The job search offering on GOV.UK has been based on technology from an external provider since 2018, but PublicTechnology learns that DWP believes new service will offer improvements for employers

The Department for Work and Pensions is building a new “transformational in-house digital service” to replace government’s existing public job-searching tool for citizens, PublicTechnology can reveal.

The Find a Job service was launched in 2018 and is based on technology from digital job board specialist Adzuna – which beat off competition from rivals Monster and Hireserve to secure the delivery contract. Find a Job replaced the previous Universal Jobmatch tool launched by government in 2012.

The decision has now been made to, effectively, reverse this move and return the government-backed job-search offering to a technology system developed in house.

A commercial notice published by the DWP – which oversees the Find a Job platform – reveals that the department’s current engagement with Adzuna is being extended by 15 months, taking its conclusion date to from 31 March 2025 to 30 June 2026. As a consequence, the value of the contract has jumped by more than £4m to a total of about £18.2m, inclusive of VAT.

The notice explains that the extension comes as “the services will no longer be outsourced to the market on a like-for-like basis, as DWP is developing a new in-house digital service, which will include a successor to the existing service… to be in place on the expiry of this contract”.

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PublicTechnology understands that the DWP has set aside budget for the current fiscal year to support development of the new service. This will include funding to deliver initial prototypes of the tool, as well as subsequent “tests and trials of elements of the new service, including an enhanced employer user experience”.

Making online services better for employers posting jobs via the GOV.UK site is understood to be a key priority for the DWP. Such improvements will manifest across various services – including the new search platform replacing Find a Job, as well as the department’s Disability Confident offering.

Officials, ministers, employers and other stakeholders will be involved in the programme of work to develop the upgraded services, the DWP indicated.

In response to PublicTechnology’s enquiries, a departmental spokesperson said: “Our ambitions to build a new transformational in-house digital service form part of our wider plans to create a new jobs and careers service, to help us shape a thriving labour market, support people to get into work and get on at work, and achieve our target of an 80% employment rate as part of our Plan for Change”

The contract notice outlines the extension and modification of the agreement with Adzuna – without competition or external negotiation – was necessary to ensure continuity of an important public service.

“This extension has become necessary to allow sufficient time to develop the solution without requiring a gap-in-service, which would deprive the public of an important employment resource,” the document adds. “To transfer the services to a new supplier during the extension period would be technically and economically impractical and require a lengthy transition period to mitigate risk. Re-procuring the services for the extension period would cause significant inconvenience to DWP by redirecting resources from developing the solution to transferring the services to a new supplier and would substantially duplicate costs by requiring two concurrent contracts during transition.”