Refusing work on Universal Credit due to childcare

This is a common and important question. The rules on Universal Credit and work-related requirements are detailed, and childcare responsibilities do play a significant role in what you can and cannot be required to do.

Your legal position under Universal Credit:

Universal Credit claimants are placed into one of several "conditionality groups" which determine what work-related requirements the Department for Work and Pensions can impose on you. Your childcare responsibilities directly affect which group you fall into.

The main categories relevant to parents and carers:

1. No work-related requirements at all. This applies if you are the responsible carer for a child under one year old. You cannot be required to look for work, attend interviews, or take up work.

2. Work-focused interview requirement only. This applies if you are the responsible carer for a child aged one but under two. You must attend periodic interviews but cannot be required to look for or take up work.

3. Work preparation requirement. This applies if you are the responsible carer for a child aged two but under three (or in some cases up to five). You may be asked to take steps to prepare for work, such as training, but you cannot be required to actually take up work or look for work.

4. All work-related requirements. This generally applies once your youngest child reaches age three or older (specifically, the start of the term after they turn three in most cases). At this point you can be required to look for work and accept work. However, even here, your work coach must take your childcare responsibilities into account when setting the hours and type of work you are expected to look for. Typically, if your youngest child is aged three or four and not yet in full-time education, you would normally only be expected to look for work during school hours and to a maximum of around 16 hours per week initially, rising to 25 hours in some cases, depending on your circumstances.

Once your youngest child is in full-time education, you would generally be expected to look for work during school hours, up to a maximum of 35 hours per week in principle, but your work coach should still make reasonable adjustments for things like school drop-off and pick-up times, school holidays, and the availability of affordable childcare.

Important practical points:

Your "claimant commitment" is the key document. This is agreed between you and your work coach and should reflect your individual circumstances, including childcare. If you believe the requirements set in your claimant commitment are unreasonable given your childcare situation, you have the right to challenge this. You can ask for a review by a different work coach or a more senior decision maker.

You cannot be sanctioned for refusing to take up work that does not have affordable and available childcare. The legislation and DWP guidance are clear that a claimant with caring responsibilities for a child cannot be required to take up work unless appropriate childcare is available and reasonably affordable. This is set out in the Universal Credit Regulations 2013, particularly regulations around the "good reason" provisions and limitations on work-related requirements.

If you are sanctioned and you believe you had good reason because of childcare, you can request a mandatory reconsideration of the sanction decision, and if that fails, appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber).

Also worth knowing is that Universal Credit includes a childcare costs element which can cover up to 85 per cent of eligible childcare costs for children under 16, up to a monthly cap, but you usually need to pay the costs upfront and claim them back, which can create practical difficulties.

What you should do practically:

1. Check which conditionality group you are in based on the age of your youngest child.

2. Review your claimant commitment carefully. If it sets requirements that do not account for your childcare situation, raise this with your work coach and ask for it to be amended.

3. Keep a record of your childcare responsibilities, the availability of childcare in your area, and any costs or barriers. This strengthens your position if there is ever a dispute.

4. If you are sanctioned unfairly, request a mandatory reconsideration within one month of the decision, setting out clearly why childcare prevented you from meeting the requirement.

5. If the mandatory reconsideration is unsuccessful, you can appeal to the tribunal. There is no fee for this.

The short answer is that you cannot simply refuse all work indefinitely because you have children, but your childcare responsibilities must be properly taken into account, and you have strong legal protections if the DWP tries to impose unreasonable requirements or sanctions you without considering them.