Dataset: People on Universal Credit
Field: Jobcentre Plus Geographies
Description
Jobcentre Plus geography consists of three levels that are based on the Jobcentre Plus office which administers the Universal Credit claim.
Jobcentre Plus Offices build up Jobcentre Plus Districts, which in turn make up Jobcentre Plus Groups.
Jobcentre Plus Offices are as recorded at the count date. It is possible for the claimant to reside in a different area (e.g. Local Authority) to the area administering their benefit claims.
Classification
The number of Jobcentre Plus Offices may increase or decrease over time in response to various circumstances such as economic change.
We use the Jobcentre Plus Office mnemonic as classification. This consists of a 3-character string for which the Department for Work and Pensions use as an identifier.
We use this code for Universal Credit records in which information recorded on Jobcentre Plus Office is incomplete or not recorded: ZZZ
The number of Jobcentre Plus Offices may increase or decrease over time in response to various circumstances such as economic change. There are several temporary offices that have been/are being opened to support an anticipated increased demand due to the coronavirus pandemic affecting the job market.
Quality Statement
For most months, Jobcentre Plus (JCP) data is available for all people. If a JCP office is not assigned, it is checked whether an office has previously been assigned during the same claim (for example in the preceding month) and this office is used. However, if there is no past record of an office for the claimant, then an office within Great Britain is randomly assigned. Northern Ireland offices are not included in the pool for random selection.
After investigation of data on Jobcentre Plus offices, it was discovered that there are some instances of incomplete Jobcentre Plus office data from January 2018 to April 2018. This has impacted a limited number of claims in offices where Universal Credit hasn't been fully rolled out. Although this has now been resolved, there is no reliable method for recovering the missing data therefore JCP office data between January and April 2018 should be treated with caution. The appropriate action has been taken to ensure that this does not re-occur.
Jobcentre Plus hierarchical geographies were corrected on 17th August 2021 following an update to the administrative data. A small number of offices were moved into a new Jobcentre Plus District and Group. A summary table of these changes for individual Jobcentre Plus offices is provided.
The latest revisions for overall caseload typically remain within two percent of the provisional figure. However, revisions for single jobcentres may be considerably higher. This is due to the migration within the source administrative systems of caseloads from closed offices to merged offices. For more information on closures and mergers, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/update-on-the-future-of-dwp-jobcentres.