27 May 2008 – Publication of DWP research report 488: Evidence on the effect of Pathways to Work on existing claimants
This report presents the first results of a quantitative study undertaken by the Policy Studies Institute on the overall effect of Pathways to Work for existing Incapacity Benefit customers with claim durations of one to three years.
The results show that Pathways significantly increases employment entry and benefit exit among customers who have been receiving incapacity benefits for one to three years. This group are often viewed as harder to help than new claimants, especially since their rates of employment entry and benefit exit in the absence of Pathways are very low.
The key findings of the research are:
- Pathways significantly increases the rate of employment entry. For those having their Work Focused Interview within the first 6 months of introduction, the probability of having entered employment by the 18 month point was increased by 3-4 percentage points.
- Significant employment effects are still found when consideration is limited to jobs of 30 or more hours per week or 16 or more hours per week. This indicates that for some people Pathways is encouraging a substantial re-engagement with the labour market.
- Pathways also significantly increases exits from incapacity benefits. For those receiving their Work Focused Interview in the first six months of introduction, the probability of having entered employment by the 18 month point was increased by 4-5 percentage points.
While no statistically significant subgroup variation was detected, the report considers the broad pattern of results. This suggests that there may have been stronger effects:
- in April 2004 pilot areas than October 2003 pilot areas
- for men than for women (albeit marginally)
- for younger claimants than for older claimants
- for those with children than for those without children
- for those with a mental health problem than those without a mental health problem.
The research forms part of a comprehensive independent evaluation of Pathways to Work carried out by a consortium of research organisations using both qualitative and quantitative techniques.
Notes to editors
- The DWP research report: Evidence on the effect of Pathways to Work on existing claimants is published today on DWP website.
- Pathways to Work provides extra help for people on incapacity benefits to find work.
- In February 2005, a modified version of Pathways to Work was extended to existing customers with an IB claim of up to two years duration at the time it was introduced locally in the seven pilot areas. In practice, this meant that those included would have had a claim of roughly one to three years at the time of the extension.
- The report is based on 'duration analysis' of survey and administrative data conducted by Helen Bewley, Richard Dorsett and Marisa Ratto from the Policy Studies Institute.
- This evaluation made use of both survey data and two types of administrative data. The benefit of including survey data is that they provide information on a rich set of outcomes and a comprehensive range of factors likely to influence the effectiveness of Pathways. Surveys were undertaken with over three thousand participants in Pathways and a similar number in the control group.
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Website: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rrs2008.asp
