06 May 2008 – Publication of DWP research report: 'Implementation and second-year impacts for lone parents in the UK Employment, Retention and Advancement (ERA) demonstration'.
Research published today by the Department for Work and Pensions provides findings on the implementation and second-year impacts for lone parents in the UK Employment, Retention and Advancement (ERA) demonstration. The evaluation is being carried out by a consortium led by US organisation MDRC alongside the Policy Studies Institute, the Office for National Statistics and the Institute for Fiscal Studies. This report presents the outcomes for lone parents two years after starting the ERA programme.
ERA was launched in 2003 to test the effectiveness of a package of in-work support and financial incentives, in helping customers sustain and progress in employment. ERA has been evaluated using a Random Assignment research design, in which customers were randomly allocated to either a programme group, that received ERA services, or a control group that did not. Outcomes for both groups are compared, to determine the impacts. ERA was aimed at customers who have difficulty and keeping full time work, or advancing to more secure and better paid positions and this report presents findings for customers that were on the New Deal for lone Parents (NDLP), and lone parents working part-time and receiving Working Tax Credit, when they entered the study.
The main findings are:
- Delivery of the ERA programme improved over time, as staff became more skilled.
- Sixty-one percent of ERA customers on New Deal for Lone Parents (NDLP), and 75 per cent of ERA customers on Working Tax Credit (WTC) received retention and advancement support from Jobcentre Plus whilst employed, compared with 19 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively, of the control groups.
- Within the first two years of beginning ERA, customers on NDLP earned 24% more than the control group (£8,049, compared with £6,498), and lone parents on WTC earned 5 per cent more (£17,267, compared with £16,392).
- Thirty-eight per cent of ERA NDLP customers worked full-time at some point during the two year period, compared with 28 per cent of the control group. Forty-two per cent of ERA WTC customers worked full-time, compared with 30 per cent of the control group.
- Thirty-six percent of ERA NDLP customers combined training or education with employment, compared with 30 percent of the control group.
- Fifty-nine per cent of ERA lone parents had taken steps to advance in employment, compared with 52 per cent of the control group, as had 81 per cent of the ERA WTC group, compared with 77 per cent of the WTC control group.
Notes to Editors
Research Report 489, Implementation and second-year impacts for lone parents in the UK Employment and Advancement (ERA) demonstration, is published on 6th May, 2008. The report is available on the DWP website and hard copies can be obtained from Paul Noakes, Room 4-26, The Adelphi, 1-11 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6HT.
DWP Press Office: 0203 267 5144
Out of hours: 07659 108 883
Website: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5
Prepared by: the DWP Parents Employment Division
