
By Stephen Evans, Chief Executive, Learning and Work Institute
The Learning and Work Institute is leading trials of a new way to help people in social housing find work. Based on a successful US model, it could help strike a path towards the Government’s employment ambitions.
Back in 2022, Learning and Work Institute argued the UK should aim for an 80% employment rate. This was because other countries, like the Netherlands, have done it, there are enough people out of work but who can and want to work to achieve this, and it could boost the economy by £23 billion.
We’re delighted the new Government has adopted this ambition. But it’s a stretching one, requiring an extra 2.4 million people in work. Getting there will require a step change in the number of people we help to find work each year. In particular, there’s only 1.4 million people who are unemployed, so we’ll need to extend employment support to more people who are economically inactive (not looking for or available to start work). Yet only one in ten out-of-work disabled people, one of the biggest groups outside the labour market, get help to find work each year.
Coupled with that, we have a complex array of services, funders and programmes, often with quite specific eligibility criteria, and often with short-term funding too. This can make it difficult for people to know where to get help, and also for those working in employment support to provide the right help for everyone that needs it.
Testing Jobs Plus
That’s where Jobs Plus comes in. Jobs Plus is an approach demonstrated to work in the US; even 20 years later participants have higher employment rates and earnings. Together with nine Housing Associations, Communities that Work, Institute for Employment Studies and MDRC (who evaluated the original US trials), Learning and Work Institute is now leading Jobs Plus trials in the UK, supported by UK Government funding.
Jobs Plus has three core components:
- Widespread engagement. The programme takes a ‘saturation’ approach, aiming to spread the message about the help available to find work to everyone living in the area. This includes supporting local residents to be community champions and working with community groups to spread the word. It also includes an onsite community hub where services are co-located wherever possible, making it the place to go for help with work.
- Support for all. Support is open to everyone that wants it, avoiding the ‘riddle me this’ eligibility criteria we often end up with. Sometimes this means referring people to other existing services (co-located in the hub where possible), sometimes new and extra support.
- Making work pay. In addition to existing financial support for work, the US Jobs Plus offered financial incentives through their equivalent of Housing Benefit to ensure that residents would be better off in work. While the UK system is of course different, the principle of ensuring people are better off in work, and believe they will be, is equally important. So a financial bonus for those finding and sustaining work is included.
Each pilot is testing the core approach – support available to everyone who wants it, engaging everyone in a community, and ensuring good financial incentives – but tailored to their local area. This means increasing the amount of employment advisor capacity available, training residents as community champions, spreading the message about the help available, gathering local services in a community hub, and offering a £400 Into Work Bonus for those finding and staying in work for two months. The Into Bonus is disregarded from benefit calculations, so it’s a real bonus for people, they don’t lose it in reduced benefit payments.
Why here, why now?
Many of the individual elements of the programme will be familiar to many. But what differs is testing them altogether and setting this up as a trial from the start so we can hopefully see what works and then use that to inform wider rollout and future programme design.
Already there is interesting practice emerging; from supporting residents to spread the word, to working with local shops, to working with residents to tailor marketing messages so they’ll be more effective.
Why focus on social housing? Our research found that one in four economically inactive people live in social housing. This is largely because of how the limited supply of social housing of is allocated, but also shows there is a real need for support given many want to work. And social landlords, working with many others in employment support, already do so much to help their residents find work. So there is an infrastructure to build on and willingness to test new ways of working.
This is a challenging time: there are lots of stories about recent rises in economic inactivity, employers’ struggles to fill vacancies, and tight public finances. But it can be an exciting time too: a commitment to increase employment and a chance to test different approaches.
Social landlords and everyone involved in employment support have a vital role to play in making this a better tomorrow for everyone. We hope Jobs Plus can help in this ambition and look forward to sharing findings as they emerge.
References
https://learningandwork.org.uk/resources/research-and-reports/towards-full-employment/
https://learningandwork.org.uk/resources/research-and-reports/aiming-high/