Be clear about the edges
Demonstration limitations
A prototype is useful precisely because it is honest about what it leaves out.
Data
- All vacancies, employers, advisers, profiles and outcome figures are fictional and illustrative.
- Locations are limited to a small set of towns in and around Somerset. Distances are approximate straight-line estimates adjusted for road travel, not journey planning.
- Pay is compared as an hourly rate, using 37.5 hours a week for annual salaries.
Behaviour
- Changes last only for this browser tab’s session and are not shared between people or devices. In a real service, the three perspectives would be separate, authenticated users.
- All communications — introductions, interview arrangements, permission requests and review requests — are simulated. No emails, applications or invitations are sent.
- Skills assessment is represented only as a status (“awaiting assessment”). No assessment is carried out.
- The matching rules are deliberately simple and transparent. A real service would refine them with advisers, employers, claimants and analysts, and test them for unfair effects. Read the rules.
What the prototype never does
- Determine benefit entitlement, conditionality or sanctions.
- Use protected characteristics, benefit status or health information in matching.
- Automatically reject anyone because information is missing.
- Connect to DWP, Universal Credit or any government system.
See the policymakers page for what would need to be established before any real deployment.