How do the Universal Credit interviews work

Casey1908

Hi, I might have to make a claim for UC in a couple of months time, I have never been on it.  How does it work, ll there be one initial interview at the local jobcentre?  And then after that, do you have to go there every two weeks to sign on, I remember, years ago that was what you had to do?  I also would like to know how often you are in contact with your Coach and how much are you pressurised applying for jobs, which are not in your field and how often?  I will be genuinely looking for a full time job, but remember that years ago, they put quite a lot of pressure on me after a while and this was very unpleasant, as I was really looking for work, but could not magically come up with a job as they hoped me to.  Any info would be very appreciated.

poppy12345

Casey1908 said:

Hi, I might have to make a claim for UC in a couple of months time, I have never been on it.  How does it work, ll there be one initial interview at the local jobcentre?  And then after that, do you have to go there every two weeks to sign on, I remember, years ago that was what you had to do?  I also would like to know how often you are in contact with your Coach and how much are you pressurised applying for jobs, which are not in your field and how often?  I will be genuinely looking for a full time job, but remember that years ago, they put quite a lot of pressure on me after a while and this was very unpleasant, as I was really looking for work, but could not magically come up with a job as they hoped me to.  Any info would be very appreciated.

It's very similar to the old JSA. What is expected of you will depend on your circumstances. Once you've claimed you will have to agree to your claimant commitment. How often you'll need to attend appointments at your local JCP will depend on your circumstances.

Unlike the old JSA, UC is a digital claim and all done online through your journal, apart from the appointments at the JCP of course. Once you find work, you will need to report the changes onto your journal. Whether you'll be entitled to anything once you start working will depend on your circumstances. UC is based on earnings recieved during your assessment period.

Lots more information here in these links. https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Universal-Credit/Claimant-Commitment-Conditionality#guide-content

https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit

huckster

If you have a career history of working in a specialised field, you can ask for period of up to 13 weeks to be applied to your claimant commitment, where your work search and job applications are limited to this specialised work.

Depending on where people live, they do appear to be finding jobs at the moment. But flexibility is the key, in regard to salary expectation, job description preferences and location of the work i.e. a longer commute may be required.

When you know the date your current job will end, I would suggest that you contact recruitment agencies that work with employers in the sector you are interested in.  Do some research into recruitment agencies as there are many agencies that conduct mostly speculative approaches to employers and are not contracted to employers to find candidates.  

If you use Indeed, Total Jobs, Monster etc, these can attract hundreds of jobs applications in a week. If you don't apply on the same day as job is advertised or next day at the latest, you will be lucky to progress to next stage of employers recruitment process.  This may depend on how specialised the role is, so don't be put off applying a bit later.  Make sure you have a great covering letter and an up to date CV's.  Tailor CV and covering letter to highlight specific skills/experience employers have mentioned in job advert.

The job centre process is as easy as you make it. If you are organised in your work search and applications approach, providing information on your UC claim online, this will enable the Work Coach to be more flexible with appointments. They might be able to deal with you digitally, with messages via the UC journal System. Or they might hold short telephone appointments to check progress.  Where someone is not providing the Job Centre with much information on how they are  going about finding work, this will mean more face to face appointments in the Job Centre. When you make the claim, the first couple of appointments will be in the Job Centre, there after it is about how confident the Work Coach is about the process and commitment to finding work.

pmduk

Additionally, I'd consider leaving making your claim until the day after you receive your last payment from your employer in order for it not to be taken into account during the relevant assessment period.