In June 2025, just before we published our report, the Department wrote to tell us that it had made three of the measures in the framework permanent. Two of these measures involved reducing the frequency of appointments for customers in the Intensive Work Search group. The third measure was shortening the first meeting claimants have with a work coach—the ‘claimant commitment meeting’ when customers are talked through the requirements of their claims—from 50 to 30 minutes.17

In June 2025, just before we published our report, the Department wrote to tell us that it had made three of the measures in the framework permanent. Two of these measures involved reducing the frequency of appointments for customers in the Intensive Work Search group. The third measure was shortening the first meeting claimants have with a work coach—the ‘claimant commitment meeting’ when customers are talked through the requirements of their claims—from 50 to 30 minutes.17 Type: conclusion | Number: 10 | Response status: response_pending Government response: 2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2027 2.2 All sites have now moved to a 30-minute initial claimant commitment meeting for new claimants, and the department recognises the importance of understanding the impact on the claimant experienc