The Universal Credit journal: what it is and how to use it

The journal sits inside your Universal Credit online account, alongside your payments, your statements, your to-do list and your claimant commitment. It is where you keep in touch with your work coach and your case manager, and where they contact you. There is no separate jobcentre journal and no separate login: one account holds all of it. If you are searching for the journal because you are trying to get in, the sign-in page on GOV.UK is the only place to do that, and it is linked in the sources at the foot of this page. Everything below assumes you are already signed in and are trying to work out what the journal is for and what it is not for.

Three things. First, telling DWP what you are doing to find work: applications, interviews, training. Second, asking a general question or telling them something, instead of ringing the helpline and repeating it. Third, and most usefully, creating a record. Everything you post and every to-do you complete is dated and stays on the claim, so a request you made in writing can be pointed at months later. Do not put anything in a journal message that would help someone impersonate you. DWP asks you not to include bank details or your National Insurance number, and it will never text or email you asking for them. Do not discuss your claim on social media either. If a message matters, keep it short and specific, because a long post is easy to skim past while a dated one-line request is easy to point at later.

A phone call leaves no evidence you can show. A journal message does. If you ask for an alternative payment arrangement, tell your work coach why you missed an appointment, dispute a deduction or ask for an advance, do it in the journal so the request is dated and visible on the claim. This is the single most useful habit on a Universal Credit claim, and it costs nothing. It also cuts both ways: because a to-do is marked complete in the journal when you finish it, the record shows what you did as well as what you were asked to do. If you ever need a mandatory reconsideration or an appeal, that trail is what you are working from.

The to-do list is the other half of the account. If there is anything DWP needs from you it appears there: verify your identity, confirm your housing costs, upload evidence, attend an appointment. Complete everything on the list as soon as you can, because leaving a task unfinished can delay or stop your payment. Appointments arrive as a to-do telling you when and where to attend, and whether the appointment is mandatory. Missing a mandatory appointment without what DWP accepts as a good reason results in a sanction. If you cannot attend, leave a message in your journal explaining why, and do it before the appointment rather than after. Completing everything on the list is part of your claimant commitment, so it is not a matter of tidiness. Check the account regularly rather than waiting for a text to prompt you.

The claimant commitment is the record of what you have to do in return for Universal Credit. Section 14 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 defines it as "a record of a claimant's responsibilities", prepared by DWP. It lives in your online account next to the journal, and couples get one each. What is in it depends on which of four groups you are in, from no work-related requirements at all to looking for and being available for work. You accept it in your account, usually after a meeting with your work coach, and you must accept it before the first payment. Accepting it is a condition of getting Universal Credit at all: if you refuse, DWP's guidance gives you up to seven days to reconsider, and after that there is no award. It is reviewed and changes when your circumstances do, and you can ask for a short pause or change in an emergency. Breaking it does not end the claim. It can lead to a sanction instead.

The journal is not an instant messaging service. DWP says a reply might take a few days, and replies only go out during normal opening hours, so a message posted at the weekend will not be answered until the week starts. When they do write to you, you usually get a text or an email telling you to check the account, which is why the contact details on your claim need to be right. Check the journal regularly rather than waiting to be prompted. If something is genuinely urgent, for instance you have no money for food or rent, the helpline is faster and you can still put a note in the journal afterwards so the request is on the record.