Decision making for UC

It is rumoured that there are very few decisions being made in Ashton.

I wonder whether Ruthch could share their experiences up there.

Ashton was always a very small pathfinder area with only 300 claims a month expected, from single new jobseekers only. There are certainly claims in payment but the DWP has as yet shared very little information and not published the numbers of claimants so I can’t say if this target has been reached. The other pathfinder areas (Oldham and Wigan and the Cheshire authority of Warrington) are all now live and are larger areas, but still only single new jobseekers. We’ve not had many approach us for advice but given the uncomplicated cases eligible for the pathfinder that isn’t really surprising. I understand that the October rollout will bring the total numbers of Jobcentres involved nationally to 10, still only single new jobseekers.
The principle that once a claimant is on UC they will stay on through changes in circumstances even if they move outside the pathfinder area means that advice agencies will have to be mindful of the possibility of individual UC claimants turning up anywhere in the country in different circumstances in time. This of course raises difficult questions for hard pressed advisers about how much precious time and resources to dedicate to training and preparation for universal credit enquires.