Mandatory work placements (community benefit) - work and health programme and the youth obligation scheme

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Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

What is the precise legislation that enables mandatory community benefit work experience placements be arranged for DWP's youth obligation (YO) and work and health programme (WHP) schemes for UC, ESA and JSA claimants including any with limited capability to work?

Who will be responsible for finding placement hosts and referring claimants to start at these YO and WHP work placements?

What specific sanctions can apply for any UC, ESA and JSA claimant who refuses outright to such placements?

Yours faithfully,

Frank Zola

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Frank Zola left an annotation ()

Work and Health Programme: Workfare Rules

Chapter 5a Mandation

“27. DWP has pre-approved a list of compliance conditions for providers to use. These compliance conditions are: …Agree a date for future attendance at an appointment/placement with a third party (i.e. college, work placement, skills training course)”

Chapter 8 – Compliance Doubt, concerning benefit sanctions says

“Work placement (community benefit)
95. When a LTU participant is undertaking community benefit work placements they will have been mandated to do so using the normal mandation process. If they fail to take part in community benefit work placement you must take compliance doubt action. “
https://mrfrankzola.wordpress.com/2017/0...

Youth Obligation

DWP confirms Work Experience, Traineeships & Sector Based Work Academy now mandatory
https://mrfrankzola.wordpress.com/2017/0...

DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request.

You can expect a reply by 26th June 2017 unless I need to come back to you to clarify your request or the balance of the public interest test needs to be considered.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

DWP Strategy FoI Team

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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,
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DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Please see the attached reply to your Freedom of Information request
 
Yours sincerely
 
DWP Strategy Freedom of Information Team

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Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,

As you have failed to provide some of the information you hold with regards my request, below is a
new request for information.

In FOI 2250 reply, you said:

"Community Benefit Work Placements are not currently part of the Work and Health
Programme. "
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/4...

this response does not answer my information seeking question, that being:

"What is the precise legislation that enables mandatory community
benefit work experience placements be arranged for DWP's youth obligation
(YO) and work and health programme (WHP) schemes for UC,
ESA and JSA claimants including any with limited capability to work? "
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/m...

Key words of my original request "precise legislation" and "enables"

My question was not about whether Community Benefit Work Placements are currently in use, but
what "precise legislation" "enables" the use of such placements within the planned Work and Health
Programme.

Please provide details of the precise legislation that enables mandatory community
benefit work experience placements be arranged for the work and health programme (WHP) schemes for UC, ESA and JSA claimants including any with limited capability to work.

You must hold the information requested as in your WHP provider guidance chapters Chapter 5a Mandation and Chapter 8 – Compliance Doubt, concerning benefit sanctions, say:

Chapter 5a Mandation

“27. DWP has pre-approved a list of compliance conditions
for providers to use. These compliance conditions are: …
Agree a date for future attendance at an appointment/placement
with a third party (i.e. college, work placement, skills training course)”

Chapter 8 – Compliance Doubt, concerning benefit sanctions says

“Work placement (community benefit)
95. When a LTU participant is undertaking community benefit work placements
they will have been mandated to do so using the normal mandation process.
If they fail to take part in community benefit work placement you must
take compliance doubt action. “
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/4...

As such, legislation must exist that "enables" Chapter 5a and Chapter 8 to have been written? Therefore
what is the precise legislation that "enables" WHP mandatory community benefit work experience placements mentioned in Chapter 5a and Chapter 8 with regards UC, ESA and JSA claimants including any with limited capability to work?

In a more general sense, what precise legislation enables mandatory community benefit work experience placements to be arranged for UC, ESA and JSA claimants including any with limited capability to work? This part of my information request does not require the names of any specific DWP back-to-work (b2w) scheme as I understand there is no need for any b2w scheme to be named in legislation to use mandatory no wage work placements?

Yours sincerely,

Frank Zola

DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request.

You can expect a reply by 20 July 2017 unless I need to come back to you to clarify your request or the balance of the public interest test needs to be considered.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

DWP Strategy FoI Team

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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,
Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
www.ico.org.uk/Global/contact_us or telephone 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745

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DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

Dear Mr Zola

 

RE: IR 358

 

Further to our email below, ref. 2572, your request is now being treated
as an Internal Review ref. IR 358 reviewing your original FoI ref. 2250.

 

Please note that it is our internal target to answer reviews within 20
working days unless I need to come back to you to clarify your request, or
the balance of the public interest test needs to be considered which we
will keep you informed about.

 

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the
reference number above (IR 358). Please accept our apologies for the delay
in responding.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

DWP Strategy FoI Team

 

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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, Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any
review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this
letter. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision.
Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have
exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can
be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF

www.ico.org.uk/Global/contact_us  or telephone 0303 123 1113 or 01625
545745          

 

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Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,

In you reply today, you say "Further to our email below, ref. 2572, your request is now being treated
as an Internal Review ref. IR 358 reviewing your original FoI ref. 2250."
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/m...

You are forgetting that in my follow up reply of 22 June 2017, I also requested new information. As such you are required to reply to my request for internal review and supply the new information requested within 20 days of 22 June 2017, which by my estimate is today at least.

As such I now make a new request for an internal review for your failure to reply to my new information request of 22 June 2017 https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/m... .

Yours sincerely,

Frank Zola

Dear DWP freedom-of-information-requests,

When will you reply to or acknowledge this reply:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/m...

Yours sincerely,

Frank Zola

Frank Zola left an annotation ()

Frank Zola left an annotation ()

Complaint lodged with ICO about DWP not responding to Internal Review request and related new information request https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/ema...

DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Please accept our apologies for the delay and see the attached reply to your Freedom of Information request.
 

Yours sincerely
 
DWP Strategy FoI Team

J Roberts left an annotation ()

"Although claimants on the Work Programme may be offered work experience placements that are of benefit to the community, this is not the case for the Work and Health Programme (‘WHP’). Legislation necessary to allow certain participants to be mandated to work experience once the WHP contracts commence has not been enacted and is not planned. "

Not enacted and not planned. Do the Work and Health coaches, or whatever they are called, know this?

D .Evans left an annotation ()

The Work and Health Programme Guidance posted on refuted@twitter on the 20/11/17 still states that community benefit work placements can still be a mandatory requirement.( Chapter 3C paragraph 5)