Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department monitors or reviews the quality of entries made by work coaches in a Universal Credit claimant's journal.

Our Jobcentre teams are committed to delivering a quality service to ensure all claimants receive the best possible support to meet their individual circumstances. As part of our service delivery framework, Jobcentre Team Leaders are responsible for monitoring and assuring the quality of services provided to individual claimants through a combination of observation of interviews, feedback, coaching and appraisal. This can include a quality check of any Universal Credit journal messages written by the Work Coach undergoing the observation, as well as other channels of communication with our claimants.

Work Coaches undergo a comprehensive learning journey designed to equip them with the tools, skills and behaviours required to provide a high quality, efficient service. They receive on-going learning in their roles and have access to guidance that explains how to ensure that messages left on a claimant’s journal are clear, easy to understand and meet the right standards.