UCFS 13A WS
The Commitment
04: Effective
Work Related
Activities
Facilitator Led Brief
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Commitment 04
Effective Work Related Activities
Contents
Contents ......................................................................................................... 2
Effective Work Related Activities ................................................................. 3
Introduction ................................................................................................... 3
‘Required’ and ‘Voluntary’ Activities .............................................................. 5
Supporting the Claimant ............................................................................. 10
Other Considerations .................................................................................. 12
Ensuring Work Related Activities are Effective ........................................... 17
SMART ....................................................................................................... 18
Specific: ...................................................................................................... 18
Measurable ................................................................................................. 19
Achievable .................................................................................................. 20
Realistic ...................................................................................................... 20
Time bound ................................................................................................ 21
Behaviours for Quality Work Related Activity .............................................. 22
Planning Work Related Activities Effectively ............................................... 26
Reviewing Work Related Activities ............................................................. 29
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Effective Work Related Activities
Introduction
When accepting their Commitment the claimant is
committing themselves to carry out specific work related
activities.
It is important that the activities they commit to will make
good use of their time and progress them in their journey
towards finding work/sustaining work/increasing earnings.
It is also important that all work related requirements agreed
in the Commitment and fair and reasonable.
Being an independent, effective jobseeker will give the
claimant the best chance of competing in the job market and
so the best chance of securing employment.
Ask the learners to work individually or in pairs for this
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activity.
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They should use the Claimant Commitment guidance to
find examples of work preparation, work search and
other work related activities. Allow about 5 minutes for
the activity and 5 minutes to share their answers.
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Refer the learners to the Claimant Commitment
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Guidance as follows:
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Claimant Commitment
DWP Home >>Social Intranet (top right) >>
Organisation: Universal Credit >> Universal Learning >>
Claimant Commitment
They should use the following sections:
Work Preparation Activities
Work Search Activities
Other Work Related Activities and the Labour Market
regimes
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Ensure the learners are clear about the difference
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between work search and work preparation.
The purpose of work search is to obtain paid work,
more paid work or better-paid work.
Work preparation is an activity that prepares them for
work - it will not directly find a vacancy or get a job but
will better prepare them to do this, for example
preparing/updating their CV, attending an ESOL
(English for Speakers of Other Languages) course and
so on.
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‘Required’ and ‘Voluntary’ Activities
As we have discussed, it is a Universal Credit requirement
that the claimant carries out a certain amount of work related
activity every week, depending on the regime they are in.
For claimants in the All Work Related Requirements group,
for example, the default number of expected hours is 35
hours per week.
It is your responsibility to designate the agreed work related
activities as either ‘required’ or ‘voluntary’ in the Service. For
each activity you add to the Commitment you must specify
whether it is ‘preparation’, ‘search’ or ‘voluntary’. Activities
marked as ‘preparation’ and ‘search’ are required and
therefore sanctionable. ‘Voluntary’ must be selected where
no sanction is to be possible.
You must ensure activities are described accurately on the
Commitment.
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If the claimant is in the intensive work search regime
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and has been set a work search requirement, it is
always “required” and sanctionable. The activities may
be general, for example “I will look for work in the
papers/UJ/internet” or specific, for example “I will go to
my local garage and ask for work/I will apply for this
job/attend this interview”.
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Claimants outside of the Intensive work search regime
may also have work search activities set for them – but
these must always be voluntary as they are not subject
to work search requirements and they must not be
sanctioned for not completing them.
For generic work search activity – the claimant may
choose what particular activities they do to make up the
expected number of hours (or do as many
activities/hours as they reasonably could – they may
have exhausted all options available before they meet
the full number of expected hours).
If a claimant has been set a specific requirement (as
work search or work preparation) they may be able to
show “good cause” and avoid a sanction – if instead of
the set requirement they can show they found and did
something better instead – that gave them a better
chance of finding work. The work coach or decision
maker would need to consider this as part of
considering whether a doubt/sanction should be
pursued.
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It is important to stress the potential legal implications of
setting requirements incorrectly. Consider the following.
If we sanction a claimant and it turns out that the
requirement was not set correctly, for example because it
was outside the claimant’s conditionality, was not work
related or the claimant was not aware of consequences, this
could be legally challenged.
It causes obvious distress if we have withheld payment from
the claimant unnecessarily. It could lead to embarrassment
and potentially brings the department into disrepute if
challenged at Appeal.
If the claimant fails to carry out ‘required’ activities this could
result in a reduction in the payment of Universal Credit. The
claimant needs to be made aware of this from the outset.
Voluntary activities must be work related; you cannot include
activities that relate to other circumstances such as health,
for example: ‘I will continue to take my medication’.
If the claimant failed to carry out a voluntary activity, there
would be no reduction in the payment of Universal Credit.
However if they did not complete the voluntary activity they
would be expected to make up the time on other work
related activities so that they are still meeting the expected
hours of work search.
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It is important the claimant is very clear about what they
must do (‘required’ activities) and the consequences of not
doing them. They must also understand that if they do not
do what they have chosen to do (‘voluntary’ activities) that
we expect them to use that time to complete other work
related activities
How would you check the claimant understands their
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responsibilities?
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You could ask:
What must you to do in order to receive Universal
Credit? What will happen if you do not do this?
This allows the claimant to explain their understanding and
gives you the opportunity to correct any misapprehensions
while giving very clear messages about what is required.
You must make sure that the claimant knows exactly what is
expected of them from the start.
Earlier we discussed examples of work related activities.
The work related activities set out in the Commitment must
be the most effective activities which, when undertaken, give
the claimant the best possible chance of getting paid work
quickly. You must ensure that all the work related activities
set out in the Commitment are fair and reasonable for the
individual claimant.
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Ask the learners to imagine that the work related
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activities on an individual claimant’s Commitment were
being challenged in a court of law. Would they (the work
coach) be able to say that they have taken into account
all of the claimant’s individual circumstances and that
the requirements are fair and reasonable for that
claimant?
Is all relevant information recorded in order to provide
full rationale to defend the department’s actions?
Would they be able to prove that? If they have truly
considered all the circumstances and recorded all that
they have considered, then they would be able to prove
it.
Recording this information is vital. Labour Market
decisions are often overturned because the
considerations have not been documented or
documented completely.
Where could you record this information?
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In the Claimant Profile on the Service.
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Supporting the Claimant
The claimant needs to understand that meeting the work
related requirement for Universal Credit is challenging. They
have to commit to carrying out work related activities which
are appropriate to them and will progress them personally
towards work.
For some claimants this may involve a radical change in
how they prioritise their lives. They may not be used to the
level of forward planning and organisation that is required of
them under Universal Credit.
Through your discussion with the claimant, you should be
trying to find out their level of skill around looking for work,
planning etc so that you can support them to develop these
skills.
By supporting them to identify and plan their work related
activities in a joined-up way, you can encourage them to
take responsibility for looking for work in a more pro-active
way, rather them just meeting the ‘minimum requirements’.
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Facilitate a short discussion with the learners about
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how they could support the claimant to identify and plan
a joined-up series of work related activities.
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Ensure the following points are covered:
encourage the claimant to view work related activities
as something to be developed on an on-going basis,
rather than as a series of one-off activities
coach them to identify how they can develop individual
work related activities into a strategy, for example from
‘visiting local employer’ to ‘what is the purpose of the
visit?’ ‘what will you ask when you get there?’, ‘How
can you use this information?’, ‘How will you take
forward what you have learned from the activity?’ etc
make sure they can explain the purpose of the activity
- if they can explain why they are doing something it
will help them to view it as part of a meaningful
sequence of activities rather than a one-off activity that
they are doing just because it’s written on their
Commitment. For example, ‘I will look at the
recruitment section of some hotel websites to find out
what sort of jobs are available. That will help me to
decide the sort of job I want, what qualifications etc are
required and how to apply. Then I will have a better
idea of what they are looking for so that I know what
information to put in my application’
(Continued on next page)
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encourage them to build contingencies into their work
search, for example, ‘if Tesco’s aren’t recruiting, what
will you do then?
give positive feedback so that the claimant can see
that they are making progress. This will build their
confidence and help to motivate them.
when reviewing an activity, coach the claimant to
identify how useful the activity was and how they can
use the experience to improve their skills for example,
‘if you did a similar thing again, how would you do it
differently/better?’
If you think a claimant needs extra support, contact them
between meetings by telephone or via their journal to ask
about their experiences so far and coach them in how to
take their work related activities forward.
Other Considerations
Where the claimant does not have a permitted period, they
are required to look for and take any job that they are
capable of doing that pays the National Minimum Wage or
above.
Looking for any job, and accepting the first job offered, will
help the claimant back into work as quickly as possible.
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Once they are in paid work they can continue to look for
their preferred job. All elements of the claimant’s work
related activities must be realistic and achievable. You need
to consider the following:
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Show Slide 08 – Other Considerations.
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This slide is animated. Use ‘enter’ or the arrow keys to
make each requirement appear.
Capability for work - does the claimant have the relevant
qualifications, experience, skills?
Capacity for work - are there any health or social issues,
or caring responsibilities that might make it difficult to
find, obtain and retain the job in question?
Wage expectations - does the job requirement pay the
wages that the claimant is looking for and does the
claimant know how much the National Minimum Wage
is?
The local Labour Market - consideration must be given
to what jobs are available within that area. If the work
the claimant is looking for is not available within the
claimant’s travel to work area, the job requirement is not
realistic.
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Make sure that the learners are aware of the difference
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between ‘capability’ and ‘capacity’ as follows:
For the purposes of work related activity, Capability is
defined as everything from skills, qualifications,
relevant experience to ability to travel to a work
location; all the practical things that need to be in place
for an individual to perform a job successfully.
For the purposes of work related activity, Capacity is
defined as a person’s physical or mental ability to
perform a specific job. For example, a person with
limited mobility may not have the capacity to perform a
job which requires lifting. Someone with a history of
severe anxiety may not have the capacity to work in a
high stress environment.
(Reference:
‘Jobseeking Behaviour’ October 2010 Roger
James.)
By the end of the Commitment Meeting, the intention is that
the claimant is committed to complying with their work
related requirements and is motivated to find work.
When setting work search and work preparation
requirements it is also important to consider the following
further factors:
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Show Slide 09 – Further Considerations.
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This slide is animated. Use ‘enter’ or the arrow keys to
make each requirement appear.
The learners should complete the following activity in
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pairs or small groups.
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Ask the learners to reflect on the eight considerations
shown on the slide. For each one they should be able to
explain what is about and why it is important.
Allow about 15 minutes in total for discussion and
feeding back to the group.
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Use the following note to support the discussion.
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self-perception - the claimant believes that they can
work, find specific jobs, have the capability to do those
jobs, and are confident of being able to gain and keep
employment
specific job requirement -the claimant knows their job
requirements
knowledge, skills and experience - the claimant has the
knowledge, skills and experience that match their job
requirements
(Continues on next page):
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commitment to undertake work related activities - the
claimant knows how to access the resources required to
undertake sustained work related activities
demonstrating capability for a specific job - the claimant
is able to demonstrate their capability effectively to
employers
presenting themselves to an employer - the claimant is
able to present themselves effectively to potential
employers
keeping a job - the claimant could keep a job offered by
an employer
managing personal circumstances - the claimant is able
to successfully manage anything that makes it harder to
get and keep paid work.
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Ensuring Work Related Activities are Effective
Your input is vital to coach the claimant to identify what
would be an effective use of their time. For example, looking
at internet recruitment sites is a useful activity. But a
claimant could spend a whole day on a recruitment website
and genuinely feel they have done something positive yet
found no jobs to apply for.
Work related activities must be tailored to the individual
claimant to make sure they are challenging and the claimant
is capable of achieving them. Remember also that the
amount of time required to carry out a particular activity will
vary from person to person, depending on the individual’s
circumstances and capability.
Evidence confirms that if we want the claimant to be
committed to these actions they have to work this through
for themselves and they have to explain to you the
advantages and outcomes that their actions will produce.
You may need to coach the claimant to do this.
The Commitment
must be claimant led and clearly state the
actions the claimant will take to reach their job goal. You
must ensure that the work related activities in the
Commitment are SMART:
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SMART
Ask the learners if they know what SSMART stands for.
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Show Slide 10 – SMART.
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This slide is animated. Using the ‘enter’ or arrow key
once will make all the letters in the acronym ‘SMART’
appear. Use the keys again to make each word appear
separately as you take them through the following:
Put the learners in five groups. Allocate ‘Specific’ to the
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first, ‘
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Measurable’ to the second and so on. Give them
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one to two minutes to explain in detail what each one
means in terms of work related activities.
Ask them to share their findings with the whole group
and discuss. Ensure the following points are brought out
in the discussion.
Specific:
A specific goal has a much greater chance of being
accomplished than a general goal.
To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:
who: Who is involved?
what: What do I want to accomplish?
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where: Identify a location
when: Establish a timeframe
which: Identify requirements and constraints
why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of
accomplishing the goal
EXAMPLE: A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a
specific goal would say, “Join a health club and work out
three days a week.”
Measurable
Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the
achievement of each goal you set.
When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach
your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of
achievement that spurs you on to the continued effort
required to reach your goal.
To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such
as ‘How much…?’, ‘How many?’, ‘How will I know when it is
accomplished?’
For example, instead of ‘I am committed to losing weight’, try
‘I will aim to lose X number of pounds by the end of the
month’.
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Achievable
When you identify goals that are most important to you, you
begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You
develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to
reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked
opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of
your goals.
You can achieve almost any goal you set when you plan your
steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to
carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away
and out of reach eventually move closer and become
achievable, not because your goals shrink, but because you
grow and expand to match them.
When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see
yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and
personality that allow you to possess them.
Realistic
To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward
which you are both
willing and
able to work. A goal can be
both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide
just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every
goal represents substantial progress.
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A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one
because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of
the hardest jobs you ever accomplished may actually have
seemed easy simply because they were a labour of love.
Your goal is probably realistic if you truly
believe that it can
be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is
realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything
similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would
have to exist to accomplish this goal.
Time bound
A goal should be grounded within a time frame. Without a
time frame there is no sense of urgency. If you want to lose
10 pounds, when do you want to lose it by? “Some day”
won’t work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, “by
September 1st”, then you’ve set your unconscious mind into
motion to begin working on the goal.
Activities may:
be regular, for example weekly and reviewed within
work search reviews
be one-off, time bound and reviewed within work related
conversations, work search reviews or on-line
Ask if there are any questions and discuss before
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continuing.
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Behaviours for Quality Work Related Activity
When discussing work related activities with a claimant you
both need to be clear about what they will do to look for
work. This means thinking about the quality of the activity as
well as the quantity.
Looking for work is a skill and we should not assume that
our claimants have that skill. You may need to help them
develop the skill of looking for work.
Some claimants who have previously been long term
employed or who have never worked before may find it
difficult to carry out work related activities effectively. We
can support claimants to continuously assess and improve
on their work search.
From the start you need make expectations clear; the
claimants should be acting independently and their activity
should be focused on doing things that get them the best
prospects of getting a job.
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Ask the learners to work in small groups for this
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activity.
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They should note down the behaviours and skills that
claimants would need in order to look for work
effectively.
Allow about 10 minutes before bringing the group back
together to share their responses.
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Responses should include:
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effective use of time
set clear goals for themselves. There is evidence that
setting goals increases clarity of purpose (why am I
doing what I am doing (and what do I need to do in
the future?)) and the drive to gain employment
plan how, where, when they are going to complete
the activity (we will look at this in more detail in a
moment)
prioritise activities (What do they need to do first?)
(Continues on next page)
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reviewing activities:
recognising and persisting with worthwhile
activities
recognising when an activity is not productive and
stopping the activity
keep a detailed record of what they have done (which
employers have they contacted? What was the
outcome? Which jobs did they apply for? When?
How did they adapt their CV?)
prepare thoroughly, for example planning questions
in advance of visiting employers
ensure application forms/letters provide concrete
evidence of the key competencies required by each
employer
This list is not exhaustive.
What questions could you ask the claimant to support
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them in assessing the quality of their work related
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activity?
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Answers could include:
“What did you learn from visiting the website?”
“How did it help you progress your work search?”
“To what extent do you think that activity was an
effective use of your time?”
“How could you improve the way you do that?”
“How will you know if that activity has helped you?”
It is important that the claimant learns from what they have
done and acts on the lesson learned.
You can support them in this by helping them to understand:
what they have done well; and
what they could do better next time.
The focus is on recognising what is good, providing rewards
and aiming to improve the things that could be better. This
generally has a positive impact on individuals.
You will identify early on what the claimant’s strengths are
and where they need support in developing their work
search skills. Coaching techniques, praise and reassurance
will help to build their confidence.
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Planning Work Related Activities Effectively
In the previous activity we mentioned planning. It is important
that the claimant has a clear idea about how they are going
to carry out the work related activities on their Commitment.
This is a vital part of your discussion with them and will help
you identify what support they need in developing work
search skills.
Let’s think about the importance of planning.
We all have goals in life. We may want to lose weight or
learn to drive. But both of these require a great deal of effort
and will-power. However, it is human nature that we lack will-
power at times and that our self control lapses especially
when we are tired, upset or stressed.
Evidence from a number of areas suggests that people are
far more likely to achieve their goals if they make a plan for
what they will do, and how, when and where they will do it.
Making a plan and agreeing on specific activities can help
claimants to get back to work more quickly. Studies that
specifically looked at claimants found that planning increased
the number of work related activities they completed and the
number of job offers they received. (Source: Cabinet Office
Behavioural Insights Team).
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You have an important role here. You coach the claimant to
plan their activities effectively and to keep them motivated
by:
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Show Slide 11 – Planning Work Related Activities
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Effectively.
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the mouse or ‘enter’ key.
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Use the following information to expand and explain the
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information on the slide.
ask coaching questions:
where can you find out more about that job?
who could help you with that?
how could you explain your suitability for that
job?
when could you do that?
encourage them to build the activity into part of their
daily routine. For example, ‘I’ll check the on-line
agencies I am registered with every morning after I’ve
walked the dog’. This makes it more likely that they will
do it because it will become part of their routine
(Continued on next page)
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encourage the claimant to allocate a specific convenient
time to do a particular activity. For example, the
claimant’s child is at nursery from 10am – 12 every day.
The claimant could designate that time to a specific
work related activity
ensure the claimant has ownership of the agreed plans.
Ideally you should encourage “I want…”, “I need…”, “I
must…” type declarations from the claimant, as opposed
to ‘”I agree”, “I suppose so” or “that makes sense”
link activities together. For example: “When I have
finished my job search, I will adapt my CV and covering
letter to each vacancy I have found to make sure it is
relevant.”
encourage them to think of contingencies, for example
‘If my laptop breaks then I will continue to work on my
CV at the local library.’
Make sure you praise claimants for successfully completing
activities. This motivates them and builds their confidence.
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Ask the learners to work in pairs for this activity. One of
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them should think of something which they would like
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to do but have never got around to, for example learning
to play the piano or clearing out their garage. Their
partner should then help them to develop a plan to
achieve it using the techniques on the slide. Allow
about 10 minutes.
Bring the learners back together to share their
experiences and good practice from the conversation.
If there is time, they can swap roles so that they both
make a plan.
Reviewing Work Related Activities
Once the claimant has work related activities set down in the
Commitment, you will review how well they have completed
these activities at every meeting.
What is the purpose of the review?
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to ensure the claimant has met the requirements to
receive Universal Credit
to identify if any changes are required to their
Commitment
to provide support to develop / strengthen the
claimant’s work related activities
to coach the claimant in planning next steps.
to maintain the claimant’s motivation
to review the quality of their work search so far
and identify how it can be improved.
What sort of evidence can a claimant show for their
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work related activity?
Q
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Effective Work Related Activities
Answers could include:
a completed CV (if they did not have one previously)
notification of enrolment/acceptance on a course
confirmation of an application to employment agency
print outs of jobs to apply for
print outs of completed applications (or on smart
phone if emailed)
record of researching employment websites on smart
phone
This list is not exhaustive
Claimants may also tell you about some of the activities they
have carried out, which they have not got evidence for.
How could you validate these activities?
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Q
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Commitment 04
Effective Work Related Activities
By asking probing questions. For example:
who did you speak to when you cold called the
contact centre? What questions did you ask? Did
they refer you to somebody else? What additional
information did you find out?
which companies did you send your CV to? Did you
send them by post or via email? Did you send a
covering letter? What sort of acknowledgement did
you get?
when you researched the apprenticeships website,
what did you find out about requirements/application
processes/who to contact?
when you went to the jobs fair, which stalls did you
visit? Did you gather any leaflets? Were they
helpful? What further information did they provide
which would help you? How will that help you?
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Commitment 04
Effective Work Related Activities
It is important that you use the review of work related activity
to coach the claimant to:
assess the effectiveness of what they have done so far
identify how they can build on it/improve on it
address any setbacks to ensure the claimant does not
become demotivated (by focusing on the positives,
what lessons they can learn and take forward)
identify and plan effective next steps
Ask if there are any questions and discuss before
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moving on to the next part of this learning – 05: Final
Q
Discussions.
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