March 2021 – Restart Provisions Extended to JSA Claimants

03/03/2022
New regulations have been issued that extend the Restart Scheme to include income-based jobseekers allowance (JSA) claimants.In force from 14 March 2022, the Restart Scheme will be added to the list of schemes designed to assist claimants to obtain employment that they can be required to participate in as a condition of receiving benefit.

The Restart Scheme offers a years worth of intensive employment support to help long term unemployed claimants back into work. Referrals for the Restart Scheme will be made over a 3-year from July 2021 to June 2024.

Participation in the Restart Scheme is required as part of claimants Work Search conditionality commitments. These rules allow the Department to include those who have spent 9 months uninterrupted time in the Intensive Work Search Regime (IWSR) on Universal Credit (previously the time limit was 12 to 18 months) and for the first time include Jobseekers Allowance claimants on the income based element (JSA IB) who were previously excluded from eligibility on the basis that the vast majority would have a longer duration on benefit than 18 months.

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