Universal Jobmatch to be scrapped by the DWP?

A leaked internal memo from the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) has stated that the Government’s flagship employment website, Universal Jobmatch, is to be scrapped when its contract is renewed in two years’ time, according to The Independent. The programme has been bedevilled by problems since its creation, with a Channel 4 investigation finding that hundreds of jobs on the site had been posted by recruitment agencies and fake employers.

The memo is reported to have stated that the website’s problems came about due to a ministerial decision to leave the site as “open as possible” to all types of employers. Labour MP Frank Field has also been pressing the National Audit Office to investigate the site.