For Income Support the work-focused interview will generally take place shortly after your first contact with Jobcentre Plus. However, for Incapacity Benefit (and Income Support claimed on the grounds of incapacity) it will take place 8 weeks into your claim.

If you are claiming a benefit such as Incapacity Benefit because you have recently been forced by your condition to give up work, you should still attend the interview, even if you feel it is inappropriate for you.

You are also required to take part in such an interview if your partner is claiming extra for you on Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance.

An interview for one benefit counts for all others, so you won’t have to go through separate interviews for each benefit you claim.

There may be circumstances where an interview can be postponed or even cancelled. If you are unable to attend the interview for any reason it is essential that you contact the  Jobcentre Plus office and speak to a personal advisor to explain your situation.

What will happen at the interview?

At the interview you may first be seen by a benefits expert, who will help you with claim-forms and give you information about your benefits position. A personal adviser will then see you for the work-focused interview.

At the interview you are expected to answer questions about your educational qualifications, any vocational training you have undertaken, your employment history, your work-related skills, any paid or unpaid work you are doing and any caring or childcare responsibilities you have. You may also be asked about how your condition in your opinion puts you at a disadvantage in getting a job.

You are not required to do any more than take part in the interview. Actually attending training, following up on a job vacancy or doing anything else the personal adviser suggests is entirely up to you.  

Later interviews

You may be asked to attend a further work-focused interview after a period of time. A Personal Capability Assessment would, for instance, act as a trigger for such a further interview. If you are claiming Incapacity Benefit in a part of the country operating under the 'Pathways to Work' scheme, you will be expected to undergo a more intensive regime of work-focused interviews, involving several such interviews, unless it is accepted that you have ‘a severe and progressive neurological or muscle wasting disease’. 

Content last updated

May 2006 by Ian Greaves.