Welfare Reform Bill

One follows the other, potentially, if the conditionality is not met. The infamous case studies were merely illustrative to try to help noble Lords. I would not want them to take on a significance beyond that, but perhaps they have. Under the progression-to-work model, parents with younger children will be expected to agree an action plan with their adviser. It will set out the claimant’s individual route-way into work. The activities recorded in the action plan will be reviewed and updated at each subsequent meeting. When producing an action plan with an individual, the adviser will encourage parents to think about their aspirations, identify the strengths upon which they can build and agree steps that move them towards their goals. Together they will identify the support they need to do this. The adviser will ensure that the person’s wishes and individual family circumstances are fully taken into consideration before the plan is finalised and agreed. This is important so that parents, particularly if they have mental health conditions or learning difficulties, feel in control of their situation as they are progressively encouraged to move in to new and more challenging activities. We will ensure that safeguards are in place so that claimants are not put in a situation where they are being asked to comply with a requirement that is unreasonable or inappropriate to their individual circumstances. This will include circumstances where appropriate childcare is not available, as we have discussed extensively. We will also ensure that anyone facing a possible sanction can easily rectify their situation and should not therefore suffer unnecessary hardship or concern. During this joint process, however, I believe that we need to maintain the ability to direct a person to an activity, if after receiving the appropriate support, opportunity and guidance they remain reluctant to improve their circumstances. If there is a failure to carry out the agreed activity outlined in the plan, it could lead to further action and possibly a sanction, but this would only ever be as a last resort. Where someone is finding difficulties in meeting a particular activity agreed in the action plan, regulations will allow them to ask for the plan to be reconsidered. Turning to this group of amendments, it is not our practice to include in legislation that activities will be individual to the claimant, but to ensure that that is emphasised and enforced in adviser training and guidance. Individualisation—or personalisation, to use the noble Lord’s term—to us means being responsive to the circumstances of, and the factors that affect, an individual. It is possible to have an individual action plan that is quite general, not personalised. The important thing is that the action plan meets the personal circumstances of that individual. An individual plan might be a general plan and putting the word "individual" on it would not change that. The personalisation of the plan is important. Action plans will take into account, for instance, whether the person is in a couple or is a lone parent, has any health issues and their time out of and distance from the labour market, educational attainment, skills levels, confidence levels and aspirations for themselves and their family. I hope I have addressed as forcefully as I can the fact that action plans should and will be individualised and personalised, so that the wording proposed by the noble Lord is not necessary.