UC - Changes to AET Levels 2022

3. From 26.9.22 work search and work availability requirements may not be imposed where

1. a claimant has monthly earnings from employment that are equal to, or more than, 12 hours per week at the NMW or

2. the claimant is a member of a couple and their combined earnings from employment are equal to, or more than,19 hours per week at the NMW

People earning under the threshold receive the most intensive support from our Jobcentres on a weekly or fortnightly basis, so raising the threshold means that more people will see a Work Coach for progression support on a weekly or fortnightly basis. The government will raise the AET further in January 2023 to 15 hours a week at National Living Wage for individual claimants, and 24 hours a week for couples. This change will mean approximately 120,000 more UC claimants who are in work will benefit from further support through our Jobcentres.

Our voluntary progression offer has been rolling out since April 2022. Across 10 Jobcentre Plus Districts including South Yorkshire, Cheshire, North and Mid-Wales and the Black Country Work Coaches are already offering practical and tailored progression advice on a voluntary basis to individuals who want to progress but do not know where to start – they may need a confidence boost, new skills, a qualification, specialist career advice (via the National Careers Service or the equivalent services in Scotland and Wales), or help putting together a plan for their progression. The voluntary progression offer will be available in every Jobcentre across Great Britain by the end of March 2023, ensuring that individuals who are in work will have the right support to progress.

Furthermore, and building on our voluntary offer, from September 2023 we will start to require UC claimants in the ‘Light Touch’ conditionality group to engage with our progression offer1. This will mean that over 600,000 Universal Credit claimants will be required to meet with a work coach so that they can benefit from support to increase their hours or earnings and overcome barriers to progression. This is in line with the original design of UC, which as well as supporting people to move into work, is about helping people take up more and/or better paid work.

Work Coaches will support claimants to develop tailored progression plans, setting out the steps they should take to reach their goal and the support available at every stage, which will be regularly reviewed. These plans will recognise that every individual’s progression to higher earnings will be different depending on their circumstances and aspirations.

DWP will explore if the Claimant Commitment could be used for this purpose in the future and establish if this is the best way to support claimants to achieve higher earnings.

The Conditionality Earnings Threshold (CET) ensures that claimants earning above a certain level will not be asked to carry out work-related activity. It is calculated on an individual basis by multiplying the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage by the number of a claimant’s expected hours of work. The CET for a household is a combination of the individual expected CET of each of the adults in the household (joint claimants or including an ineligible partner of a claimant) and varies between different households. In a couple household, if one of the adults has earnings above the household CET, both claimants are placed in the Working Enough regime regardless of whether they are both working or not.