Scoping report: Labour Market Evidence Programme

The Labour Market Evidence Programme (LMEP) was commissioned by DWP to help local policymakers and practitioners access reliable, timely and accessible evidence over the next year to inform the design, commissioning and delivery of employment support. The LMEP aims to synthesise the existing evidence base on active labour market policies into formats that are practical, trusted and aligned with the needs local government staff. This report sets out the findings from the user consultation stage of the LMEP and the proposed programme of work.

The user consultation consisted of 20 interviews and five workshops with policymakers and practitioners across MSAs, ICBs and local authorities delivering the Connect to Work programme, focusing on understanding evidence use, their evidence needs, and preferred formats.

Evidence use across organisations was highly variable, shaped by organisational maturity, capacity constraints, data availability, and individual skills and confidence. When discussing evidence needs with users, the following themes were identified as areas where they would like clear, accessible evidence about what works:

• Supporting people with disabilities or health conditions into and in work.
• Supporting young people, especially those not engaged with services.
• Economically inactive populations, including barriers and effective approaches.
• Employer engagement, especially Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
• Effective multi-agency working across work, health and skills.
• Skills and retraining pathways, including in-work progression.
• How to measure progress towards work, including soft outcomes.

Users wanted accessible, practical, actionable evidence that answers real-world questions, focuses on areas where evidence exists but is inaccessible, and addresses diversity in user capability through varied outputs. They emphasised the importance of at-a-glance information, clear translation for their internal audiences, formats tailored to their workflow and capacity, and ongoing opportunities for peer learning. Users also stressed the need for credible, high-quality evidence.

The programme of evidence synthesis consists of eight evidence reviews. They cover:

• What works to support people with health conditions and disabilities into employment?
• What works to support the in‑work retention for people with health conditions and disabilities?
• Local implementation and evaluation of health and work Active Labour Market Programmes: What enables effective design, delivery and evaluation?
• How can employers be supported and encouraged to recruit people with health conditions and disabilities?
• What works, at the local level, to support people to retrain?
• What measures, tools and indicators are most useful to measure progress towards employment?
• What works to engage priority groups with active labour market programmes?
• How can local organisations work most effectively together to support employment in communities?
• The themes of these reviews directly reflect user priorities and the scoping of existing evidence, and comprise Rapid Evidence Assessments, a systematic review and an umbrella review.