Work Programme Evaluation : the Participant Experience Report
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This is a repository copy of Work Programme Evaluation : the participant experience report. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/82655/ Version: Published Version Monograph: Meager, N, Newton, B, Sainsbury, Roy Derek orcid.org/0000-0002-1217-6818 et al. (2 more authors) (2014) Work Programme Evaluation : the participant experience report. Research Report. Department for Work and Pensions Research Report . Department for Work and Pensions , London. Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Work Programme Evaluation: the participant experience report December 2014 December Work Programme Evaluation: the participant experience report Research report No 892 A report of research carried out by the Institute for Employment Studies, the Social Policy Research Unit at the University of York, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion and GfK NOP on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions. © Crown copyright 2014. You may re-use this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU,or email: [email protected]. This document/publication is also available on our website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/research-reports If you would like to know more about DWP research, please email: [email protected] First published 2014. ISBN 978-1-910219-65-2 Views expressed in this report are not necessarily those of the Department for Work and Pensions or any other Government Department. i Work Programme Evaluation: the participant experience report Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. 12 Authors’ Credits ........................................................................................................ 13 Glossary ................................................................................................................... 14 DWP Preface Notes ................................................................................................. 16 Executive Summary .................................................................................................. 18 Characteristics of Work Programme participants................................................. 18 Programme entry ................................................................................................. 18 Pre-employment support ..................................................................................... 19 In-work support .................................................................................................... 20 Getting work ........................................................................................................ 20 Staying in work .................................................................................................... 21 Those who completed the programme without finding sustained work ................ 22 Some key themes emerging from the evaluation................................................. 23 Specific and multiple barriers to work .................................................................. 26 Part 1: Introduction ................................................................................................... 29 Coverage of this report and methods .................................................................. 29 Report structure ................................................................................................... 30 1 The Work Programme ....................................................................................... 32 1.1 A new model for welfare-to-work ................................................................ 32 1.2 The commissioning model .......................................................................... 33 1.3 Programme delivery and service design .................................................... 35 1.3.1 Who participates in the Work Programme? ......................................... 35 1.3.2 What do providers offer participants? .................................................. 36 1.3.3 How do claimants enter the Work Programme? .................................. 37 1.3.4 How long do participants stay on the programme? ............................. 37 1.3.5 Who are the Work Programme providers? .......................................... 37 2 The evaluation of the Work Programme ............................................................ 39 2.1 About the evaluation ................................................................................... 39 2.2 The commissioning model evaluation ........................................................ 40 2.3 Programme delivery evaluation .................................................................. 40 ii Work Programme Evaluation: the participant experience report 2.3.1 Provider research ................................................................................ 41 2.3.2 Participant research ............................................................................ 41 2.3.3 Measuring outcomes and impact ........................................................ 42 2.3.4 Locating the evaluation within existing evidence ................................. 43 3 Work programme participants: their labour market background and personal characteristics ........................................................................................................... 44 3.1 Personal characteristics ............................................................................. 44 3.2 Qualifications .............................................................................................. 47 3.3 Family, caring, household and housing circumstances .............................. 48 3.4 Participants’ labour market background and circumstances ...................... 51 3.5 Summary .................................................................................................... 53 Part 2: Programme delivery ...................................................................................... 55 4 Referral and entry to the Work Programme ....................................................... 56 4.1 Pre-programme information sessions ......................................................... 56 4.1.1 Most participants attend an information session ................................. 56 4.1.2 Understanding still relatively high among those who do not attend a session ........................................................................................................... 58 4.2 Waiting time before starting on the programme ......................................... 58 4.3 Why participants join the programme ......................................................... 59 4.4 Perceptions of voluntary or mandatory participation................................... 61 4.5 Summary .................................................................................................... 62 5 Pre-employment support ................................................................................... 64 5.1 Initial contact with participants, role of advisers, assessment and action planning ............................................................................................................... 64 5.1.1 Assessment and initial contact with providers ..................................... 64 5.1.2 Action planning .................................................................................... 66 5.1.3 Nature and frequency of ongoing contact with Work Programme advisers .......................................................................................................... 67 5.2 Nature of provision: work-first, human capital and other approaches ......... 75 5.3 Support for participants with a health condition or disability ....................... 79 5.4 Homeless participants ................................................................................ 80 5.5 Participants’ views on support offered and received from providers........... 81 5.6 Difference made to likelihood of finding work ............................................. 87 5.7 Summary .................................................................................................... 89 6 In-work support and progression ....................................................................... 91 iii Work Programme Evaluation: the participant experience report 6.1 The purpose of, and early feedback from participants on, in-work support 91 6.2 Being contacted about in-work support .....................................................