A report by Citizens Advice (CA) released this week has revealed the grim reality behind the government’s claim that work coaches offer high-quality, tailored support to claimants. Instead, jobseekers live in fear of sanctions, whilst work coaches are too frightened to work at their local jobcentre in case they are recognised.
“Found anything yet” is a 55 page, in-depth exploration of the relationship between work coaches and universal credit (UC) claimants.
The document emphasises that the majority of work coaches are passionate about helping people, but finds that they lack the time and the training to offer meaningful support and are primarily used to monitor claimant’s compliance with their commitments in an impersonal tick box exercise.
Appointments typically last 10 minutes. They are scheduled back-to-back with no time to read a claimant’s file beforehand. Meetings are often with a different work coach, meaning claimants are required to repeat their personal stories multiple times, including details that are confidential and even traumatic. One of the claimants CA interviewed had 6 work coaches in less than a year.
Interviews are also generally in open plan offices, with little opportunity for privacy and confidentiality.
The result of not having a consistent work coach is that valuable time is wasted checking basic details and the rest spent checking whether claimants are keeping to their commitments.
Work coaches are often late because of an impossible schedule, but claimant’s who are even a minute late for an appointment know they run the risk of sanctions.
The report explains that “Some interviewees reported hostility towards claimants, amplified by the perceived lack of trust and impatience. A common sentiment was that work coaches wanted to catch people out and waited for them to make a mistake.”
One claimant told CA “I said you [the work coach] really don't seem to be on my side at all. And she said, “Well, at the Jobcentre we're not on your side.’”
Many of the jobseekers interviewed said that work coaches lack understanding of health issues and disabilities and so fail to provide tailored claimant commitments that take these into account.
“This is particularly the case for invisible illnesses, mental health problems, arthritis, recovery from surgery or diabetes. Some interviewees reported work coaches downplaying these conditions and allowing little consideration for barriers they faced.”
Instead of tailoring commitments, CA found that they are often generic and “in some cases claimant commitments are presented to claimants at their first Jobcentre visit as a non-negotiable set of conditions that need to be met, at risk of sanctions.”
These sanctions are often applied unfairly, with some claimants not given an opportunity to explain why they failed to meet a commitment.
One claimant was sanctioned for missing a phone appointment because the their phone was on silent mode. Although they explained this straight away and pointed out it was the first appointment missed in 4 years, they were still sanctioned.
Another claimant was sanctioned for being 20 minutes late for an appointment even though they explained how they had made an honest mistake and attended the next available meeting on the same day.
Because they enforce such a punitive regime, some work coaches also live in fear.
CA reported that “We spoke to a work coach who travelled for over 2 hours every day to get to work to avoid working at their local Jobcentre, out of fear of being recognised on the streets. From our 12 conversations, work coaches avoiding working locally seems to be a common phenomenon.”
CA include a total of 29 recommendations for improvements in their report. These range from improved safeguarding, smaller caseloads, private rooms, reduced use of sanctions and prompt replies to journal messages from claimants.
The chances of many of these recommendations being implemented seems slim.
You can download a copy of “Found anything yet?” from this link.
