Work and Health Mapping Dashboard

The Back to Work Plan (November 2023) set out the government’s plans for reform of employment support across the UK with new initiatives, additional funding, and a clear remit to support people with long-term health conditions, disabilities, or long-term unemployment to start, stay, and succeed in work.

Headlines from the Back to Work Plan included the Restart Scheme (DWP commissioned prior to devolution deal) being extended for a further 2 years, with a new post-Restart programme introduced to include intensive support activity. New programmes were also announced or confirmed such as Universal Support and WorkWell Partnerships. GMCA is working with colleagues across NHS GM and DWP to ensure we maximise opportunities for Greater Manchester.

Previously, Working Well has not relied on community outreach as a major source of referrals. Some Working Well programmes have tested small scale outreach models in the past (for example the Local Signposting Organisations route on Working Well: Work & Health Programme) but the formal referral pathway through JobCentre Plus has been the norm. Outreach approaches within employment support are nationally under-tested and under-established.

Working Well: Pioneer and Working Well: IPSPC (both went live in September 2023) have primarily sourced referrals via outreach. Working Well: Pioneer takes referrals from eligible signposting organisations via outreach, whilst Working Well: IPSPC takes referrals from primary care and engages with employers to create job opportunities. Working Well: Support to Succeed is also designed around community outreach.

Effective outreach and engagement are important in reaching the right people and offering them the right support. GMCA’s research team have created a dashboard bringing together data from a range of sources. The dashboard maps economic inactivity across Greater Manchester at both ward and LSOA levels. The data can be broken down by reason for economic inactivity and demographic factors such as age, gender and ethnicity.

The dashboard is an aid in identifying who and where to target in terms of outreach. An effective outreach and triage model is important in reaching into communities to find the right people and triaging them into the right programme. The dashboard can support an intelligence led outreach approach, and can be used by GMCA, our external partners, and GM wide, borough, and community level outreach contributors.

Visit Work and Health - Mapping dashboard (external website) to view the tool.