Pathways to Work from Incapacity Benefits: A study of experience and use of Return to Work Credit

The Pathways to Work/Incapacity Benefit Reforms pilot was introduced in October 2003 and aims to increase the number of incapacity benefit recipients who move towards and into paid work. The reforms comprise a package of measures, initially introduced in seven Jobcentre Plus districts in England, Scotland and Wales. A further 14 districts are being phased into the pilot from October 2005. This report presents findings from a focused study of Return to Work Credit (RTWC) and is based on qualitative research conducted by the Social Policy Research Unit, the National Centre for Social Research and the Policy Studies Institute in 2005/06. This study is one of several being undertaken to inform the overall evaluation of the Pathways to Work pilots

Incapacity Benefit Reforms Pilot: Findings from a longitudinal panel of clients

The Incapacity Benefit reforms were introduced in October 2003 and aim to increase the number of incapacity benefit recipients who move towards and into paid work. The package of measures that comprise the reforms is being Piloted in seven areas of England, Scotland and Wales. This report is based on research conducted by the Social Policy Research Unit, the National Centre for Social Research and the Policy Studies Institute in 2004/05 and presents findings from the first cohort of a longitudinal qualitative study of the views and experiences of incapacity benefit recipients who have taken part in the Pilots

Charm production at HERA

The ZEUS data on the charm structure function F_2^c at small x fit well to a single power of x, corresponding to the exchange of a hard pomeron that is flavour-blind. When combined with the contribution from the exchange of a soft pomeron, the hard pomeron gives a good description of elastic $J/\psi$ photoproduction.Comment: 6 pages, plain tex, with 3 figures embedded using epsf. Typos corrected in equations (10) and (11

Customer views on service delivery in the Child Support Agency

This research was commissioned to investigate further a range of issues identified in the last CSA national client survey carried out in 1995. It is a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with parents with care and absent parents. The research aimed to identify client satisfaction and dissatisfaction arising specifically from operational or staff activities. The main findings are: Absent parents and parents with care accepted the principle of dual responsibility. Parents with care valued the recognition of the father's responsibilities and regular payments of maintenance. Although absent parents tended to agree with the Agency's aims, some thought they had been incorrectly implemented. The Agency was seen as pursuing 'soft targets' and thought to be ineffective in obtaining maintenance from absent parents who refused to comply. Overall people were left with an impression of an impersonal system consisting of forms, letters and, increasingly, telephone calls. The Agency was seen as lacking even handedness in ensuring that all absent parents paid maintenance. Many parents were dissatisfied with their assessment as they felt it was too high and therefore inaccurate. None of the parents were able to explain fully how their assessment had been calculated and many wanted to know the details of the formula used. There were mixed views on the forms used in the assessment, some found them easy to complete, while for others it was more difficult, but few had tried to use the help notes provided. There was some objection to having to provide information on partners income and the failure to ask about debt. Contact with the Agency was a source of dissatisfaction. Some parents disliked the tone of letters from the CSA, and many complained about delays and not being kept informed of progress. Very few parents in the study had had face-to-face contact with the CSA, but many said it would be their preferred method of contact. Although there were no cases of the absent parent giving up work as a result of involvement with the CSA, some reported no longer working overtime or looking for promotion, as they believed any extra income would go in maintenance payments. For parents with care there was a greater incentive to take employment when maintenance replaced Income Support, but if it was not regularly received, they had to live on a reduced amount of benefit

'Continuity of care': a critical interpretive synthesis of how the concept was elaborated by a national research programme.

This is the final version of the article. Available from Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals via the link in this record.INTRODUCTION: A Continuity of Care Research Programme was undertaken in England in 2000-9. The Programme was informed by a conceptual framework proposed by Freeman and colleagues in an earlier scoping study. At the end of the Programme, a conceptual synthesis was carried out in order to confirm or refine the 'Freeman model' of continuity of care. METHODS: A conceptual synthesis of the outputs of the Programme, using Critical Interpretive Synthesis. RESULTS: The conceptual framework underpinning the Freeman model of continuity of care, which prioritises the perspectives of service users and carers, was variously utilised in the Programme. Analysis revealed indications of an emerging shift from the patient and carer 'perspectivist' paradigm of the Freeman model towards a new 'partnership' paradigm where continuity is recognised to be co-constructed by patients, families and professionals, all of whom have an active part to play in its accomplishment. CONCLUSIONS: The projects in the Programme have advanced understanding of patients' perspectives on continuity of care and on the complex nature of this concept. At the same time, they have raised issues and reported findings which may be indicative of an emergent paradigm shift in this area of research, towards a more dynamic partnership model.This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Service Delivery and Organisation Programme (project number 08/1813/248). We thank researchers from the original projects, our project advisor, Mrs Marilyn Ekers, and the anonymous referees of the final report, and the anonymous reviewers of this paper, for their help and suggestions. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NIHR SDO programme or the Department of Healt

Using a model of group psychotherapy to support social research on sensitive topics

This article describes the exploratory use of professional therapeutic support by social researchers working on a sensitive topic. Talking to recently bereaved parents about the financial implications of their child's death was expected to be demanding work, and the research design included access to an independent psychotherapeutic service. Using this kind of professional support is rare within the general social research community, and it is useful to reflect on the process. There are likely to be implications for collection and interpretation of data, research output and the role and experience of the therapist. Here, the primary focus is the potential impact on researcher well-being

Identification of the factors associated with outcomes in a condition management programme

<p>Background: A requirement of the Government’s Pathways to Work (PtW) agenda was to introduce a Condition Management Programme (CMP). The aim of the present study was to identify the differences between those who engaged and made progress in this telephone-based biopsychosocial intervention, in terms of their health, and those who did not and to determine the client and practitioner characteristics and programme elements associated with success in a programme aimed at improving health.</p> <p>Methods: Data were obtained from the CMP electronic spreadsheets and clients paper-based case records. CMP standard practice was that questionnaires were administered during the pre- and post-assessment phases over the telephone. Each client’s record contains their socio-demographic data, their primary health condition, as well as the pre- and post-intervention scores of the health assessment tool administered. Univariate and multivariate statistical analysis was used to investigate the relationships between the database variables. Clients were included in the study if their records were available for analysis from July 2006 to December 2007.</p> <p> Results: On average there were 112 referrals per month, totalling 2016 referrals during the evaluation period. The majority (62.8%) of clients had a mental-health condition. Successful completion of the programme was 28.5% (575 “completers”; 144 “discharges”). Several factors, such as age, health condition, mode of contact, and practitioner characteristics, were significant determinants of participation and completion of the programme. The results showed that completion of the CMP was associated with a better mental-health status, by reducing the number of clients that were either anxious, depressed or both, before undertaking the programme, from 74% to 32.5%.</p> <p>Conclusions: Our findings showed that an individual's characteristics are associated with success in the programme, defined as completing the intervention and demonstrating an improved health status. This study provides some evidence that the systematic evaluation of such programmes and interventions could identify ways in which they could be improved.</p&gt