Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

The legislation for JSA claimants to be mandated onto Restart is the JSA (Schemes for Assisting Persons to Obtain Employment) Regulations 2013 (SAPOE).

Please direct me to the legislation that states neither the DWP nor the provider is required to issue a Regulation 5 notice with a start date on it before mandating JSA claimants into participating in a 3 way call with a SAPOE provider, to take place in a job centre during a work search review, and if they do not, that they will be sanctioned.

Please direct me to the legislation concerning a work coach being able to mandate a claimant into giving personal and private information (such as NI number, address, DOB, address etc) out loud over the phone, in public, to a provider during a work search review in a job centre. Any need for the provider to confirm they are speaking to the right claimant does not apply when the work coach is present.

Please forward the Restart "pre-referral" "warm handover call" EA 2010 exception clause.

Please direct me to the legislation that states a work coach can backdate a Regulation 5 notice to cover their mandation of the warm handover call, after the fact.

Please direct me to the information that proves the DWP has the facility for linking an ex-JSA non-UC claimant to the UC HMRC RTE data following that claimant leaving benefit and Restart.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

T Dawson

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Thank you for your response.

In regard to your request for clarification on "Please forward the Restart "pre-referral" "warm handover call" EA 2010 exception clause" - I apologise for not making this request clearer. I do not know if the DWP is using an exception or not for the warm handover being by phone call ONLY or where that information might be located.

Overall, I am seeking information to confirm that the Restart warm handover procedure is a pre-selection interview, similar in nature to the old Mandatory Work Scheme. There is no clear information about what the basis of the new JSA596 mandation letter is at a time when a referral has not yet been sent to the provider. There is no clear information for JSA claimants why the provider is allowed to contact a claimant by phone ONLY, prior to having a live contract for that claimant. I realise this request is for clarification of s17A in regard to Restart, but the warm handover call prior to a referral being sent to the provider has caused a lot of confusion for thousands of JSA claimants due to lack of information about it from the DWP.

"Pre-selection interview
34770 The informal pre-selection discussion with the advisor (work coach) does not form part of the mandatory work scheme1 as notified under relevant legislation2. A sanction will only be appropriate once the claimant has been offered a placement and has been notified of their requirement to participate in the scheme and the claimant fails to participate in the scheme without good reason.

Note: The pre-selection interview is a normal advisor interview to discuss further case management and a sanction would be considered under the normal JSA rules for refusal or failure to carry out any reasonable JSD (see DMG 34901) or failed to participate in an interview rules (see DMG 34831) if appropriate in the circumstances.
1 JS Act 95, s 17A; 2 JSA (MWA Scheme) Regs, reg 4"

Can you please confirm that the warm handover call for JSA claimants is a pre-selection interview?

Yours faithfully,

T Dawson