New Deal - Qualitative Research and Case Studies

Author(s): PricewaterhouseCoopers
Commissioned by: Department for Employment and Learning
Document Type: Report
Year: 2001
Publisher: Central Print Unit
Place of Publication: Belfast
Subject Area(s): Employment
Client Group(s) : Employers, Unemployed

Abbreviations: PA - Personal Advisor, IAP - Intensive Activity Period, T&EA - Training & Employment Agency, SSA - Social Security Agency

Background to the Research

  • The evaluation was carried out in order to assess how New Deal was working, in terms of its impact, practice and delivery.

Research Approach

  • 145 participants in the New Deal programme were interviewed (50 twice) in eight case study areas.

Main Findings

Impact of New Deal

  • The effectiveness of New Deal depends largely on the individual participant. Those who have had few problems with the labour market before benefited greatly from the programme, while those with a poor history derived little from it. Those who profited most from New Deal were younger people.
  • Another factor that affects the impact of New Deal is the condition of the local labour market. Where the market was in a good condition, the participants were more positive about the programme and their subsequent employability. However, the reverse is true about areas where the market was not as buoyant.
  • Those participants who had previously encountered multiple barriers to finding employment, such as health or mental problems, had limited success with New Deal.
  • Issues such as gender and religion were found to have had little impact on participant's experiences of the scheme.
  • The qualitative research found that participants have gained valuable skills through New Deal, broadly identifiable as interpersonal skills, generic vocational skills and specific work-related skills.
  • Many participants were concerned by the fact that there were not enough employers involved in the programmes, and that those who were involved were not always the best ones in the areas. In addition, some participants felt that they were put into jobs which did not match their chosen preferences.

Good Practice

  • When participants had the same PA throughout the programme they had a more positive experience. Best results where achieved when the PA gave individually tailored advice to participants. PAs improved their service to the participants when they met PAs from other areas and pooled their knowledge.
  • The introduction of Core Gateway as opposed to the previous system of 2-3 weekly interviews with the PAs had a positive effect on the programme overall.
  • Those participants who faced multiple barriers to employment gained more from New Deal when they met both with their PA and other agencies, such as Social Services, and where a joint approach towards helping the participant was worked out.
  • The qualitative research indicated that subsidising employment was the most effective method of allowing participants to work after the New Deal programme ended, although there were some concerns expressed about continuing employment after the subsidy ended, and in the quality and number of employers involved.
  • The IAP was too short, according to some participants and training providers.

Delivery Arrangements

  • Training achieved best results when it was in line with the participants' capabilities, although the research found that this was infrequent and that some participants also felt that the type of qualification offered did not match their requirements.
  • New Deal had the greatest effect on participants when they could see the link between their training and the type of work they could do when the programme finished.
  • The Consortia based approach was, on the whole, the most suitable for the programme, although there were troubles experienced within some individual Consortia.
  • Concerns where expressed about the role of the Lead Partner. As all participants passed through them to the other New Deal providers, there was a belief that they were retaining the most able participants for themselves.
  • The results of the research suggest that when the T&EA and SSA were in the same building, client care improved in relation to the monitoring and referral systems.

Recommendations

  • The T&EA should reassess its training providers portfolio in terms of size and sector, prioritise groups of employers and encourage more providers in areas where the local labour market is not very buoyant.
  • The report recommends that the T&EA should in future try to tailor the programme so that individual needs are met. It suggests that three separate groups should be established; those with multiple barriers to employment, those who are extremely motivated and those who are enthusiastic but require more skills/qualifications. It also suggests that the trainer provider companies that are chosen should be those flexible enough to meet these individual requirements.
  • PAs require further training in order to be able to provide the best service to participants, including explaining the fact that the programme can be flexible. Their workload should also be reduced to enable them to provide a better standard of care.
  • The programme should focus more on employment after New Deal, and use the output-related funding mechanism to encourage trainer providers to continue employment after the subsidised employment ends, and to improve their training, especially in areas such as IT.
  • Data concerning participants' passage through the New Deal programme should be gathered and perhaps published in order to address the concerns raised by training providers relating to the vested interests of Core Gateway providers and the Lead Partner.
 

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