Study of School Gates Employment Support Initiative (Research Report No 747)

A report of research carried out by the Institute for Employment Studies on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions This report presents qualitative findings from the study of the School Gates Employment Initiative. This mostly involved qualitative research in 13 of the 25 pilot areas which included interviews with school heads, Regional Development Agency (RDA) leads, Jobcentre Plus, local authorities (LAs) and devolved administrations, parents and parent support staff in schools. It also involved two semi-structured group discussions with local partners at two practitioner events in November 2010, as well as a review of evidence presented in the Management Information (MI) and the quarterly reports from the pilot areas. The findings of this report strongly support the notion that schools, Jobcentre Plus and LA employment advisers can play a potentially important role in moving parents from low incomes towards work. School Gates’ reach to potential second earners and parents on low incomes, many of whom are not on benefits and are new customers to Jobcentre Plus, has been a key strength of the pilot. Many parents engaged in the pilot were also lone parents, some of whom were also not in receipt of benefits. In this way, many school sites have provided a critical mass of families within these target groups for Jobcentre Plus and other LA employment advisers to engage with