Provider memo 28: Updates to the mandation processes and guidance
Updated 23 December 2024
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/work-and-health-programme-provider-memos-2018/provider-memo-28-updates-to-the-mandation-processes-and-guidance
This memo is for Work and Health Programme (WHP) providers.
Issued by: Work and Health Programme Policy Team, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Background
1. Work and Health Programme (WHP) providers have requested further clarification and guidance regarding a number of mandation processes, including mandating Long Term Unemployed (LTU) Participants to their initial face to face meeting.
2. Following recent discussions with providers, this memo seeks to clarify the action they must take when mandating WHP Participants to their initial face to face meeting.
3. This memo also provides further detail regarding the completion of the UC194 form.
Action for providers to take when mandating a LTU Participant to their initial face to face meeting
4. If you mandate an individual to attend their initial face to face meeting, and they fail to attend the first appointment date, you must raise a compliance doubt referral on the appropriate referral form as detailed in Work and Health Programme provider guidance chapter 8. You should not input a Did Not Attend (DNA) code into PRaP immediately. You should continue to try to engage with the Participant and enable their attendance, up until Day 15 of your Customer Service Standard (CSS) period. Where the Participant does not contact you to rearrange their initial face to face meeting, you should not input the DNA code before this date.
5. If the Participant has not contacted you prior to your entering the DNA code into PRaP, and is in receipt of Universal Credit (UC), you must also notify the Universal Credit Decision Maker (UCDM) on form UC194 that the Participant is no longer required to undertake the activity from the date you entered the DNA code into PRaP. This will enable the UCDM to end any period of open-ended sanction that may have been imposed.
6. 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. If you choose to mandate the Participant to the rearranged meeting you must use the appropriate Mandatory Activity Notification (MAN) to do this. You must also ensure you comply with the requirements contained in Work and Health Programme provider guidance chapter 5a and chapter 9.
7. 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. If the individual is a UC LTU Participant, you must notify the UCDM, on form UC194, that from the date you entered the DNA code onto PRaP, the Participant is no longer required to undertake the activity.
Completing the UC194 form correctly
8. If a LTU Participant is in receipt of Universal Credit, and has had a low level sanction imposed for failing to attend a mandated activity or appointment, you will notify the DWP UCDM of the compliance doubt on form UC193. If the UCDM imposes a sanction, the open ended part of the sanction will end when the Participant meets the compliance condition you notified to them. When you are satisfied that a Participant has met their compliance condition you must complete form UC194 – Request to Review a Sanction for Universal Credit form and send it to the DWP UCDM straightaway. When the Participant contacts you to rearrange an appointment or activity, following a failure to comply with a mandated requirement, and that appointment or activity is arranged for a future date, the compliance date that must be noted on the UC194 form is the date the Participant made contact provided with you, provided they subsequently attend the re-arranged meeting or activity.
9. Please ensure that you review your procedures and guidance for these processes and ensure they reflect the requirements outlined in this memo.
10. Updated Work and Health Programme provider guidance will be issued shortly.
Further information
11. If you have any queries about this memo, please contact: whp.enquiries@dwp.gov.uk