Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of enabling travel expenses for claimants of the flexible support fund to be paid up front instead of in arrears.

Work coaches already have discretion to reimburse travel costs for jobseekers (taking into account their particular circumstances), who are asked to attend their jobcentre outside of their minimum attendance requirements.

For travel expenses for job interviews, work coaches have the discretion to pay these in advance where the claimant is unable to fund this prior to interview.