Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 13
13
Paragraph: 56
Appropriate and clear guidance to Jobcentre Plus work coaches is vital, given pre-pandemic research which...
Recommendation
Appropriate and clear guidance to Jobcentre Plus work coaches is vital, given pre-pandemic research which found that mothers subject to Universal Credit conditionality felt that their caring responsibilities were disregarded. We were unable to find specific guidance to work coaches on emergency childcare easements, beyond the very general guidance in the entirely inadequate Equality Impact Assessment of the decision to reinstate conditionality. We recommend the DWP provide such guidance to us in response to this Report and to work coaches as a matter of urgency.
Paragraph Reference:
56
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
Reject. DWP has specific easements in place to deal with emergency childcare situations and this information is available to all Work Coaches in the Universal Learning intranet site which provides guidance to all staff. Work coaches receive extensive training and support to help them identify and apply these easements where they are needed. This is supported by resources such as the District Provision Tool and Complex Needs Toolkits, both of which are resources that allow work coaches (and other frontline staff) to identify and signpost to local services offering the type of support required by an individual claimant. There are, in addition, a suite of Bite Size learning products to consolidate their learning which they can access at any time through Universal Learning. The DWP publishes its UC guidance library into the House of Commons’ Library each year—most recently in October 2020. https://depositedpapers.parliament.uk/ depositedpaper/2282591/files