Guidance

Chapter 2b : Participant Identification, Eligibility and Referral – WHP Pioneer

Updated 23 December 2024

Please note: Please follow the processes outlined in Chapter 2 Participant identification, eligibility and referral for WHP Core.

Please note: There are no ESF guidelines within this chapter.

You are expected to continue to complete and to share Good News Stories with your Performance Manager as part of your contract with DWP.

Introduction – Eligibility and Suitability

1. All Participants must meet the following criteria to be eligible and suitable for Work and Health Programme Pioneer (WHP Pioneer).

To be eligible all Participants must:

• have the right to reside and enter employment in England or Wales
• have recourse to public funds
• be of working age (no upper age limit)
• be in one of the eligible categories:
  • have a disability as defined in the Equality Act 2010 or
  • be in one of the Early Access Disadvantaged Groups
• not be on any other DWP contracted provision
• not have previously started or completed WHP or WHP Pioneer
• not already have a job offer or be about to start work
• not in any type of paid employment including zero hour contracts/self-employment

2. The potential participant is only required to have either a disability or be part of an Early Access Group to participate in the provision. They do not need to be in both.

Please note: If the claimant is registered as self-employed with HMRC, they do not need to de-register to participate in WHP Pioneer, however, they must not be earning an income at the point of referral.

If an individual has been on JETS they can go on WHP Pioneer.

To be suitable Participants:

• can be helped, by the offer
• if relevant, have already been helped by Jobcentre Plus with their core job search activity. Please note: this may not be deemed applicable for Potential Participants who are not in receipt of Job Centre Plus support
• need more support than can be provided within the standard Jobcentre Plus offer (or through other available services and provision) Please note: this may not be deemed applicable for Potential Participants who are not in receipt of Job Centre Plus support; and,
• have committed to the goal of finding employment within one year.

Please note: If the potential Participant is close to the job market and does not need support to secure employment, they will not be suitable.

What is Working Age?

3. Young people in England must continue in education or training until their 18th birthday. Young people do not have to stay in school; they can choose one of the following options post-16:

• full-time education, such as school, college, or home education
• an apprenticeship
• part-time education or training if they are employed, self-employed or volunteering full-time (which is defined as 20 hours or more a week). WHP Pioneer is NOT classed as a training provider in this context.

4. In Wales young people can leave school on the last Friday in June, as long as they are 16 by the end of that school year’s summer holidays.

Please note: There is no upper age limit.

Resident in England and Wales

5. People currently legally living in England or Wales - UK passport holders (or eligible to hold UK passport); foreign passport holders as long as there is an endorsement in their passport allowing them to undertake paid employment – that is there are no employment restrictions/prohibitions; holders of EU passports (subject to any endorsement prohibiting them from working in the UK). DWP reserves the right to amend these definitions following the UK leaving the European Union.

Recourse to Public Funds

6. In order to participate in WHP Pioneer a potential Participant must have the right to live and work in the UK and must also have recourse to public funds. If a potential Participant has “no recourse to public funds” they aren’t eligible for WHP Pioneer.

Please note: When checking a potential Participant’s basic eligibility, if the potential Participant does not have a British Birth Certificate or British Passport, their visa or biometric residence permit should be checked to establish that the potential Participant has recourse to public funds.

Work and Health Programme Pioneer provision eligibility, evidence requirements and initial activity

7. To be eligible and suitable for WHP Pioneer all Participants must meet the criteria as outlined in the eligibilty and suitability section.

8. For Participants in receipt of benefit a referral from DWP can be considered as confirmation that they have the right to work and reside in the UK.

9. For potential Participants for whom you complete a WHPSO1 Signposting referral form, it is your responsibility to gather and retain evidence of right to work and reside in the UK and their recourse to public funds. The submission of the WHPSO1 form will be taken as confirmation that you have performed the checks relating to the right to work and reside in the UK and recourse to public funds. The form will be sent by you to a to a designated Jobcentre Plus email inbox, the address of which has been provided to you by DWP.

10. From January 1st 2021, European Economic Area (EEA) nationals already in the UK must meet one of the following conditions:

• hold settled status granted under the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• hold pre-settled status granted under the EUSS

11. EEA nationals arriving in the UK from the 1st January 2021 must hold leave to remain with permission to work granted under the new Points Based Immigration system to be eligible for the Work and Health Programme.

12. EEA nationals and their family members who are lawfully resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 (the end of the transition period) but have yet to apply for status under the EUSS, will have their rights protected during the grace period which ends on 30 June 2021 (and until the final determination of any EUSS application made by that date). They will therefore be eligible for the Work and Health Programme.

13. These customers are identified as a non-benefit customer at referral.

Please note: You should not keep copies of identification for example passports, birth certificates. You should note the reference/serial number of these documents and hand them back to the potential Participant. All other evidence should be copied and retained if the individual starts on the programme.

Participant eligibility and entry points

14. For WHP Pioneer eligible potential Participants will be economically inactive. Inactive customers will be defined as customers who are not in Universal Credit intensive Work Search Regime or in receipt of JSA at point of referral. The following will therefore qualify:

• Universal Credit - Work Preparation
• Universal Credit – Work Focused Interview Only
• Universal Credit – No Work-Related Requirements
• Universal Credit – Light Touch Out of Work
• Universal Credit – Conditionality Unknown
• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Employment and Support Allowance Contributory (ESAC)
• Incapacity Benefit (IB)
• Income Support (IS)
• Passport Incapacity Benefit (PIB)
• Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA)
• allowance payments
• not in receipt of any “out of work” benefit

This list is not exhaustive.

Please note: For Participants in the Universal Credit Intensive Work Search Regime or in receipt of JSA, please refer to Chapter 2.

15. Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches will use their expertise and skills to perform the key role of identifying eligible Participants from the target groups to participate in WHP Pioneer and then engaging them to access the provision. For WHP Pioneer the majority of referrals will be made via signposting route by Providers. Jobcentre Plus, will continue to be the final decision maker for determining if an individual is eligible and should be referred to WHP Pioneer.

Compliance with Legislation

16. To ensure you compliance with the WHP contract, for example to enable communication with Participants who do not speak English as a first language, or who are deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment; and where the supplier is operating in an area with a high minority ethnic population, materials in the appropriate ethnic minority language must be made available on request. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes translation services.

Participants with Disabilities

17. Participants who have a disability or disabilities, as defined by the Equality Act 2010, can be referred by DWP to the Contractor on a voluntary basis at the most appropriate time when they meet the eligibility and suitability criteria.

18. For further information on eligibility and suitability please see the above section on eligibility and suitability.

Please note: For Participants with a disability, capacity to participate for any minimum number of hours per week/month will not form part of the decision to refer as there are no minimum hours of support/participation in WHP Pioneer.

19. Participants with disabilities will be referred on LMS/Find and Refer using the opportunity type Pioneer WHP Disability Condition and Pioneer WHP Minister for WHP Pioneer (please see Annex 1).

20. Providers should note that there are Legal requirements for Participants with Autistic Spectrum Conditions; these are detailed at Annex 1.

Early Access Disadvantaged Groups

21. Early Access to WHP Pioneer will also be available to a number of disadvantaged groups (see paragraph 24 below). These are groups who may need additional support to move into employment and supporting these groups is a policy priority for DWP. Allowing early access to WHP Pioneer will help provide support at the right time for these groups.

22. Referrals for these groups will be at the discretion of DWP, at the most appropriate time on a targeted voluntary basis, when the judgement of the Work Coach/Contractor is that the Participant would benefit from early access to the programme and the following criteria are met.

23. The Jobcentre Plus Work Coach/Contractor will use the criteria outlined in the eligibility and suitability section to decide if the Participant is eligible and suitable.

24. The Early Access Groups are set out below. If other groups are identified as policy priorities for the DWP then they may be added to the list set out below:

• an ex-offender (someone who has completed a custodial sentence or a community sentence), or offender (someone who is serving a community sentence)
• a carer
• an ex-carer
• a homeless person
• a former member of Her Majesty’s (HM) Armed Forces
• a member of the HM Armed Forces reserves
• a partner of current or former Armed Forces personnel
• a person for whom a drug/alcohol dependency (including a history of) presents a significant barrier to employment
• a care leaver
• refugee
• young people identified as being involved or at risk of being involved in gangs or serious violence
• victims of domestic violence
• Afghan Resettlers
• Ukrainian Evacuees

25. These Participants will be referred on LMS/Find and Refer using the opportunity type Pioneer Early Access and Pioneer Minister Early Access (please see Annex 1).

Circumstances where Voluntary Participants become Long Term Unemployed Participants

26. Participants will be deemed to be Long Term Unemployed when they reach the following point in their benefit claim:

• JSA Participants at 24 months including linking periods
• UC Participants who start in the Intensive Work Search Regime (IWS) and are in IWS Regime when they reach 24 months discounting change of circumstances within the 24-month period and
• Participants migrated to Universal Credit Full Service (UCFS) from legacy benefits will be considered when their time on legacy including linking rules and their time in the IWS Regime totals 24 months.

27. When a voluntary Participant in receipt of benefit reaches the 24-month unemployed stage and becomes Long Tern Unemployed (LTU) their participation will remain voluntary unless they disengage from the programme.

28. If the Participant has disengaged, their Work Coach will explain to them that they are now required to participate on WHP Pioneer for their remaining balance of time and will issue a revised mandatory referral letter to them and signpost them back to you. You will be notified of this change on a CEPD1 or UC78e change of circumstances form.

29. The Work Coach will also consider whether a Participant should be exempt from WHP or whether participation should be deferred.

30. Further information can be found in Chapter 10 of the WHP Provider Guidance Change of Circumstances and Notifications

Please note: Entry to WHP Pioneer is for people defined as ‘economically inactive’, therefore should a Participant have a Change in Circumstances which changes their benefit regime, the above may apply.

Signposting Organisations

31. In order to make WHP Pioneer accessible to all eligible individuals, including those who are not regular customers of Jobcentre Plus, DWP Signposting Organisations (SOs) will be able to signpost individuals that they think will benefit from WHP Pioneer to DWP. However, please note the final decision regarding a referral to WHP Pioneer will remain with DWP. For WHP Pioneer the majority of referrals will be made via this route by Providers.

Should you require a copy of any of the forms mentioned in this chapter, please email: WHP.ENQUIRIES@DWP.GOV.UK