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Your details | Our details
Name: | | Who we are: |
Address: | | Our office: |
Postcode: | | Postcode: |
| Telephone: |
| Date: |
| Ref: | MWA UC Man 01

Gaining skills employers are looking for
Details of when your Mandatory Work Activity placement starts 
Dear      
You recently spoke with your work coach about taking part in Mandatory Work Activity placements. These will help you gain the kind of skills employers are looking for. 
We’ve arranged a placement for you with <placement host>, your work placement host. This starts on <date>. You’ll need to take part in this as it’s the first day of your Mandatory Work Activity.
Their address | | Find out more, including how you must take part to carry on getting your Universal Credit payment, by visiting www.gov.uk and searching for ‘Universal Credit back to work schemes’
Their phone number | |
What you’ll be doing there | |
When you need to be at your placement
This placement will last from <date> to <date> and will be for <number> hours each week over the next <number> weeks. The days and times you need to be at your placement are below.
Day | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4
| Start | Finish | Start | Finish | Start | Finish | Start | Finish
If you can’t take part on one of these days, for any reason, call us on <phone number>. If we agree with why you can’t be there, we can find a new date, and you won’t risk losing your Universal Credit payment. 
Taking part in your placement
The host you’ll work for during this placement will arrange for someone to meet you when you arrive on your first day. They’ll explain more about the activities you’ll be doing.
Your placement won’t guarantee you a job, but it should improve your chances of success. So it’s in your best interest to: 
•	go to the placement on the dates and times given in this letter, and do the activities we mention 
•	treat us, your work placement host, and other people on the scheme politely, fairly and considerately
•	go to meetings or take phone calls at the times we ask 
•	meet the standards of behaviour expected of anyone working at the work placement host 
If you don’t take part in the placement
If DWP decides you didn’t fully take part in your Mandatory Work Activity, and they don’t agree with your reasons, you will lose some or all of your Universal Credit. This is called a higher-level sanction. This lasts: 
•	91 days (3 months) if it’s your first one
•	182 days (6 months) if it’s your second one in the past year (but more than two weeks since you got your first one)
•	1,095 days (3 years) if you’ve had two or more similar sanctions in the past year (but it’s more than two weeks since you got your last one)
Your claimant commitment explains this in more detail. 
As well as not taking part in your Mandatory Work Activity, you can get a higher-level sanction for:
•	losing a job or losing pay through misconduct, or choosing to leave a job for no good reason
•	not applying for or accepting a paid job that your work coach tells you is available or will soon be available
If you disagree with a sanction decision
If you’re sanctioned and you think you shouldn’t have been, you can ask DWP to look at the decision again. You’ll need to do this within a month of the date of the decision letter. DWP will ask you to explain why you think the decision is wrong and show any evidence you have. 
Once they’ve looked at the decision again DWP will send you a letter with their new decision. This letter is called a Mandatory Reconsideration Notice.
If you disagree with the Mandatory Reconsideration Notice, you can appeal to a tribunal. However, you must wait for the Mandatory Reconsideration Notice before you start the appeal.
Getting extra support during a sanction
If your benefit payment is stopped, and you don’t have enough money to live on, you may be able to get a hardship payment. This is a reduced rate of Universal Credit. Call 0345 600 0723 if you’d like to find out more about hardship payments and whether you can apply. 
If you’re sanctioned, you may need to complete the remaining time on your placement. Otherwise you could be referred to Mandatory Work Activity again for another four weeks of placements.
Continuing to work with your work coach 
While on your placement, to make sure you get the right job-seeking support, you’ll still need to: 
•	meet your work coach and go to your regular work search reviews at the jobcentre
•	do the things in your claimant commitment 
•	tell us about any change of circumstances, such as a new address or bank details
Your work coach will take into account what you’re doing on any placements when agreeing what they ask you to do.
If you want to complain about us or your placement organisation
We promise to treat you fairly, but if you want to complain about us or your work placement host, please tell us by calling <phone number>. This won’t affect your Universal Credit payment.
If you’re unhappy with our response to your complaint, you can ask an organisation called the Independent Case Examiner to look into things. Find out more at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/independent-case-examiner

Finding out more
If you have any questions, please call us on <phone number>.

Yours sincerely

     

Manager (on behalf of the Secretary of State)

Provider MAN (02/14)