Recommendation 2

The Department does not have assurance that shortening the first meeting a Universal Credit claimant has with a work coach to 30 minutes will not adversely affect the support it provides. We reported previously that 57% of jobcentres had used the Department’s ‘local flexibility framework’ which set out measures that jobcentres could implement when the caseload of their work coaches became too high. In June 2025, the Department wrote to tell us that it had made three of the measures 3 in the framework permanent, including shortening the first meeting that claimants have with a work coach from 50 to 30 minutes. In September 2025, the Department wrote to us again and acknowledged that it lacks quantitative evidence on the impact of this change. While the Department has some feedback from frontline staff that claimants can be adequately supported within the reduced timeframe, we note that it has gathered no feedback from claimants. The Department says there is flexibility in work coaches’ schedules to allow for initial meetings to be extended if needed, or for subsequent meetings to be arranged. However, this seems to be at the discretion of individual work coaches and we fear that the bar to qualify for an extended meeting may be set too high. Without clear guidelines, claimants with more complex needs may not get the support they need. recommendation The Department should set out how it will monitor the impact of shortening the first meeting claimants have with a work coach, including how it will assess the impact on different groups of claimants. As part of its monitoring, the Department should obtain feedback from claimants.