If you receive Universal Credit, do you know what the 'light touch' category is all about?
Universal Credit is gradually replacing many benefits - consolidating payments into one monthly sum for claimants. The amount of money you get varies greatly on your circumstances and covers aspects like unemployment, carers and disability payments.
For people who are fit to work, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) places Universal Credit claimants on low incomes into groups known as 'light touch' and 'intensive work search'. The Government says: "The Administrative Earnings Threshold or AET determines which group a person is placed in based on how much they earn and therefore how much support they receive to find work and develop a career."
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The light touch approach is supposed to encourage people into work and increase their earnings as quickly as possible, reports Leicestershire Live. This is to support those in this group reach their Conditionality Earnings Threshold (CET) giving them the best chance of becoming financially independent from UC. Here is more information about the 'light touch'.
What Light Touch Universal Credit means
According to information from a Freedom of Information request published by whatdotheyknow, claimants in the Light Touch Universal Credit regime are required to: "Participate in two Work Search Interviews (by telephone, only re-arranged as face-to-face when phone contact is unsuccessful) at day one and week 8 in the regime."
There are no further mandatory requirements. Claimants are not required to attend further Work Search Reviews, and all other work-related activity is agreed as part of a voluntary action plan. Being placed in the Light Touch group of Universal Credit means the claimant still has a commitment to finding work, but they are not tailored or reviews as regularly as those in the Intensive Work Search group.
The latter group is entered into a programme which aims to enable the claimant to develop their job seeking capability, reducing dependency on their work coach whilst increasing their ability to access digital services.
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