Claimant Commitment JSA Regime Slide 1 Claimant Commitment

Claimant Commitment (JSA Regime) Slide 1

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: q Ambitious q Easy Behavioural q Challenging, with Attractive contingencies q Social Detailed q Evidence Timely embedded Slide 5

Make the plan ambitious 14 It’s better to have a target that is believed to be achievable rather than a large one. 12 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 All plans need to be realistic. 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: q Ambitious q Easy Behavioural q Challenging, with Attractive contingencies q Social Detailed q 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: q Ambitious q Easy Behavioural q Challenging, with Attractive contingencies q Social Detailed q 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. 2. Build new constructive beliefs. Consider these two scenarios Slide 13 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? Looking in the papers I am sorry but you won’t find that job anywhere around here

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: 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” 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 Slide 15 Control Punishment Replacement Intention

To change behaviour, Plans should be… make it: q Ambitious q Easy Behavioural q Challenging, with Attractive contingencies q Social Detailed q 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: q Ambitious q Easy Behavioural q Challenging, with Attractive contingencies q Social Detailed q Evidence Timely embedded Slide 18

To change behaviour, Plans should be… make it: q Ambitious q Easy Behavioural q Challenging, with Attractive contingencies q Social Detailed q 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