The Void publishes the Trade Union, PCS, advice that the Universal JobMatch is not compulsory.
We understand that the security of the information given to this site remains insecure.
There are background issues which raise even more worries about this ‘service’ set up by an American company for the UK government.
The PCS has sent out this circular on Universal Jobmatch,
On its introduction, members of staff were encouraged to set up their own accounts to demonstrate the use of UJ to claimants. It has came to light recently that accessing your own records (or that of friends or family) using the UJ icon on your desktop is subject to the same security restrictions as other departmental system such as JSAPS or LMS. Staff are permitted to set up and access their own UJ account, but it must be done through the internet browser and jobsearch activity must be done in their own time.
PCS has asked that DWP provide clarification to their managers, in addition to the ‘implementation updates’ they have issued already. They have stated that the advice to set up an account and demonstrate its use to the claimant was local and not from the UJ project. Clearly, we believe that no action should be taken against a member of staff where they have been misadvised by their manager.
And,
PCS remains concerned with many security and checking aspects of UJ, including:An excellent introductory guide to the Universal Jobmatch is published by the Solidarity Federation, well-worth reading at, here.
- How claimants data is protected in terms of reported data-fishing by bogus employers
- The recent high profile bogus and unsavoury adverts placed and the checks are in place to ensure that these are not placed on the system again.
- Compliance with minimum wage and the terms and conditions of the use of the site
- Process of ‘accepting cookies’ and EU data protection principles
As yet, DWP have refused to meet with PCS again on UJ and have stated they will respond in writing to our concerns. We believe this to be unacceptable, as problems with UJ impact daily on PCS members, with some claimants becoming frustrated and even abusive due to difficulties they experience using the system. PCS will continue to push management further on this and request that any further issues are reported to your PCS rep or to DWP Group Office at leeds@pcs.org.uk.
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