Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of vacancies on Universal Jobsmatch classified as employer confidential; and what checks are in place to ensure that such vacancies are not bogus, fraudulent or otherwise inappropriate.

Esther McVey

Universal Jobmatch revolutionises the way jobseekers look for work and it has already helped many jobseekers find the jobs they want through the millions of vacancies posted since 2012. It is part of the government’s plan for providing easy online access to government services for all.

There are various circumstances where an employer may wish to keep their details confidential – for example, if they are employing a Personal Carer or another role where they are using their home address. We estimate that there are 42,544 employer confidential vacancies currently on Universal Jobmatch. This equates to 7.1% of the total live vacancies as at 5 June 2014.

The security of a user’s data is of the utmost importance to us and built into the service are monitoring tools and vacancy checks, which help to detect, deter and remedy inappropriate use of the site. Checks are made to identify inappropriate, fraudulent and bogus jobs and employers in order to block them from being posted.

There are also warnings to users of the service advising them they should not be asked to reveal personal information i.e. bank details, as this information is not relevant to the application process.

Additionally, a ‘Contact Us’ facility is provided so users can quickly highlight any employers that users may have concerns about. DWP then investigate such concerns.

These checks are in place for all vacancies, including employer confidential vacancies.