Guidance

Chapter 2: Participant Identification, Eligibility and Referral WHP -- Core

Updated 23 December 2024

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

ESF Requirement Changes

1. When referring to ESF Requirements within this chapter please note the following changes to ESF Requirements effective from 24 July 2023 (England)

• providers no longer need to submit or process ESF 14-20 Initial or ESF 14-20 End forms for Participants
• products can be updated to remove ESF logos. Changes to existing products and any new marketing and publicity materials should be sent to WHP.ENQUIRIES@DWP.GOV.UK for approval.
• providers should continue to use the current template for Good News Stories, until notified of amendment.
• participants you have already submitted ESF 14-20 Initial and ESF 14-20 End forms for over the lifetime of your WHP contract continue to be subject to ESF obligations. This includes Audit requirements and the ESF Document Retention Policy which at present is expected to be 2034.

In addition to the above, ESF requirements do not apply to Participants who started on or after 1 November 2022.

Please note: 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

2. All participants must meet the following criteria to be eligible and suitable for Work and Health Programme (WHP Core).

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
• have not previously started or completed WHP Core or WHP pioneer
• not already have a job offer or be about to start work
• not be in any type of paid employment, including zero hour contracts/self-employment

3. 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 Core, 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 Core

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
• need more support than can be provided within the standard Jobcentre Plus offer (or through other available services and provision); 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?

4. 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). Work and Health Programme Core is NOT classed as a training provider in this context.

5. 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

6. 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

7. In order to participate in WHP Core 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 Core.

Please note: When checking a 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 Core provision eligibility, evidence requirements and initial activity

8. To be eligible and suitable for WHP Core all Participants must meet the criteria as outlined in the eligibility and suitable section.

9. 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.

10. For potential Participants that you have identified it is your responsibility to gather and retain evidence of right to work and reside in the UK and whether they have recourse to public funds.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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. All other evidence should be copied and retained if the individual starts on the programme.

Participant eligibility and entry points

15. Prior to 13 September 2023 the majority of eligible Participants were likely to be claiming one of the benefits listed below but a small proportion of Participants may not have been in receipt of a working age benefit:

• Universal Credit (UC)
• Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) or
• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or
• Income Support (IS).

16. From 13 September 2023 for WHP Core, eligible Participants will be claiming one of the following benefits:

• Universal Credit (UC) Intensive Work Search (IWS)
• Jobseekers Allowance (JSA)

Please note: For Participants not in receipt of UC IWS or JSA please refer to Chapter 2b Participant identification, eligibility and referral -WHP Pioneer.

17. Further information regarding these benefits (for example differences between ESA Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) and ESA Support Group) can be found at the links provided above

18. 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 Core and then engaging them to access the provision. Jobcentre Plus, will continue to be the final decision maker for determining if an individual is eligible and should be referred to WHP Core.

Compliance with Legislation

19. To ensure 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

20. 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 the eligibility and suitability criteria has been met. For further information 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 Core.

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

22. Providers should note that there are Legal requirements for Participants with Autistic Spectrum Conditions; these are detailed at Chapter 2: Annex 1 Identification of candidates with Autistic Spectrum Conditions.

Early Access Disadvantaged Groups

23. Early Access to WHP Core will also be available to a number of disadvantaged groups (see paragraph 25 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 Core will help provide support at the right time for these groups.

24. 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.

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

26. 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 His 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

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

Circumstances where Voluntary Participants become Long Term Unemployed Participants

28. 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 (IWS) Regime and are in the 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 benefits including linking rules and their time in the IWS Regime totals 24 months

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

30. If the Participant has disengaged, their Work Coach will explain to them that they are now required to participate on WHP Core 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.

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

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

Signposting Organisations

33. In order to make WHP Core accessible to all eligible individuals, including those who are not regular customers of Jobcentre Plus, DWP approved Signposting Organisations (SOs) will be able to signpost individuals that they think will benefit from WHP Core to DWP. However, please note the final decision regarding a referral to WHP Core will remain with DWP.

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