Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance her Department has issued to jobcentres on processing claimants who have moved from one job centre catchment area to another, particularly when a claimant moves to or from a universal credit full service rollout area to one that does not yet offer universal credit.

Full guidance is made available to all DWP staff on what action is required when a claimant moves to a different area. To assist with this process, claimants are made aware of what steps they need to take to ensure that there are no delays in their payments. Work coaches and colleagues in service centres work hard to ensure that any errors made are kept to a minimum and rectified promptly.

If a claimant moves out of a postcode area where Universal Credit Full Service is delivered into a postcode area where it is not, their Universal Credit Full Service claim will remain open.

Their previous office would retain ownership of their records and, in collaboration with the new site, work with the claimant to move them closer to or into work. The claim would then transfer fully when the new office the claimant is now attending begins to deliver Universal Credit Full Service.