1. Introduction
To qualify for universal credit, ‘new style’ employment and support allowance (ESA) or ‘new style’ jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), you have to meet certain work-related conditions. These are recorded in a
‘claimant commitment’ (see
2 below ). There are four sets of conditions:
■work-focused interview condition (see
3 below );
■work preparation condition (see
4 below );
■work search condition (see
5 below );
and ■work availability condition (see
7 below ).
Your benefit can be sanctioned if you fail to meet a work-related condition (see
Chapter 18 ), though hardship payments of universal credit may be available (see
Chapter 19 ).
The circumstances in which each condition (or a combination) applies to you are listed in
Box E.4 . If you are entitled to ‘new style’ ESA or ‘new style’ JSA as well as universal credit, you only need to meet one set of conditions: those that apply to universal credit.
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