× Search rightsnet
Search options

Where

Benefit

Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction

From

to

Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Universal credit administration  →  Thread

UC pack for new claimants

Daphne
Administrator

rightsnet writer / editor

Send message

Total Posts: 3537

Joined: 14 March 2014

Attached is the ‘pack’ that is provided to new UC claimants - the UC Welcome Guide - we requested a copy via operational stakeholders.

The following is the guidance for staff on issue of the pack -

Knowledge Management

Once a claim has been received an Account Developer will make contact with the claimant via telephony.

Claimant/partner has an email address
The DWP Account Developer (AD) must confirm the claimants email address, to check it matches the one held on the system. The AD must then inform the claimant (and partner if appropriate) that they will receive an email to confirm their appointment and a Welcome Guide attachment.
The AD must send the claimant an email which includes the Welcome Guide attachment. The email must be issued from the Shared Inbox. The AD completes the email with the relevant details, including the appointment time to reflect the time the claimant must arrive to attend the non-repudiation appointment. For example if the appointment is 10.00am the AD completes the time as 09.45am for a single claimant or 09.35am for a joint claim.

Claimant doesn’t have an email address
The AD sends the claimant a SMS text confirming the appointment details, using the SMS Existing Text Reference ISW3.
The AD must remember to take account of the appointment and reflect this on the SMS text as in the example above.
Wrap up call.

Part of the process for the AD is to cover basic Personal Budgeting Support (PBS) information on the phone, and then our Staff / Work Coaches discuss PBS in more detail face to face.

When the claimant attends the Job centre for their appointment the issue around budgeting advance is covered and a printed copy of the welcome pack is issued to the claimant.  The interview is completed within 5 days of the claim being taken unless the claimant can’t be reached using the telephone number they supplied then a letter would be issued with the appointment details.

File Attachments

Andrew Dutton
forum member

Welfare rights service - Derbyshire County Council

Send message

Total Posts: 1955

Joined: 12 October 2012

‘Non-repudiation appointment’

???

Wot????

Confirmation too that they want photo ID. Could be a problem for some people.

Andrew Dutton
forum member

Welfare rights service - Derbyshire County Council

Send message

Total Posts: 1955

Joined: 12 October 2012

I had also understood that the pack would mention Short Term Benefit Advances - it doesn’t much except on page 5 about help in the first three weeks.:

‘For some people, waiting five weeks to
get their first payment will be difficult.
Support may be available, within the
first three weeks, if you find yourself
in this position.’

And what is that help? Stampede for the local discretionary funds or food banks?

I assume JC+ will try to cover STBA in the first interview - but what if the prevuiouis practice of delicately not mentioning them carries on?

And what happened to this?:

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/welfare-rights/news/item/iain-duncan-smith-announces-new-measures-to-highlight-short-term-benefit-ad

andyrichards
forum member

City services - Brighton and Hove City Council

Send message

Total Posts: 204

Joined: 3 January 2013

“an Account Developer will make contact with the claimant via telephony…..”

or

“an Account Developer will phone the claimant”, in plain English…...

Ben E Fitz
forum member

Welfare Benefits Caseworker, Manchester CAB Manchester

Send message

Total Posts: 162

Joined: 17 June 2010

Someone at the DWP appears to have swallowed a dictionary!

Is all this jargon and management ***** really necessary or informative?

[ Edited: 3 Mar 2015 at 01:50 pm by shawn mach ]
Edmund Shepherd
forum member

Tenancy Income, Royal Borough of Greenwich, London

Send message

Total Posts: 508

Joined: 4 December 2013

“Non-repudiation”. “Account Developer”. “Telephony”. Why are these terms getting as far as publication?

andyrichards
forum member

City services - Brighton and Hove City Council

Send message

Total Posts: 204

Joined: 3 January 2013

To be fair, these are staff instructions, which may be perfectly clear to their intended audience, but there’s still some amazingly clunky language in there!

Glenys
forum member

Housing Systems, Leeds

Send message

Total Posts: 206

Joined: 23 June 2010

The pack says the claimant needs to bring:
” One item of ID containing your photo
- your UK Passport. If you don’t have
one, your UK driving licence (if it has a
photo).”

But doesn’t go on to say what to do if the claimant has neither. Has anyone known a claimant experience any difficulties with this?

Gareth Morgan
forum member

CEO, Ferret, Cardiff

Send message

Total Posts: 1995

Joined: 16 June 2010

From this month, Universal Credit claimants are meant to start using ‘Verify’, the commercial identity assertion process.  The website says “You will need your mobile phone”.

Glenys
forum member

Housing Systems, Leeds

Send message

Total Posts: 206

Joined: 23 June 2010

Hi Gareth, hope you are well.
Gosh- hadn’t realised it was from this month already. Lots of changes at the moment! So what happens if they don’t have a driving licence OR a passport OR a mobile phone!?
Can you point us in the direction of the regs or guidance that mentions Verify starting this month? It seems to have passed me by.

Claire Hodgson
forum member

PI Team, BHP Law, Durham

Send message

Total Posts: 165

Joined: 17 October 2013

Gareth Morgan - 01 March 2015 02:06 PM

The website says “You will need your mobile phone”.

and there are still people who don’t have a mobile phone (not many, i don’t suppose, but there will be a fair few nationwide).

 

Jon (CANY)
forum member

Welfare benefits - Craven CAB, North Yorkshire

Send message

Total Posts: 1362

Joined: 16 June 2010

The timetable here for the Verify roll-out still says:

  Universal Credit digital service trial Due to connect by March 2015

However, all the services already “connected” are listed as either in beta, or in ‘private beta’, which might suggest it won’t be a big-bang switch-on??

The general info put out about Verify suggests that email or landline will/might be an alternative to mobile phone (but, who knows if this will happen in practice?):
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/introducing-govuk-verify/introducing-govuk-verify

When you need to prove who you are in order to access a service on GOV.UK, you can choose who you’d like to verify you from a list of certified companies.

The company performs some checks before verifying your identity to GOV.UK, such as questions only you know the answer to. You’ll also be asked to enter a code you receive on your mobile phone, by email, or through a call to your landline. This is known as 2-factor authentication.

Verifying your identity for the first time usually takes 10 minutes and is completely online.

Once you’ve verified your identity, it’s fast and simple to use the same company every time you need to access a service on GOV.UK.

It sounds like two-factor authentication will only be needed for the initial registration, not every contact ..?

——-
[editing to add: I note that the text of the page I quoted above has now changed, to remove the reference to landline or email as alternatives to mobile for receiving the authentication code. They’ve also changed the expected time to initially verify from 10 minutes to 15 minutes. I guess it’s just too early in the roll-out to get a picture of what this process will actually look for a UC claimant ...]

[ Edited: 9 Apr 2015 at 05:34 pm by Jon (CANY) ]
Gareth Morgan
forum member

CEO, Ferret, Cardiff

Send message

Total Posts: 1995

Joined: 16 June 2010

Yes, the update to Verify that came out about a week ago added “digital service trial” to the Universal Credit entry.  The Verify site only lists mobile phones as being needed; no mention of alternatives.

Daphne
Administrator

rightsnet writer / editor

Send message

Total Posts: 3537

Joined: 14 March 2014

And according to HB direct today - http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/welfare-rights/news/item/existing-benefit-loans-and-debts-to-be-migrated-to-universal-credit-live-se - the assumption is that the current ‘live service’ claims aren’t going to be moved to the digital service until end of roll-out in 2018/19 so may be a while before this impacts - just the little area in Sutton at the moment which is trialling the digital service.