearranged.

15. You should contact your nominated officer immediately and ask them to contact the DWP Designated Officer to discuss any restrictions.

16. If the DWP Designated Officer is unaware of the restrictions, they should contact the Responsible Authority (RA) for information on the restrictions.

17. If your nominated officer receives information on the MAPPA restrictions from the DWP Designated Officer within the first 15 working days of the referral, you should re-book the initial meeting and start the Participant on the programme.

18. If within the 15 working days following the referral, your nominated officer does not receive a phone call from the DWP Designated Officer to discuss the MAPPA restrictions, you should record a Did Not Attend (DNA) outcome in PRaP and notify the work coach of the reasons why this action has been taken.

19. Once the discussion with the RA has taken place and information on the restrictions has been received by Jobcentre Plus, they will re-refer the Participant to the programme, if appropriate.

Please note: You should utilise the full 15 working days prior to inputting a DNA into PRaP.

MAPPA Restrictions applied after they have started on the programme

20. In exceptional circumstances, there may be occasions where a Participant notifies you of restrictions that have been applied after they started on the programme.

21. In this situation you should contact your nominated officer to confirm any restrictions.

22. If the nominated officer is unaware of any restrictions, they should contact the DWP Designated Officer and DWP Performance Manager to advise of the circumstances. You should then take the most appropriate steps to ensure that you, and your work colleagues, are able to deliver the programme within the Participant’s restrictions.

23. If the DWP Designated Officer is unaware of the restrictions, they will contact the RA for information on the restrictions.

24. It is recommended that a light touch approach should be undertaken with the Participant until you receive official notification of the restrictions.

25. If you have not received information on the restrictions within 28 days of your nominated officer escalating the issue with the DWP Designated Officer, you should consider if it is appropriate to continue working with the Participant.

26. If you consider it is appropriate to continue to work with the Participant, you should continue to offer a light touch approach until you are notified of the restrictions.

27. If you are no longer able to offer the light touch approach after 28 days, you should submit a PRaP 14 and follow the instructions as set out in the inappropriate referral process in this chapter 3.

Special Customer Records (SCR) - including MAPPA cases given SCR status  

28. Certain Participants are allocated SCR status, for cases where unrestricted access to Participants data poses a demonstrable risk to the individual’s safety. These Participants must not have their details held on any electronic systems. Participants who have been granted SCR status will always be referred to you clerically using the SL2 clerical referral form. There is no requirement for clerical cases to be acknowledged.  

29. In rare cases, some MAPPA Participants may be given SCR status. You must ensure that you treat these cases as you would any other SCR Participant. Access to a SCR must be restricted to a set period of time and on an event-by-event basis. 

Procedure for SCR cases - including MAPPA cases given SCR status  

30. You must ensure you have a full understanding of who these Participants are and how you should manage them. You must ensure full compliance with the SCR clerical record process.  

31. The clerical completion and return of SL2 forms for SCR Participants should always be undertaken by your nominated officer, who must ensure that “SCR Participant” is clearly marked at the top of each form.  

32. All information on SCR Participants whether received from Jobcentre Plus or generated by yourselves must be stored securely at all times.  

33. DWP expects you to have effective processes in place to meet all the above requirement and be able to demonstrate that you have conducted the necessary actions.

Referral - SCR (including MAPPA cases given SCR status)

34. Participants who have been granted SCR status will be referred to you clerically via the SL2 process. There is no clerical equivalent of acknowledging an electronic referral for SCR cases, so this step does not apply in these instances.

Actions

  • DWP will complete page one (of three) of the SL2 form, forwarding the entire form to your nominated officer
  • undertake start activity following receipt of SL2 form from DWP (retaining pages two and three of the SL2 form) and complete and return page one to the DWP nominated officer
  • send a photocopy of page two of the SL2 form to the Provider Payment Validation Team (PPVT)

Unspent and spent convictions  

35. It’s important that you identify early in the customer journey if the Participants have any spent or unspent convictions. It is recommended that you gather this information at the earliest opportunity e.g. during initial meetings or when collating Participant’s background information during the first weeks on the provision. If it is identified that the Participant has spent or unspent convictions, there are responsibilities and actions that a Participant may be required to do when applying for Jobs. Further information on what actions is to be undertaken by the Participant is outlined in the Generic Provider Guidance Chapter 2 Paragraph’s 10-12. 

  • It is your responsibility to understand any spent or unspent convictions as this information ensures that you protect yourselves and your Participants and this should frequently be revisited throughout the Participants time on the provision.   

  • When working with your Participants it is important that you understand if the Participant has any spent or unspent convictions. As a recommendation, you should gather this information at the earliest opportunity e.g. during initial meetings or when collating participant background information during the first weeks on the provision.  

36. The links below outline which convictions should be disclosed and those where disclosure is not required. In addition, if a Participant has a conviction, you should ensure they understand what disclosure means for them, based on their individual circumstances.  

37. For more specific details on this please visit: Disclosing your criminal record - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). This will outline when a Participant is required to disclose a conviction and when they are not.  

38. For more information on how long certain offences stay on a Participant’s record please visit: Rehabilitation Periods - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), which outlines rehabilitation periods.  

39. Understanding this information is to ensure that you protect yourselves and your Participants when discussing suitable employment opportunities and/or job applications and is something that should frequently be revisited throughout the Participant’s time on the provision.

Issuing of an electronic device to MAPPA Participants  

40. There may be occasions where you feel it beneficial to issue a mobile phone, laptop or any other digital device to a Participant to help with their job search activity. Please see Work and Health Programme, Chapter 1 for further detail on IT responsibilities. 

41. Prior to issuing any device you must contact your nominated officer and consider and review any MAPPA restrictions. 

42. If restrictions are in place, before issuing an electronic device, your nominated officer must contact the local DWP Designated Officer for advice and to notify them of the intention to issue an electronic device.  

Identity checks  

43. You must ensure that in all communications with Participants you are satisfied you are engaging with the correct person.  

44. To do this, you may decide to ask them to state a combination of their personal information such as:  

  • full name  
  • address  
  • NINO  
  • other information, such as details that were included within the original referral from Jobcentre Plus 
  • details you hold on your records

Initial engagement activity

45. You must engage with the Participant by discussing the programme with them and book an initial meeting. The preferred method of delivering this meeting is face to face and should be offered and considered first when engaging with Participants. By exception the meeting may be conducted by telephone call, video conference or any other method permitted by the contract, sending out details to the Participant to confirm. Details can be sent via email or other method permitted by the contract if there is no access to post (for voluntary Participants).

Please note: You must log the reason if the meeting is not face to face.

46. If it has not been possible to contact the Participant, you should still book an initial meeting, sending out details to the Participant to confirm.

47. The initial meeting must take place and be recorded in PRaP within 15 working days of you receiving the DWP referral to meet the Customer Service Standards (CSS).

48. The initial meeting should take place on a one-to-one basis.

Actions

49. If a Participant contacts you before the initial meeting, to say that they are unable to participate in an initial meeting, you may consider rescheduling the meeting in line with your CSS.

50. You should continue to try to engage with the Participant and enable their attendance up until Day 15 of the CSS target period, and not input the DNA code before Day 15, except where the Participant contacts you to rearrange their appointment and you are unable to do so within your CSS target timescales.  

51. If a voluntary Participant refuses to participate in the initial meeting, you must address the Participants concerns regarding attending. If the Participant still refuses to attend then you should enter the date and completer reason ‘2 – DNA’ into PRaP to end their time on programme. 

52. Jobcentre Plus will then run a report and invite the Participant in for an interview to understand the reasons why they haven’t attended.

Participant contact  

53. The frequency and means (for example text, email) by which you contact Participants will be driven by your CSS. and the Participants preferred method of contact must be recorded on your systems and followed.

Initial meeting

54. Once the Participant engages in the initial meeting they have started on programme.

55. The initial meeting must take place and be recorded in PRaP within 15 working days of DWP referral being received by you to meet your CSS.

56. Where the initial meeting does not take place within 15 working days and you have not entered a Did Not Attend (DNA) code in PRaP, you will fail to meet CSS 3. You may still engage with the Participant, however please note that you only have 60 calendar days from the referral being made in which to register a start. Following this time, the line will automatically close in PRaP.

Actions

Obtaining a Participant Signature

57. Now that all COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted and you have moved back to face-to-face delivery, all documents which require a Participant’s signature should be signed and dated by the Participant. Where you are required to obtain a Participant signature, WHP is not prescriptive about how any required signature is obtained. Whilst the department supports a blended delivery model, this must be based on Participant need.

58. The preferred method of delivery is still face to face. When you are delivering face to face, a wet signature must be obtained, and retrospective signatures should be attained when the Participant is next seen in person and such form/s retained on file for audit. 

59. Your records should clearly state why remote delivery was the most appropriate and email evidence (for audit and future inspection) should be gathered and retained to demonstrate the individual’s participation on the programme if no wet signature has been obtained. 

60. The Department recommends that you follow the relevant country specific Government guidelines in relation to safety and only see those participants who request or agree to receive face to face support for all voluntary Participants.

61. Where you have not been able to obtain signatures from Participants for any forms that require them, and the reason for that is not related to any Government Guidelines you were following at the time, you will need to clearly show that all reasonable attempts were made; date and evidence those attempts for your own audit trail and future inspection. If you are not seeing the participant face to face you should annotate documentation where signatures are required with ‘REMOTE DELIVERY’.

Please Note: By exception meetings may take place by video or audio calls or any means allowable by your contract and not necessarily the standard face to face. You must log the reason that the meeting is not face to face.

Evidence for Early Access Groups

62. For Participants in Early Access Disadvantaged Groups you are required to obtain evidence of their WHP eligibility in the category they have identified with as outlined in Chapter 2 and 2b. The Early Access category will be stated in the referral from DWP. Third party evidence is the preferred format however a self-declaration may be used where third party evidence is unavailable/not appropriate which may be the case for some of the Early Access groups.

Failure to attend meeting

63. Should the individual fail to participate in their initial meeting, you must record a DNA in PRaP within 15 working days of receiving a referral from Jobcentre Plus in order to meet your CSSs.

64. You should continue to try to engage with the Participant and enable their attendance, up until Day 15 of your CSS target.

65. Where the Participant does not contact you to rearrange their initial meeting, you should not input the DNA code before Day 15 of your CSS target period. You should continue to try to engage with the Participant and enable their attendance up until day 15 (working days) and you should not input the DNA code before then.

66. Where the Participant contacts you to rearrange the meeting, you should make every effort to enable their attendance, up until Day 15 of your CSS target period.

67. Where you are unable to arrange for the Participant to attend a subsequent interview, because doing so would cause you to fail to meet your CSS target, the DNA date you input to PRaP must be the latest date the Participant contacted you to try to arrange another appointment.

68. If a voluntary Participant fails to participate in the initial meeting and you input a DNA into PRaP, or after the 60 calendar day period has lapsed, the Jobcentre Plus Work Coach will make a new referral to you if the Participant still wishes to take part in the programme.

Actions

  • if the Participant contacts you in advance of the initial meeting and you agree to rearrange, do not input DNA. For further information regarding rearranging the meeting please refer to the initial engagement start section detailed in this chapter
  • make every effort to accommodate a voluntary Participant’s requests for a rearranged meeting. Where you are unable to do so within your CSS target timescale, the DNA date you input to PRaP must be the latest date the Participant contacted you to rearrange their appointment after the initial non-participation
  • input cancellation reason ‘2 – DNA’ into PRaP within 15 working days of receiving a referral being made from Jobcentre Plus to meet your CSS
  • signpost the Participant back to their Jobcentre Plus Work Coach if they make contact after you have input DNA

Start on Programme 

69. The Start is the point at which the Participant participates in their initial meeting with you. The date of the initial meeting should be recorded in PRaP as the start date; this may be a retrospective date if you are entering the start date after the meeting was conducted. 

70. You must retain evidence of the start date, including evidence of initial action planning activity. 

71. The Start Date is day one of the 456 calendar day period that you have to work with the Participant. Where the Participant requires in work support their time on the programme may be extended, up to a maximum of 639 calendar days - Further information can be found in Work and Health Programme Provider Chapter 14 – Validation.

Registering a start

72. Once you have acknowledged the referral and engaged with the Participant you are required to register the start in PRaP. To meet your CSSs, initial engagement and start activity must take place within 15 working days of the referral from Jobcentre Plus.

73. After 60 calendar days of the referral from Jobcentre Plus, the Participants record will automatically show as a Did Not Attend in PRaP, unless you have, prior to the 60th day, input the Participants start date or Did Not Attend (DNA). If this occurs the individual will not be a Participant on the Programme unless subsequently Jobcentre Plus makes a new referral for that Participant which results in a start. Any Participant not recorded as a Start within 60 calendar days should be referred back to DWP, if appropriate.

Actions

  • input the Participants start date in PRaP within 15 days of the referral being made by Jobcentre Plus
  • the start date you record in PRaP must always be the point at which the individual starts to participate in the programme by engaging in their initial meeting
  • input in PRaP the delivery location or end to end sub-contractor you allocate the Participant to

Consequence

Failure to register a start as soon as you have taken the action will mean that RTE tracking will not start promptly.

Individual starts work or has a job offer between referral and start

74. Individuals may report that they have a job offer (including zero hours contract) or have started paid employment or self-employment in between their referral interview with Jobcentre Plus and engaging with you. These individuals should not continue to take part on the WHP.

Please note: If the individual is registered as self-employed with HMRC, they do not need to de-register to participate in WHP, however, they must not be earning an income at the point of referral.

Actions

  • if the individual informs you prior to acknowledgement, signpost the individual back to Jobcentre Plus (if appropriate) and update PRaP with rejection reason ‘inappropriate referral’
  • if the error is discovered after acknowledgement but you have not claimed the start line, then use reason ‘no contact’
  • if the individual informs you after you have acknowledged and recorded a start date, complete a PRaP14 and send to the PRaP Operational Support Team (POST) at: PRAP.SUPPORT@DWP.GOV.UK who will consider the request
  • you will be notified via email once approved and you should update PRaP with an end date and exit reason ‘46 exceptional circumstances’. The end date is the day after the start date
  • you should then signpost the individual back to Jobcentre Plus (if appropriate)
  • POST will complete the actions to back the referral out and will contact you via email to notify you that this has been completed
  • upon receipt of the email you must promptly cancel the referral in PRaP recording a cancellation reason of ‘No Contact’

Inappropriate referrals

Participant is ineligible for the WHP

75. Situations may arise where Participants are referred to the WHP but are ineligible. This may be because they are in employment or are taking part in other DWP funded provision.

Actions

  • if the error is discovered prior to acknowledgement in PRaP, signpost the individual back to Jobcentre Plus and reject the referral. You should enter rejection reason ‘Other’ into PRaP to end their time on programme
  • if the error is discovered after acknowledgement but you have not claimed the start line, then use cancellation reason ‘no contact’
  • if the error is discovered after acknowledgement and you have recorded a start date in PRaP, complete a PRaP14 and send to POST at: PRAP.SUPPORT@DWP.GOV.UK who will consider the request. If the request is rejected, you will be notified via email, and you should continue to work with the Participant
  • if the request is approved, you will be notified via email, and you should update PRaP with the end date and completer reason 46 ‘exceptional circumstances’ to end their time on programme. The end date is the day after the start date
  • you should then signpost the individual back to Jobcentre Plus
  • POST will complete the actions to back the referral out and will contact you via email to notify you that this has been completed
  • upon receipt of the email, you must promptly cancel the referral in PRaP recording a cancellation reason of ‘No Contact’

Duplicate referrals to the WHP

76. In exceptional cases you may receive a referral which is a duplicate of a previous referral.

Actions

  • if the error is discovered prior to acknowledgement in PRaP, you will need to reject the duplicate referral by updating PRaP with rejection reason ‘Other’ to end their time on programme
  • if the error is discovered after acknowledgement but you have not claimed the start line, then use cancellation reason ‘no contact’
  • if the error is discovered after acknowledgement and started in PRaP, complete a PRaP14 and send to POST at: PRAP.SUPPORT@DWP.GOV.UK who will then consider the request
  • if the request is rejected, you will be notified via email and you should continue to work with the Participant
  • if the request is approved, you will be notified via email, you should update the Participants record in PRaP with the end date and completer reason 46 ‘exceptional circumstances’ to end their time on programme. The end date is the day after the start date
  • POST will complete the actions to back the referral out and will contact you via email to notify you that this has been completed
  • upon receipt of the email you must promptly cancel the referral in PRaP recording a cancellation reason of ‘No Contact’

Please note: You must ensure that action is taken on the duplicate referral only, as RTE tracking and any subsequent automated payments are linked to the first referral.

Erroneous Referrals

77. Situations may arise where Participants have been referred in error to the Work and Health Programme. This may be because the Participant was:

  • referred under the incorrect opportunity that is, Devolution Deal area (DDA) instead of non-DDA areas
  • referred under the incorrect opportunity that is, WHP Core instead of Pioneer or vice versa

78. These Participants are eligible for the programme and the appropriate action should be taken to start the Participant. For further information on starting a Participant on the WHP, please refer to Provider registers a start section detailed in this chapter.

Action Planning – minimum requirements

79. Following the initial engagement and initial meeting with the Participant, you should begin high level initial action planning activity.

80. You must complete an Action Plan which has been signed and finalised by you and the Participant, within 20 working days of receipt of the referral from DWP. Further information can be found in WHP Provider Guidance Chapter 4 Action Planning.

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