A government-funded pilot of “hyperlocal” job support in 10 neighbourhoods across England has shown “promising early signs of effectiveness,” including for young people, and could be scalable nationwide, a new evaluation has shown.

The JobsPlus scheme, backed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Youth Futures Foundation, an independent non-profit organisation, focuses intensive support in a small area of predominantly social housing. Echoing a similar, long-established scheme in the US [codeveloped and evaluated by MDRC], “community champions” at each site help to engage hard-to-reach people in the local area.

Residents of social housing are almost twice as likely to be unemployed as the population as a whole, and many of the participants have barriers to work such as caring responsibilities or a health condition.

JobsPlus caseworkers offer one-to-one support, financial help with needs such as interview clothing or transport to facilitate finding work, and can connect clients with local employers, Jobcentre Plus offices or NHS services.

The evaluation found the pilots were “engaging residents who are typically further from the labour market and who may require longer and more intensive support before employment outcomes can be achieved.”

Between July 2024 and December last year, 27% of the 1,000-plus participants in the scheme had achieved a positive employment outcome – in the vast majority of cases, moving from unemployment into a job, or for a few, finding a better job….

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