20 November 2008 – Publication of DWP research report: organisation of Disability Employment Advisers within Jobcentre Plus

A report is published today by the Department for Work and Pensions which presents the findings of the research investigating the organisation of Disability Employment Advisers (DEAs) within Jobcentre Plus (JCP).

This research involved interviews with 109 members of JCP staff across 15 different Districts, including; DEAs and other Advisers and Advisory Service Managers (ASMs). The research aimed to understand how the DEA role operates across JCP.

The main findings of the research were:

General Findings

• DEAs included in the research either operated in a full time DEA role or were split between 2 advisory roles, or 2 or more locations, with only larger Jobcentres tending to have the resource for a full time stand alone DEA.
• Most DEAs preferred to work as a standalone DEA rather than working part time in another advisory role, because they felt they offered a better service to customers and were more able to complete all tasks associated with the DEA role.

Measuring the performance of DEAs

• All Managers used the Adviser Achievement Tool (AAT) as a method of managing performance of DEAs but the way in which AAT was applied varied. Some Managers took into account the time that their DEAs spent on tasks which are part of the DEA role but are not measured by AAT and reduced the number of interviews required accordingly. Other managers did not take this into consideration.
• Many DEAs felt able to achieve AAT most of the time – when they couldn’t, there were different reactions from DEAs. More experienced DEAs were likely to ignore the AAT and focus on customer service. Other DEAs either stopped completing tasks within their role which were not measured by AAT, such as employer engagement and others overworked in their own time
• Since the completion of this research, JCP has rolled out a new version of the AAT, where DEAs have a wide range of activities which are measured by the AAT which are more applicable to their role.

DEAs working with employers

• Work with employers was the most frequently omitted aspect when under time pressures.
• Many ASMs saw employer work as lower priority than other aspects of the role that were subject to benchmarks in the AAT. A minority of ASMs did believe that employer work was crucial.

Training and guidance

• Many DEAs felt that their manager did not have enough knowledge of the DEA role to manage them effectively.
• Shadowing more experienced DEAs was seen as the most important part of training.
• Networking with other DEAs was viewed as crucial, especially if the DEA was the only one in the office, giving the opportunity to case conference and learn new skills from each other, however managers placed different value on the importance of this.

Notes to Editors

1. The DWP research report “JOT Tracking Customer Survey” is published on 21st November 2008.
2. Carol Goldstone Associates conducted the research.  The report author is Carol Goldstone.

Prepared by: the Jobcentre Plus Performance Measurement and Analysis Division