In Edinburgh, and the rest of Scotland, significant numbers of people are experiencing in-work poverty, and face a range of barriers to career progression. There is increasing policy attention in Scotland on ways to support progression, as part of the wider fair work agenda, but less agreement and limited evidence on what actually works.

L&W’s new report shares findings from the first phase of a programme of work funded by the Robertson Trust and delivered in partnership with Edinburgh College. This builds the evidence base on what works to best support low-income workers to progress into better jobs, and to adapt and test proven in-work progression models in Scotland. During the autumn the project will bring together low-income workers, employers, and providers to co-design a pilot in-work support programme in Edinburgh to help people progress at work.

The report highlights that development and implementation of a new in-work progression programme will come with very real challenges. However, meeting these challenges could help to drive progress towards fairer work and a reduction in poverty in Scotland.

Get involved

We welcome approaches from employers and providers in health and social care in Scotland – and we’d love to hear about successful examples of progression in health and social care from across the UK too.

Contact the project team

29 June 2026

What enables the effective design, delivery and evaluation of local work and health programmes?

This report presents findings from an evidence review on what enables the effective design, delivery and evaluation of local health and work programmes.

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29 June 2026

Scoping report: Labour Market Evidence Programme

This scoping report as part of the Labour Market Evidence programme provides a summary of the work undertaken by IES and L&W between October 2025 and March 2026 including user consultation. It summarises the evidence needs of local policy makers and sets out how these needs can be addressed.

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9 June 2026

Final report: Evaluation of the JobsPlus Pilot

This evaluation of JobsPlus builds on the interim findings published in September 2025 to provide evidence on whether the model can be adapted to the UK context and effectively implemented to improve employment outcomes.  

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19 May 2026

Labour market dashboard

Every month, Learning and Work Institute produces detailed and timely analysis of the latest labour market statistics from ONS. Explore our interactive charts.

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1 April 2026

Supporting the progression of low-income workers in Scotland

With funding from the Robertson Trust, Learning and Work Institute has been working in partnership with Edinburgh College to develop a pilot to support low-income workers in Scotland to progress into better jobs.

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1 April 2026

Final report: Supporting the progression of low-income workers in Scotland

This report shares findings from the second phase of our programme of work funded by the Robertson Trust and delivered in partnership with Edinburgh College. It sets out a proposed model for a new, evidence-led, in-work progression programme in Edinburgh.

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13 March 2026

UK’s training and skills ‘tick-box culture’ puts at risk job mobility and future growth, new report warns

New analysis has identified an overreliance on mandatory and compliance training in UK workplaces compared to other countries – at the expense of more in-depth upskilling required for the jobs of the future.

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13 March 2026

Training and skills needs: Trends and challenges in UK growth sectors

This report, the second in a series of publications funded by Nuffield Foundation, explores the level of estimated skills needs in UK businesses alongside the level and type of training that employers provide.

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24 December 2025

Falling short: Understanding further falls in employer training

This briefing looks at how employer investment in training continues to fall – now down 36% per employee since 2005 – and argues that we must turn this around to improve economic growth.

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