In Ipswich we have been spared this till now because the public computers accessible to most people – the Libraries – do not work properly.
That is, since being turned into a private Charity the Suffolk Library service has not upgraded its browsers for a long, a very long, time.
This week those signing on in Ipswich were told.
- There is no longer the form you filled in giving details of jobs you applied for and jobsearch.
- You must register with Universal Jobmatch.
- You must provide proof of any job search activity by print-outs, or by letting the DWP snoop on you Universal Job Match account.
- There are not enough public computers with easy access to web sites.
- The Job Centre Silent Street Office has recently placed some computers at the front of the signing on desks. These are not in a safe environment - the number of screaming rows, heavy-handed interventions by Security guards that you see there has not stopped growing. Apart from that their terminals appear to have no towers for you to upload your CV through
- Other computers, for those on the Work Programme, are woefully inadequate for the several thousand people affected by this decree.
- Getting print-outs costs money from other places.
- Not everyone is computer literate or feels at ease with them.
- If you do not live in the town centre you pay high bus fares to get to these computers.
Not everyone likes having an American company making money out of public services.
Universal Jobmatch’s technical problems have not gone away.
