Our Policy and Research Manager, Dr Andy Holroyde, recently presented at the Employment Related Services Association (ERSA) conference in London.
Below, Andy shares some of the findings from our new research, developed with the Learning and Work Institute. We explore economic inactivity due to ill-health at the regional and local level, in the hope that it can help shape future services to meet the needs of differing areas and communities.
Using data to understand economic inactivity
It is always a privilege to be able to share our research with commissioners and stakeholders, especially when our findings address an area of key importance for the future provision of employment support, and at a crucial moment as new devolved services are being shaped.
Through our research, we sought to understand more about those who are economically inactive – a technical term used in official labour market statistics to refer to those who are not currently working, seeking work or available to immediately move into employment.
Exploring support needs
People have expressed a great deal of concern about the high rate of economic inactivity, specifically where this is due to ill-health. Currently, a record level of 2.8 million people in Britain out of work due to long-term sickness. Addressing this challenge is one of the ‘key issues’ outlined in the Government’s ‘Get Britain Working‘ White Paper. It is also a core focus of new programmes such as Connect to Work.
The development of support for those who are economically inactive due to ill-health has understandably focused on health-related needs. However, we know from our experience in delivering a wide range of employment support services, that it isn’t that simple. People can experience multiple interconnected, and overlapping, challenges which are preventing them from securing and sustaining work.
We therefore wanted to understand more about the characteristics and support needs of this population. This included exploring areas such as caring responsibilities, housing, and skills. Crucially, we wanted to look deeper than the national picture, to explore this data at the regional and local level.
Key findings
Through collaboration with the Learning and Work Institute, and drawing upon two sources (the 2021 Census and the Annual Population Survey March 2024), we were able to produce a data-set for this population in England and Wales, and create profiles for regions, combined authorities, and local areas.
This reveals some really important findings when thinking about broader support needs beyond those directly related to health. For example, across the total of this population, more than 10% provide some form of unpaid care. Furthermore, over 20% have dependent children and almost 40% are without qualifications.
The data also highlights significant variations in populations, characteristics and support needs across geographies. We see, for example, that in the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority 17.2% of this population have dependent children. However, this increases to almost 25% in the West Midlands Combined Authority.
Differences at the local level are even more pronounced. In Knowsley (Liverpool City Region Combined Authority) half of this population are without qualifications, compared to just over a quarter in Craven (York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority). Looking at different types of accommodation, we see that in Islington (London) 87.1% of this population are in social rented housing, compared to just 24.2% in Castle Point (Essex).
We also see significant variations across local areas within regions and combined authorities. In the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, for example, 20% of this population have dependent children in Wakefield, compared to over 27% in Bradford. Similarly, while in Calderdale 43.1% are in social rented housing, in Leeds this rises to 59.8%.
Implications for devolved employment support services
Collectively the findings highlight a range of additional support needs beyond health, and the variations that exist across different localities, which raise important implications for the design and delivery of devolved employment support services.
We hope that our research will help commissioners across the country to shape provision to reflect to specific needs of the citizens in their area, delivering the truly locally tailored support that will help people move into sustainable employment.
To find out more about this research and localised information for your area, please complete the form below.
