This article is only relevant to customers using the DWP Restart programme. If you are unsure whether this applies to your organisation, contact your Aptem administrator.
The mandatory activity functionality allows you to control whether a participant is subject to mandation, based on the conditionality of their benefits and the contractual compliance requirements of the programme. This supports you in managing, tracking, and reporting engagement to DWP.
You must have the Supervisor role to edit the mandation panel on a participant profile and to edit existing activities to change their mandatory status. Work coaches can add mandatory activities to an action plan but cannot edit them once created.
Initial setup
Before an activity can be marked as mandatory, mandatory activity must be enabled on the participant's profile.
- Search for the participant and select their name to open the Participant Profile.
- Navigate to the Personal Details tab.
- In the Mandation panel, select the pencil icon to edit the panel.
- Allow mandatory activity is set to No by default. Change this to Yes and save your changes.
- Set the Sanction status using the dropdown list.
The sanction status you select affects whether the Is this a mandatory activity? field appears when adding an activity:
| Sanction status | Is this a mandatory activity? field |
|---|---|
| Not Under Sanction | Displayed |
| Pending Decision for Failure to Comply | Displayed |
| Under Sanction for Failure to Comply | Displayed |
| Pending Decision for Failure to Attend | Not displayed |
| Under Sanction for Failure to Attend | Not displayed |
Setting an action plan activity as mandatory
While creating a new activity
- Navigate to the participant's action plan.
- Select Add Activity.
- On the Add Activity screen, locate the Is this a mandatory activity? field. This is set to No by default. Select Yes.
- Complete the remaining activity details and select Add Activity to save.
While creating a review
- Select Reviews from the participant navigation menu.
- Select Create Review.
- On the Create Review screen, locate the Is this a mandatory activity? field. This is set to No by default. Select Yes.
- Complete the remaining review details and select Save. The review is added to the participant's action plan.
While editing an existing activity or review
You can edit an existing activity or review to change its mandatory status, provided Allow mandatory activity is set to Yes on the participant's profile. You must have the Supervisor role to do this.
- Navigate to the activity card on the action plan. Select the options icon (⋮) on the right and select Edit Activity.
- On the Edit Activity screen, update the Is this a mandatory activity? field as required.
- Select Save Changes.
How mandatory activities appear
The action plan includes visual indicators so work coaches and participants can identify mandatory activities at a glance.
Mandatory activities display a distinctive icon on the action plan. Hovering over the icon shows a tooltip reading Mandatory component.
When the activity details panel is open on the right of the screen, mandatory activities display a note confirming their mandatory status.