Roger wrote to Mark Hoban MP, Minister for Employment, seeking clarification of the regulations in respect of whether or not Jobcentre Plus can mandate claimants to use Universal Jobmatch for issue benefit sanctions.
Following an earlier letter to the Minister for Employment Mark O'Brien responded: "Jobcentre Plus has been instructed not to mandate claimants to use Universal Jobmatch or issue benefit sanctions until some changes have been made to the service to support this. We are aware that a small number of claimants may have already received benefit sanctions in relation to Universal Jobmatch, but no further sanctions will be issued."
Roger has questioned whether or not Jobcentre Plus had the authority at the time to impose sanctions and He said: “If in fact it was the case that benefit sanctions were incorrectly applied to claimants in respect of Universal Jobmatch, it must be the case that those benefits should be refunded as soon as is practically possible and the fact that benefit sanctions were applied should be expunged from claimant records. I also want to find out when the government plans to make these changes to the service which would enable sanctions to be applied.”
The Universal Jobmatch is a computerized service which matches jobseeker skills and experience against job details and the Minister for Employment has stated that: “It has always been our intention to require claimants to register with Universal Jobmatch.”
“We expect that the majority of claimants who are genuinely looking for work will want to use Universal Jobmatch and will willingly choose to register with the service and upload their CV.”
Roger commented that this new service, which is planned to be rolled out on a national basis, gives unparalled power to staff at Jobcentre Plus to control – under threat of sanctions – how people look for work and what jobs they should apply for, irrespective of whatever training or experience a claimant might have.
If you have been sanctioned recently and are unhappy with the decision please read this latest response from the DWP:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B 9TwqUlwHK6R2tCb Xo0OG1paWs/edit?usp=sharing

This article appeared in the March edition of Roger's newsletter 'Postcard from Parliament'