Claimant Commitment
(JSA Regime)
Claimant Commitment (JSA Regime)
Key Changes

Increased expectations of our claimants in terms of activity and
responsibility.

Tailored commitments and Work Plan for individual claimants.

Expectation of increased worksearch activity from claimants.

Robust forward planning which must be clear and specific.

A stronger intervention and compliance regime.

The claimant is clear about the conditions of entitlement.
Slide 2
Aims and Objectives of this Event
On completion of this event the learners will be able to:
•
explain the policy intent of welfare reform
•
explain the purpose of introducing Universal Credit and how the Claimant
Commitment contributes towards it
•
explain the roles of Work Services Manager, Work Coach and Assistant Work Coach
in delivering the Claimant Commitment
•
describe how to conduct the interview appropriately in order to draft an effective
Claimant Commitment.
•
ensure that claimants are aware of their responsibilities
•
explain how to coach the claimant to plan and carry out their worksearch activity
effectively
•
demonstrate how to coach the claimant to complete the ‘My Work Plan’ booklet and
provide sufficient appropriate evidence of their worksearch activities; and
•
demonstrate how to carry out an effective review of the claimant’s worksearch and
identify next steps.
Slide 3
JSA Claimant Commitment
The Live Innovation Trial
The claimant commitment has been trialled in the ‘live innovation’ site in
Stretford Jobcentre- here’s what advisers have said about it:
‘It focuses the interview
more on what the claimant
needs to do’
‘Claimants are more
aware of the
consequences of non–
compliance’
Slide 4
‘There’s more ownership
because the claimant has actively
contributed – so there’s more
chance they’ll do what they say
they will do’
Claimant Feedback – ‘they
feel they are treated as an
individual and that we do want
to help them’
‘It shows that we have an
interest in their customer
journey therefore gaining
their commitment’
To change behaviour,
Plans
should be…
make it:
 Ambitious
 Easy
Behavioural
 Challenging, with
Attractive
contingencies
 Social
Detailed
 Evidence
Timely
embedded
Slide 5
Make the plan ambitious
All plans need to be realistic.
But, they need to be ambitious.
Giving people examples of the
goals will impact performance.
"In this experiment, do you
think you will be able to do
(MORE THAN, LESS THAN, or
EQUAL TO) 4 or 18 of the
anagrams?”
Target they gave themselves
It’s better to have a target that is
believed to be achievable rather
than a large one.
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Anchor of 4 Anchor of No Anchor
18
Source: Cervone & Peake 1986
Slide 6
Make the plan ambitious
This shows that goals should be
ambitious and aspirational.
Number of Attempts on the Tasks
35
30
Setting the low goal made people
less ambitious and it made
people less motivated
25
20
15
We do not want to stop
customers from doing all they can
by setting low targets.
10
5
0
Anchor of 4
Anchor of 18
Source: Cervone & Peake 1986
Slide 7
No Anchor
How this fits with conditionality is
important and will be discussed
later.
Priorities first
Setting several plans at the same time requires a lot of effort, reducing
your ability to complete them
Attack the most critical steps first - rather than trying (and failing) to
achieve goals in multiple fields
Looking for work is a long
journey and there is no
journey that everyone can
take to find employment
Slide 8
It can be as difficult to get
someone to think about
looking for employment as it
can to get them from
thinking about employment
to having a job
Attack the steps that you
and your claimant think are
the more important part
first. This could be having a
good CV or learning to set
an early alarm to start your
job search.
To change behaviour,
Plans
should be…
make it:
 Ambitious
 Easy
Behavioural
 Challenging, with
Attractive
contingencies
 Social
Detailed
 Evidence
Timely
embedded
Slide 9
What is the behaviour?
Goal
Behaviour
Finding a vacancy
Logging into Universal Jobmatch on a library
computer and searching
Having a good CV
Adding your three top skills to the top of your
CV
Understanding the local
labour market
Researching transport links to nearby towns
Selling yourself
Talking to employers and thinking about the
specific things you are going to say
Slide 10
How does this fit with the Claimant Commitment?
Claimant
Commitment
My Work Plan
“I will find retail vacancies that I
can apply for.”
“I will log onto Reed and search for retail vacancies. I will
do this after I have come back from taking my children to
school. I will bring printouts of all the job vacancies I can
find and bring them up to show my adviser, Steve.”
“I will find retail vacancies that I
can apply for.”
“I will collect all three local newspapers from the
newsagent down the street after breakfast and find all
the job vacancies that I can apply for. I will bring the
newspapers in to show my coach, Alice, and we will
discuss how I can apply for them.”
Slide 11
To change behaviour,
Plans
should be…
make it:
 Ambitious
 Easy
Behavioural
 Challenging, with
Attractive
contingencies
 Social
Detailed
 Evidence
Timely
embedded
Slide 12
Challenging
Use Behavioural Experiments to
challenge customers’
assumptions about their job
search.
Their purpose is to:
1. Test the validity of
people’s beliefs about
themselves and the labour
market.
I am looking for a job as a
paper guillotine operator in
Hull
A what?
A paper guillotine operator.
I have been one for 35
years
What are you doing to find
work?
2. Build new constructive
beliefs.
Looking in the papers
Consider these two scenarios
I am sorry but you won’t find
that job anywhere around
here
Slide 13
Challenging
Use Behavioural Experiments to
challenge customers’
assumptions about their job
search.
Their purpose is to:
1. Test the validity of
people’s beliefs about
themselves and the labour
market.
2. Build new constructive
beliefs.
Consider these two scenarios
Slide 14
I am looking for a job as a
paper guillotine operator in
Hull
OK. We may need to find
out about opportunities in
that type of work. Perhaps
we could look at other roles
too.
I have always been a
guillotine operator, always
will be
OK, so why don’t you spend
the next two weeks trying to
find ONE guillotine operator
job in country. If you can’t,
can we start to look for work
in other sectors?
Do not say what you are NOT going to do.
3500
Three strategies:
3000
2. “If I’m sad, I will not eat
chocolate”
3. “If I’m sad and I want
chocolate, then instead
of chocolate I will eat an
apple”
Calories Consumed
1. “I will lose weight”
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Control
Slide 15
Punishment Replacement
Intention
Intention
To change behaviour,
Plans
should be…
make it:
 Ambitious
 Easy
Behavioural
 Challenging, with
Attractive
contingencies
 Social
Detailed
 Evidence
Timely
embedded
Slide 16
Make it detailed
•
•
•
Look for 5 job
vacancies in:
• Retail
• Admin
• Labouring
• Consulting
On the computers in the
Jobcentre (Not an IAD!)
In my living room after
buying the papers from
Budgens
Slide 17
•
•
•
•
What are
you going
to do?
How are
you going
to do it?
Where are
you going
to do it?
When are
you going
to do it?
•
•
•
On Universal
Jobmatch
On Reed
On Monster
In the Essex Rover
and the Daily Express
After breakfast
After football practice
After coming back from
taking the kids to
school
To change behaviour,
Plans
should be…
make it:
 Ambitious
 Easy
Behavioural
 Challenging, with
Attractive
contingencies
 Social
Detailed
 Evidence
Timely
embedded
Slide 18
To change behaviour,
Plans
should be…
make it:
 Ambitious
 Easy
Behavioural
 Challenging, with
Attractive
contingencies
 Social
Detailed
 Evidence
Timely
embedded
Slide 19
The 6 C Framework
Commit
Co-Create
Confirm
Complete
Check
Congratulate
Slide 20
Work Coach should agree with customer
what is reasonable for them to do to find
work
Consider content of plan
by collaborating with the
claimant
Understand
the claimant’s
concerns and
situation
Ensure that the claimant is
completely on board with
the co-created plan
The claimant
completes the
jointly agreed plan
The claimant’s goals are recorded in the
Claimant Commitment
The claimant handwrites the
plan into the My Work Plan
booklet
Claimant may write
new commitments
independently
At next appointment the Work Coach
checks whether the claimant has
completed their agreed activities and
signs them off
The Work Coach should give
feedback on the plans and
emphasise what has gone well
Sell the fact that
planning work
Coach ensures the
plan fulfills ABCDE
criteria
The claimant is
booked into the next
meeting
The claimant tests their own assumptions in
the plans. E.g. If claimant wants a very high
salary in the area, Work Coach can set a
task to find high paying jobs in the area.
The claimant should
bring in evidence that
they have completed
their activities
Coach should
check any
independently
made plans
If the claimant has done enough to satisfy the Work
Coach that the terms in the Claimant Commitment
have been met, but not necessarily completed all
plans, sanctions will not be necessary
How to respond to a getting an interview
Active and constructive
Passive and constructive
“That is great news! Tell me what you “That is good”
think you can bring to the job”
(Non verbal: Little or no active
(Non verbal: Maintain eye contact
expression)
and show positive emotions)
Active and destructive
Passive and destructive
“That sounds like a difficult job. There “What else are you looking for?”
will be a lot of stress involved”
(Non verbal: Little or no eye contact)
(Non verbal: Display negative
emotion, e.g. furrowed brow)
Slide 21
Claimant Commitment (JSA Regime)
Setting Objectives
1. Overall objective for claimant:
To get the claimant into as much work as they can do as quickly as possible
2.
Objectives for the Claimant Commitment:

To set requirements that, if complied with, give the claimant the best possible prospects of finding paid
work, taking into account their particular capability and circumstances. Requirements must be set in
line with legislation, guidance and agreed national / local claimant journeys.

To ensure the claimant understands the requirements they must meet and the consequences
(sanctions) of any failure to comply.

To ensure the claimant is committed to complying with their requirements and motivated to find work
Slide 22
Claimant Commitment (JSA Regime)
What is a Claimant Commitment?
A Claimant Commitment:





is agreed between the claimant and the Work Coach at the Initial Work Search Interview and reviewed
and where necessary updated at the subsequent Work Search Interviews.;
must be a stretching, helpful and practical aid to worksearch, containing achievable job goal(s), details
of the claimant’s availability for work, skills, experience, a worksearch plan that offers the best
prospects of securing employment and any actions that the Work Coach considers would help the
claimant find work
must be reviewed regularly and updated by a Work Coach in the light of experience or changes in the
claimant’s circumstances
details consequences for failing to comply with any requirement set by the claimant’s Work Coach; and
the Claimant Commitment gives important information about the claimant’s responsibilities and what
they must do to be entitled to and continue to be entitled to Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Slide 23
Claimant Commitment (JSA Regime)
The Claimant Commitment
The version you have been issued is a PDF version which will need to be saved in a shared folder using
version control.
Slide 24
Claimant Commitment (JSA Regime)
My Work Plan
To support the Work Coach and Assistant Work Coach when conducting Work Search Reviews and to
help the claimant focus on their work search a My Work Plan has been produced.
The My Work Plan will:
• help claimants demonstrate what they have been doing to look for work and improve their chances of
finding work and therefore, confirm their ongoing entitlement to Jobseeker’s Allowance
• help claimants plan, organise and structure their work search and work preparation activity
• provide a means by which claimants can record and follow-up activities, for example job applications
• provide claimants with a record of what they have achieved and a reminder of which activities in their
Claimant Commitment they still need to do; and
• provide valuable information to help the Work Coach determine what help, if any, the claimant may
need to improve their chances of getting work quickly.
Slide 25
Claimant Commitment (JSA Regime)
Objectives for monitoring and maintaining compliance
Overall objective
• To ensure the claimant complies with the requirements that give them the best chance of
finding paid work
Detailed objectives for compliance process:
The process must:
• Identify any failures to comply in a timely fashion and initiate sanction action where
appropriate
• Ensure the requirements in the Claimant Commitment remain up to date (including
reflecting any relevant changes in circumstance)
• Check if the claimant has completed all the activities set, and they have met their
requirements regardless of how long this took them.
A good process would also trigger follow-up action to:
• provide further support to those who are at risk of failing to meet requirements
• develop and strengthen a claimants work search requirements e.g. where work search
action is ineffective or where further barriers to work are identified
• maintain a claimants motivation around work search
Slide 26