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Unemployed to be forced to use government job website
Claimants will face sanctions if site shows they are not looking for work, in scheme hailed as 'labour market game-changer'
Patrick Wintour
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 20 December 2012 16.20 GMT
The system will be available to those without a computer in libraries and jobcentres.
Unemployed claimants will be required to use a new government job search website and face benefit sanctions if it shows they are not trying to find work.
The work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, has hailed the Universal Jobmatch scheme – which will operate in England, Scotland and Wales – as a brilliant revolution in the labour market. It has already started nationwide on a trial basis. The website was developed by the commercial job search firm Monster UK.
Currently jobcentres only require unemployed people to look for jobs three times a week, but that requirement is likely to increase now that it will be considered easier to seek work.
So far 370,000 companies and 690,000 jobseekers have signed up, and 425,000 jobseekers have already voluntarily given permission for their jobcentre adviser to access their profile, a way of increasing the advice they get on issues such as the preparation of CVs.
Duncan Smith said it would be mandatory for jobseeker's allowance (JSA) claimants to use the site from early in the new year, but no JSA claimant would be required to allow their jobcentre adviser to see any of their activity on the site.
The website can automatically alert jobseekers to appropriate vacancies in their area, and can also help a jobseeker within five minutes of logging on be told of the most suitable local jobs.
The service will not just be open to claimants, but also to those in work, a vital requirement for universal credit, the new integrated benefits system due to be launched in the autumn of next year.
Employers can log on to locate jobseekers in the area and can be provided with scores that take into account the jobseeker's appropriate experience, distance of residence from workplace, skills, and willingness to relocate.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) work services director, Neil Couling, said: "This is the biggest game-changer in the labour market in 27 years. It changes jobseeking from a passive slow process to one that is dynamic, fast and 24/7." Since the launch of the scheme in November, a total of 160m job searches have been made. The scheme is expected to manage over 10,500 new vacancies and over a million job searches each working day by August next year, nearly 80% of the total DWP caseload.
There are no plans at present to require claimants on employment and support allowance to use the system, which will be available to those without a computer in libraries and jobcentres.
The Universal Jobmatch website has been criticised by some who fear it will be used as a means of identifying and sanctioning those not seeking work, or could lead to breaches of privacy. There are also claims that the scheme will be vulnerable to sabotage, as bogus jobs or jobseekers are put on the site.
Duncan Smith said that since the launch of the scheme only 6,000 jobs had been blocked off the site as inappropriate and 27 bogus employers removed. He said the scheme would be especially helpful in industries with high labour turnover, such as care services.
Duncan Smith said the scheme would free jobcentre advisers to spend more time with jobseekers that need intensive help.
The site has a dropdown menu requiring jobseekers to explain why they have not applied for a job, and are offered a range of reasons including, "job does not match my interests; is not in my desired industry; does not match my skills; is below my salary requirements; is too far away from my home; have already applied for the job; does not interest me".
Duncan Smith said: "Jobseekers will be able to turn down jobs, but if the adviser thinks they are pretty specious reasons, he may call you in and say, 'We think you should be applying for these jobs.'"
Claimants will face sanctions if site shows they are not looking for work, in scheme hailed as 'labour market game-changer'
Patrick Wintour
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 20 December 2012 16.20 GMT
The system will be available to those without a computer in libraries and jobcentres.
Unemployed claimants will be required to use a new government job search website and face benefit sanctions if it shows they are not trying to find work.
The work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, has hailed the Universal Jobmatch scheme – which will operate in England, Scotland and Wales – as a brilliant revolution in the labour market. It has already started nationwide on a trial basis. The website was developed by the commercial job search firm Monster UK.
Currently jobcentres only require unemployed people to look for jobs three times a week, but that requirement is likely to increase now that it will be considered easier to seek work.
So far 370,000 companies and 690,000 jobseekers have signed up, and 425,000 jobseekers have already voluntarily given permission for their jobcentre adviser to access their profile, a way of increasing the advice they get on issues such as the preparation of CVs.
Duncan Smith said it would be mandatory for jobseeker's allowance (JSA) claimants to use the site from early in the new year, but no JSA claimant would be required to allow their jobcentre adviser to see any of their activity on the site.
The website can automatically alert jobseekers to appropriate vacancies in their area, and can also help a jobseeker within five minutes of logging on be told of the most suitable local jobs.
The service will not just be open to claimants, but also to those in work, a vital requirement for universal credit, the new integrated benefits system due to be launched in the autumn of next year.
Employers can log on to locate jobseekers in the area and can be provided with scores that take into account the jobseeker's appropriate experience, distance of residence from workplace, skills, and willingness to relocate.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) work services director, Neil Couling, said: "This is the biggest game-changer in the labour market in 27 years. It changes jobseeking from a passive slow process to one that is dynamic, fast and 24/7." Since the launch of the scheme in November, a total of 160m job searches have been made. The scheme is expected to manage over 10,500 new vacancies and over a million job searches each working day by August next year, nearly 80% of the total DWP caseload.
There are no plans at present to require claimants on employment and support allowance to use the system, which will be available to those without a computer in libraries and jobcentres.
The Universal Jobmatch website has been criticised by some who fear it will be used as a means of identifying and sanctioning those not seeking work, or could lead to breaches of privacy. There are also claims that the scheme will be vulnerable to sabotage, as bogus jobs or jobseekers are put on the site.
Duncan Smith said that since the launch of the scheme only 6,000 jobs had been blocked off the site as inappropriate and 27 bogus employers removed. He said the scheme would be especially helpful in industries with high labour turnover, such as care services.
Duncan Smith said the scheme would free jobcentre advisers to spend more time with jobseekers that need intensive help.
The site has a dropdown menu requiring jobseekers to explain why they have not applied for a job, and are offered a range of reasons including, "job does not match my interests; is not in my desired industry; does not match my skills; is below my salary requirements; is too far away from my home; have already applied for the job; does not interest me".
Duncan Smith said: "Jobseekers will be able to turn down jobs, but if the adviser thinks they are pretty specious reasons, he may call you in and say, 'We think you should be applying for these jobs.'"
