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Dear Mr Jackson

I am writing in response to your further Freedom of Information request of 24 June. Please accept my apologies for the delay in replying. This was due to an administrative error. You asked the following question:-

`I would like clarification on what law states that the participant has to pay the first £4 unless you are a lone parent or on Gateway.'

There is no legislation involved in this decision. The travel contribution has been set at £4 per week since the inception of New Deal in 1998. The New Deal was designed to offer new opportunities to customers who had struggled to find their own employment after some months on benefits. It is not unreasonable to expect customers to contribute towards costs involved in returning to work, including costs associated with travelling to programmes that give them additional help. Nonetheless, to help customers, we pay a top-up towards these and other additional expense costs. That doesn't apply in Gateway because people are still on Jobseeker's Allowance at that point and no top-up payment is made. Neither does it apply to lone parents because of additional pressures on their incomes.

We need to manage the Department's expenditure in line with the resources that are allocated to us. Our arrangements for paying allowance top-ups (and for expecting customers to use part of that to cover travel costs) are part of wider policies that we have developed to ensure that all our customers have a fair deal.

Yours sincerely,

Stephanie Dickinson

Jobseekers Division

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Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email]. or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, 2^nd Floor The Adelphi, 1-11, John Adam Street, London WC2N 6HT. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

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