Hello everyone,

two weeks ago I sent an e-mail to my district manager regarding UJ based on this template: consent.me.uk/universaljobmatch/veryimportantnotes/. Today I received a reply. Some choice quotes from the letter that will interest you all:

"Universal Jobmatch is a voluntary job search service."

"You will not be mandated to obtain a government gateway registration or be required to provide this ID number to DWP staff. ... You can if you wish allow DWP staff access to your UJ account but this is your decision."

"DWP staff will be able to discuss vacancies and application methods with you without you having a UJ account."

"If a member of staff is searching for you using UJ and there is a vacancy you are interested in applying for, your suitability will be discussed and the application method agreed with you - if you then don't apply for this vacancy, a Refusal of Employment doubt would be raised and the reason you didn't apply would be discussed. If this doubt remains then a possible sanction may be applied."

"If you give DWP staff access to your UJ account only DWP staff would have access to it. External partners will not."

While only the last snippet is anything new, I'd strongly recommend everyone e-mail their district managers using the template above. Why? Taking the letter I received into the JC will guarantee that any problems with uneducated advisers dropping "mandatory" or managers who are pushing through target sign-ups will be eradicated.

Here is the link to a list of district managers: unemploymentmovement.com/forum/unemploym...hip-mangers-contacts

Thx for that wolf, did you get any info regarding question 7 at all???

7. If a job is advertised on UJ and I want to apply to the employer will you be able to provide me with the employer’s contact details so I can apply direct without having to use UJ?

Thanks wolfLarsen and welcome to the forum.

Do you think you could upload a copy of the whole letter to the forum with just the personal parts blanked out please?

Tommy - yes:

"In terms of advertising jobs on UJ, employers will have the choice to make their details available to jobseekers. All vacancies will have the employer's chosen method of application and this will vary by employer ... If an employer does not wish their contact details to be displayed, then we would not share this information with jobseekers ... DWP staff will be able to discuss vacancies and application methods with you without you having a UJ account ... some employers may want a CV downloaded to UJ as part of the application method, which you will need to consider as this may represent a barrier to you finding employment."

From that we can say that advisors should be granting requests to provide contact details for any UJ job posting, if an employer has chosen to make their details available. Whether this will happen or not we will have to wait and see.

Lucozade - Nice to speak to you. Have found your posts over the last two months very helpful. Thank you for them.

Unfortunately I cannot get to a scanner until Saturday, but will upload then. If there's demand I'll type the letter up before then. Though I must say there's not much of note besides what I have posted. However, I do recommend everyone get a letter off ASAP. Taking in a hand signed letter to you from a district manager will silence any contrary disinformation on the spot.

Thx again wolf, my next question is regarding the last paragraph of that quote if you/someone else could pls answer or have any info regarding it?

"some employers may want a CV downloaded to UJ as part of the application method, which you will need to consider as this may represent a BARRIER to you finding employment."

could the onus of a BARRIER be put onto the prospective employee and therefore be somehow forced to register with UJ or even be threatened with sanctions if they were unwilling to register etc???

Thanks wolf.

I have a feeling that the responses from the district managers will be variable (judging by UJ's variable implementation around the country) and yours seems to say just what we want to hear so it will be useful to have it anyway.