Member Article

Force firms to answer all job applications, MP demands

Companies should be forced to write back to every person applying for a job to let them know what the outcome is, a North East MP has demanded.

Labour’s Ashok Kumar, representative for Middlesbrough South and Cleveland East, said employers should be “legally compelled” to contact jobseekers to acknowledge their application and again after someone was chosen.

He said it was already “extremely demoralising” when people could not find work but this was made worse when firms did not even bother to write back to them.

In a Commons motion, he said he recognised the “extremely demoralising situation in which people, especially young people, are put when they cannot secure a job.

“This situation is augmented when people apply for jobs and do not even receive an acknowledgement of an application or notification of final appointment.”

He said: “Employers should be legally compelled to contact all applicants both to acknowledge receipt of application and again after selection has been made to notify applicants whether they have been successful.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .