city regions Employability and Skills Scotland 2016 8 th September - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Promoting in-work progression in city regions

Employability and Skills Scotland 2016 8th September 2016

Kathryn Ray Learning and Work Institute

Why in-work progression?

• In-work poverty is an increasing share of all poverty. This has

economic as well as social costs

• Economic benefits to improving pay through a reduced social security bill

and increased economic activity

• In-work progression is key to tackling in-work poverty
• Low pay is key driver of household poverty
• Low pay is not just a temporary phenomenon; three in four people in low

pay in 2001 were still low paid a decade later

• Policy changes have put the spotlight on in-work progression
• In-work conditionality under UC will require low earners to take steps to

improve their earnings (hours or pay)

Challenges to progression

• Progression outcomes shaped by range of factors
• Personal and household circumstances; Access to learning and skills development;

Employer practices; Local labour markets; Welfare policies

• Progression opportunities are sector-specific
• Hospitality and catering, personal services, retail and residential care sectors are closely

associated with low pay and persistent low pay

• Compressed wage distribution means limited opportunities for increased earnings
• Limited support for progression
• Employment support focuses on out of work
• Skills system focuses on young people with fewer qualifications

What works? The evidence base on in-work progression …

• … is limited
• One RCT in the UK – the Employment Retention and

Advancement (ERA) Demonstration, delivered by JCP 2003-7

• Improvements in earnings for long-term unemployed group, as a result of

increased work entry and work retention (not progression in work)

• Improved uptake of skills provision for lone parents but not ‘converted’

into earnings progression

• Weak employer (and sectoral) focus may have limited the programme’s

impact

The evidence base on in-work progression

• Review of mainly US studies by Anne Green et al (for JRF). Not

conclusive, but suggests that:

• Findings on career ladder programmes suggest potential of sector-based workforce

development programmes

• Some evidence of wage impact from skills provision. More likely if: targeted on low-paid

workers, focus on transferable skills, clearly linked to progression routes

• Personalised support including careers guidance and wraparound holistic support is

important facilitator, as is IAG to support decision-making on learning and skills take-up

• Trade union can play a key role in enabling access to progression routes in workplace
• Employer engagement easiest where clearly linked to business need (eg skills shortages,

recruitment/retention difficulties

An integrated approach at city-region level

• Evidence supports need for integrated approach, supporting individual skills and capabilities

but also strengthening progression pathways in low-paid sectors

• Based on labour market analysis, establish delivery partnerships, development of

engagement models

Package of initiatives for Leeds LCR (Green et al, 2016)

CURRENT IN-WORK PROGRESSION TRIALS

West London Alliance: Skills Escalator Pilot

• Part of West London’s Whole Place Community Budget pilot
• Delivered by West London Alliance (LB Hounslow and Harrow) funded through Transformation

Challenge Award

• To redesign frontline services for people working on low incomes by providing access to better

paid and more stable employment through personalised advice and skills acquisition

Entry point

• Civic centre
• CAB
• Library
• Employer
• Children’s

centre

• Credit union

Online service

• Money, debt,

housing, etc

• NCS
• Childcare
• Skills

Adviser service

• Triage service
• Advice/assess
• Action plan
• Advocacy
• Follow-up

Skills escalator

• Guidance
• Skills
• Job brokerage

Trust for London and Walcot Foundation: Step Up

• Grants for pilots to support in-work progression
• Target beneficiaries – individuals paid below London Living

Wage working an average of 14 hours a week for the last 12 months

• £200,000 available per year in total
• Individual grants of up to £40,000 per year
• Oct 2015-Sept 2017 – Year 1 “test & learn”, Year 2 “steady

state”

Step-Up Projects

Creative Society - supporting low paid young people in creative/cultural sectors High Trees Community Development Trust - supporting low paid workers in Tulse Hill (with focus on lone parents and over 50s) Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation (IRMO) - supporting low paid Latin American workers Springboard UK – supporting low paid young people in the restaurant and hospitality sector; employer-focused Thames Reach/Clean Slate – using digital engagement, alongside more conventional approaches, to support low paid workers Women Like Us – supporting low paid parents (mostly women, including many lone parents)

Ambition London

Ambition London seeks to test and trial a range of interventions to engage, train and support people to change their lives with the support of Advanced Learner Loans We aim to develop models and approaches that can be rolled

• ut more widely to:
• support employers and people to meet their skills needs and demonstrate

the impact

• provide people with career advancement support, aligned to their needs
• increase individual (and employer) investment in their skills and learning
• support people to progress from low pay

Examples of tests and trials

• Engagement via employers
• Co-investment model
• Modular training offer
• Job Coach support model
• Modular training offer
• Flexible training approaches; online

and blended

• Supporting individuals become

informed customers with sector specific IAG and case studies

• Supporting individuals become

informed customers with a sector toolkit

• Additional employability support
• Modular training offer
• Supporting individuals become

informed customers via development of an app

• Employability IAG and support

Glasgow In-Work Progression in the care sector pilot

• Part of the Glasgow City Region City Deal - enabling greater self-reliance among people on

low wages by testing ways to boost incomes

• To devise, deliver and refine a sustainable model of employee progression to improve the

skills and earnings potential of care sector employees

• Budget of £600,000 over two years, half from DWP local budget and matched from Glasgow

City Council

• Co-production of action plan
• Co-ordinate interventions
• Ongoing support
• Post-intervention assessment

Delivered by business advisers in City Council DRS

• Business interventions, eg:
• Business diagnostic
• Operations management
• Pitching and procurement
• Business sustainability
• Leadership & management

development

Target: 40 employers in social care sector

• Employee interventions, eg:
• Career progression plans
• Formal qualifications
• Job rotation
• Mentoring support
• Financial & debt advice

Target 400 social care staff

THA HANK NK YO YOU QU QUES ESTIONS TIONS