Your Claimant Commitment
Your Claimant Commitment is the document that decides almost everything else about your UC: how much job-searching DWP expect from you, what appointments you must attend, and what you can be sanctioned for if you don’t do.
The single most important thing
It should fit your life — your hours, your caring responsibilities, your health, your travel limits. If your work coach hands you a generic 35-hours-a-week commitment that doesn’t reflect your situation, ask for changes there and then. You don’t have to sign it on the spot.
What goes in it
Your commitment will typically set out:
- Your expected hours — usually 35 a week for full-time jobseekers, but lower if you have caring responsibilities, a health condition, or there’s another agreed reason.
- How much time you spend looking for work — your job-search hours. Often the same number as your expected hours, minus any hours you already work.
- Travel — how far you’re expected to travel for work or appointments (usually up to 90 minutes each way).
- The type of work you’re looking for — for the first three months you can usually focus on your "preferred" type of work; after that DWP can broaden it.
- What you must do — apply for X jobs a week, register on Find a Job, attend appointments, report changes within 1 month.
- Any specific actions — update your CV, attend a training course, sign up to an agency.
What’s reasonable to agree to
The law says requirements must be "reasonable in your circumstances". That includes:
- Your physical and mental health.
- Your caring responsibilities (children, adults).
- Whether you’re a survivor of domestic abuse — if the abuse was in the last 6 months, you’re no longer living with the abuser, and you haven’t used the easement in the last year, DWP can switch off all work-related requirements for up to 13 weeks (extendable by another 13 if you have a child under 16). You must give your work coach evidence within 1 month of telling them.
- How far you can travel — public transport, costs, time, anxiety, accessibility.
- Your skills, experience and qualifications.
If something would make a requirement unreasonable, say so — and ask the coach to write the limitation into the commitment.
Asking for changes — health, caring, hours
You can ask for fewer hours of work-search if:
- You’re the lead carer of a child — DWP must agree to limit hours to what fits with school/childcare. No requirements if your child is under 1; work-focused interviews only if aged 1; work preparation only if aged 2; full requirements but reduced hours if aged 3 to 12.
- You care for someone with a disability — a few extra hours, or no requirements at all if you care for 35+ hours a week for someone on PIP/DLA/Attendance Allowance daily living.
- You have a health condition — provide a fit note ("sick note") and ask for a Work Capability Assessment. You may move into a group with no or reduced requirements and get the LCWRA element.
- You’re already working — your work-search hours equal your expected hours minus the hours you already work.
Tell DWP at the start, before signing the commitment. Bring fit notes, a doctor’s letter, evidence of caring (DLA/PIP award letter of the person you care for), or anything else that backs up what you’re asking.
Get it in writing
Before you sign, ask for time to read it. The commitment is in your UC online account — you can read it at home, write down questions, and bring them back. You can also ask for a cooling-off period if a coach is pushing you to sign on the spot.
If you agree changes in the meeting, ask the coach to write them in before you sign — not "verbally agreed". Verbal agreements vanish; the written commitment is what counts when a sanction is considered.
Save a copy. Download it from your UC account or take a screenshot. If DWP later say you didn’t do something, you can show what you agreed.
If you can’t agree
If you can’t agree on the wording, you can:
- Ask for the case to go to a different work coach or a manager.
- Sign "under protest" and immediately ask in your journal for a review.
- Get free advice from Citizens Advice Help to Claim or a welfare rights service.
You cannot get UC without an agreed commitment, but DWP also can’t impose unreasonable terms — that’s where advice helps.
What to bring to your first meeting
- Photo ID (passport, driving licence) + proof of address.
- A short note of any health conditions, with names of GPs/specialists, and any fit notes you have.
- Evidence of any caring responsibilities — birth certificate, the disabled person’s PIP/DLA award letter.
- A note of your preferred work, hours you can do, places you can travel to.
- Any existing job-search — CV, accounts on Find a Job/Indeed, recent applications.
Going in prepared turns the meeting from "answer their questions" into "explain how your life works" — which is exactly what should shape the commitment.