Recommendation 9

Work coaches in jobcentres play a critical role working directly with Universal Credit claimants to identify their needs and provide support. In our July 2025 report on Jobcentres, we highlighted that the Department had not had enough work coaches to meet the need for support. We noted that 57% of jobcentres had used the Department’s ‘local flexibility framework’ which set out measures that jobcentres could implement to reduce the support they provide for claimants when the caseload of their work coaches became too high. We concluded that the Department seemed complacent about the impact that this reduction in work coach support might have on claimants. We recommended that the Department should evaluate the impact on claimants of jobcentres implementing measures from its local flexibility framework, and share the results with us, before making any of the measures permanent.16 13 Q 18 14 Q 23 15 Qq 17, 22-24, 74 16 Committee of Public Accounts, Jobcentres, Thirty-Sixth Report of Session 2024–25, HC 823, 2 July 2025, pp 3-4 and 11 9