Guidance

Restart Scheme provider guidance

DWP provider guidance for the Restart Scheme.

• From: Department for Work and Pensions
• Published: 28 June 2021
• Last updated: 13 July 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 13 July 2026

     Updates have been made to the provider guidance.

  2. 3 June 2026

     Changed version number on the 'Restart Scheme provider guidance' to 5.03

  3. 27 May 2026

     On the Restart Scheme Provider Guidance page. Removed sentences in paragraphs 3.9 and 3.91 as well as removing mention of the Work and Health Programme (WHP) from bullet 4 in paragraph 9.12

  4. 31 March 2026

     Minor updates to chapters 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the Restart Scheme provider guidance

  5. 27 February 2026

     Added Annex: Restart Scheme Contract Package Areas

  6. 24 February 2026

     Minor Updates to Chapters 1,2, 4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9 and 10. Chapter 3 has been rewritten and now includes sub-chapters 3a – 3g

  7. 10 June 2025

     Updated annex 10.1 'The Contract Performance Review (CPR)', 10.2 'Provider action plan template' and 10.3 'Provider action plan template and completion guidance'.

  8. 23 May 2025

     References in paragraph 1.47 have been updated to 'Chapter 3: Restart Scheme – During the Restart Scheme, paragraphs 3.90 to 3.95 Supporting Participants with Complex Needs'. Table header in 3.133 has also been updated to 'Disruption to Business Delivery – Weather Warnings/ Industrial Action/ Local Emergency'.

  9. 12 May 2025

     Version number updated to 5.01.

  10. 7 May 2025

      Updated chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Also updated annex's 4.1, 4.2, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 4.8, 4.9, 4.10, 4.11, 4.12, 6.2, 7.1, 7.3, 7.4 and 7.6. Changes reflect updates to the restart scheme provider guidance.

  11. 18 July 2024

      Updates to sections 3.10, 3.16, 3.18 of the Restart Scheme provider guidance.

  12. 10 July 2024

      In paragraphs 1.28 and 1.29 of the provider guidance, removed not being on Universal Support as one of the Restart Scheme eligibility criteria for Universal Credit and income-based Jobseeker's Allowance claimants. The Universal Support scheme has not yet started.

  13. 1 July 2024

      Changes made to update Restart Scheme eligibility and Chapter 08 with the ‘Completer Summary’ information.

  14. 19 April 2024

      Added Restart Scheme provider guidance - HTML version.

  15. 12 April 2024

      Updated Restart Scheme provider guidance -- PDF version 4.01. HTML version will be added shortly.

  16. 6 February 2024

      Updated ‘Annex 7.3: Good news stories template’

  17. 25 January 2024

      Changes have been made to chapter 10 (Restart contract and managing performance) — the contact details from paragraph 10.82 onwards have been updated.

  18. 29 September 2023

      Added a new document "Annex 7.6: Sharing information with stakeholders in the course of local-level engagement" and updated paragraph 7.09 of the Restart Scheme provider guidance.

  19. 25 August 2023

      Published a revised version (version 4) of the Restart Scheme provider guidance.

  20. 6 February 2023

      Updated paragraph 2.63 of Chapter 2A: Referral Process and Initial Engagement: Universal Credit claimants (UC) and paragraph 2.62 of Chapter 2B: Referral Process and Initial Engagement – Income-based Jobseekers Allowance claimants JSA (IB).

  21. 20 January 2023

      Updated paragraph 20.06 of chapter 20: Data sharing between DWP and providers.

  22. 22 September 2022

      Revised chapters 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 17, 18, 20 and 22, and the Restart Scheme ‘Good News Story’ template. All chapters are now labelled version 3.01 and all are dated 22 September 2022.

  23. 29 April 2022

      Updated chapters 1, 3, 10, 17, 20, 21 and 24. Chapters 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 13 have been split into 2 chapters, one for UC claimants and one for JSA (IB) claimants. All the chapters on the page are now labelled version 3. A Revised Restart Scheme ‘Good News Story’ Template has also been published (in Word and ODT versions).

  24. 23 December 2021

      Revised versions of chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 17, 18, and 21. The revised chapters are now labelled version 2. Also published a brand new chapter 24 (Marketing, publicity and good news stories), and its associated 'Restart Scheme ‘Good News Story’ template'. The template has been published in both Word and ODT formats.

  25. 9 August 2021

      Added a new annex for chapter 12, Sharing information with stakeholders in the course of local-level engagement.

  26. 28 June 2021

      First published.

Applies to England and Wales

Documents

Restart Scheme provider guidance

HTML

Annex: Restart Scheme Contract Package Areas

HTML

Restart Scheme provider guidance: abbreviations and glossary

HTML

Annex 4.1: Mandatory Activity Notification UC MAN

MS Word Document, 75.4 KB

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Annex 4.1: Mandatory Activity Notification UC MAN (Welsh)

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Annex 4.2: Mandatory Activity Notification JSA (IB)

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Annex 4.2: Mandatory Activity Notification JSA (IB) (Welsh)

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Annex 4.3: JSA603 failure to participate in the Restart Scheme

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Annex 4.4: UCD603 failure to participate in the Restart Scheme

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Annex 4.5: Correct process for completion of forms 602

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Annex 4.6: Correct process for completion of forms 604

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Annex 4.7: Example of MAN completion

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Annex 4.8: Mandation flowchart

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Annex 4.9: Common errors 603 and 602

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Annex 4.10: UCD604 Form - Information regarding a Sanction for Universal Credit Notification

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Annex 4.11: JSA602 work-related requirement concern

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Annex 4.12: UC602 work-related requirements concern

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Annex 5.1: Job outcome claims and HMRC RTI timescales

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Annex 6.1: Clerical incident report form for use by CDHA ASC staff G4S or providers

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Annex 6.2: Standard wording for your final response to your participant

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Annex 7.1: List of data items shared with providers

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Annex 7.2: Security plan change request form

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Annex 7.3: Good news stories template

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Annex 7.4: Social media guidance

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Annex 7.5: Additional information good news stories

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Annex 7.6: Sharing information with stakeholders in the course of local-level engagement

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Annex 10.1: The Contract Performance Review (CPR)

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Annex 10.2: Provider action plan template

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Annex 10.3: Provider action plan template and completion guidance

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Details

This guidance is for Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) providers of the Restart Scheme.

Should you require an accessible version of any of the Restart Scheme forms listed in this guidance you will need to request them by email from: restart.providerenquiries@dwp.gov.uk