This week the Chancellor has told us the Government are going to cut welfare spending further to encourage more people back to work and end a culture of the ‘job-shy’ writes James Alexander.

I can understand his motives, but after a fruitless afternoon trying to use the Jobcentre Plus website to look for work, I think the Government might need to look inwards at what they are doing to help people find employment.

Unlike a recruitment agency, the Job Centre website is specifically set up to help people find work – it’s their job.

However, unlike many agency websites, it is confusing and difficult to use.

I’ve struggled many a time to look up jobs using reference numbers that I’ve found in the local newspapers and the search isn’t very user-friendly.

Compare this with the reed.co.uk website.

This is a website owned by a recruitment agency – who are there to help companies find people – and I can navigate it easily.

I have searches saved on there, it remembers what I’m looking for and where I’m looking for it.

It even emails me to let me know when some jobs I might be interested in have been posted on the website. In short; it’s an invaluable tool in the search for a new role.

I guess I’m not the only person who has tried to use the Jobcentre Plus website and given up in sheer frustration.

I’m a fairly competent user of PCs and the internet and, if I can’t find what I’m looking for, then it must be even harder for someone who isn’t as comfortable online.

If the Government are serious about people getting back into work, then it must do whatever it can to help people achieve that aim – making job opportunities easier for people to find and apply for would be a good start.

This article was amended on Thursday September 10th.