An innovative employment support pilot spanning Medway to Merseyside has shown promise reaching social housing residents who are out of work but do not typically access mainstream support. The “hyper-local” scheme is open to all local residents of working age, and after Alan Milburn’s recent interim report on youth employment revealed that a high proportion of young people who are NEET (not in education, employment or training) are “hidden from the very systems meant to help them,” the pilot offers a practical solution to growing concerns about “hidden” youth employment.
Over the past two years, more than 1,200 people have engaged with JobsPlus, a community-led initiative designed to help people into work and increase their earnings. Delivered across ten sites in England, the pilot focuses on social housing residents, who are nearly twice as likely to be out of work as people living in other types of housing. In a particular boon for the Government’s efforts to tackle rising youth unemployment, newly published evaluation findings, led by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), show that JobsPlus is particularly successful at finding and engaging young people who other support is not reaching. One third (31%) of JobsPlus participants were aged 16–24, a disproportionately high number as young people made up only 12% of residents at sites overall.
JobsPlus is led by independent policy and research organisation Learning and Work Institute (L&W) and funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Youth Futures Foundation. The pilot is being delivered in partnership with social landlords, enabling delivery partners to co-locate work, health and skills services on residents’ doorsteps. Distinct from other programmes, JobsPlus offers support to everyone in the local area, rather than only to people already receiving benefits. This means the new model is able to engage people who are typically overlooked by mainstream support, including young people who might otherwise be “off the grid”.
Participants entering the programme often face multiple barriers to work, including low or no qualifications and below-average wellbeing. The evaluation has identified improvements in wellbeing and job readiness, particularly among those furthest from the labour market, including people with physical and mental health conditions. One participant described the transformational impact:
“I’ve gone from someone with some health conditions, not wanting to work because I had to focus on that, to someone who is now volunteering, who’s getting to know people in the community and trying to help somebody else, and looking to get back to work. So that’s a big step for me.”
JobsPlus is backed by evidence in the United States, showing that it can lead to better, long-term employment outcomes for residents and for their children up to 20 years later. With early signs of promise in England too, the DWP has extended funding for the pilots for a further year.
Learning and Work Institute is leading JobsPlus. Stephen Evans, Chief Executive, said:
“With over a million young people now estimated to not be in education, employment or training, it’s time to move from analysis to action. We welcome findings that the hyper-local approach of JobsPlus offers that chance of action: proactively finding and supporting young people in their local communities, and offering wrap-around support that understands them as people. As DWP pledges to invest in these pilots for a further year, we welcome the opportunity to work with partners across the country to ensure more people have the chance to find suitable and sustainable employment.”
The Department for Work and Pensions is co-funding JobsPlus. Minister for Employment Dame Diana Johnson said:
“Too many young people are currently not accessing the support that exists to help them, and that must change. That’s why we are backing innovative approaches like JobsPlus, which works directly with local communities to find and support young people.
“JobsPlus complements our Youth Guarantee – our commitment to giving every young person the chance to earn or learn – by reaching those who have fallen furthest from the system.
“The Youth Guarantee is central to the wide-ranging action we are already taking to tackle youth unemployment, which will create 500,000 opportunities for young people and includes a Youth Jobs Grant for businesses launching next month, more apprenticeships, and subsidised employment to help young people take that vital first step into work.”
Institute of Employment Studies is evaluating the JobsPlus pilots. Naomi Clayton, Chief Executive, said:
“Our evaluation shows that JobsPlus is succeeding in reaching young people who are often ‘off the radar’ of traditional employment support. By embedding services within communities and taking a proactive, personalised approach, the programme is engaging those who face multiple and complex barriers to work. We are seeing encouraging improvements in wellbeing and job readiness, particularly among those furthest from the labour market. These early findings highlight the potential of hyper-local, joined-up support to make a meaningful difference to young people’s employment prospects, and offer important lessons for future policy and practice.”
