UC claim closed - help!

Pipx

I have a friend who claims UC - she is going through a very stressful time at the moment. For the past three months she has had an action in her journal ‘Because of your recent change of circumstances, you need to accept a new commitment. You can find this in your to-do list.

It is important for you to accept your new commitment by the due date ‘

She has not reported a change of circumstances, but her wages have reduced a bit so might this be the change they refer to?

This month she forgot to accept the commitments and her claim was closed 7 days later. 

Is this normal practice? Don’t they send a reminder before closing the claim?

Is there anything she can do to get UC reinstated asap?

Thanks 

NedS

Yes, it is normal practice to close a claim when a claimant fails to accept their commitments.

Accepting a commitment is a fundamental concept on UC - it's a two way contract, the claimant agrees to certain conditions in exchange for receiving payment of UC. Without accepting a commitment, there is no contract and hence there is no entitlement to receive UC.

A reminder may be sent if the agent has identified vulnerabilities or complex needs which may prevent the claimant from accepting their commitments.

She can make a new claim for UC and accept her commitments.