Evaluation of Activity Agreements Pilots

In 2006, the government launched two new pilot policies aimed at attracting disengaged young people back into learning: Activity Agreements (AA), aimed at 16-17 year olds not in education, employment or training (NEET) for 20 continuous weeks, and Learning Agreements (LAP), designed to increase training among 16-17 year olds in jobs without accredited training (JWT). These were jointly known as Pilot 1 and operated until April 2008. From April 2008 to April 2009, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (now Department for Education) decided to test earlier intervention for the NEET group, creating three new models of operation for the AA, and removing the wage compensation variant of LAP. This phase was known as Pilot 2 . In April 2009, a decision was reached to continue the Activity Agreements, focused on the most vulnerable young people, and to discontinue LAP. IES has led the evaluation consortium since the inception of the Pilots, working with the National Centre for Social Research, and the Centre for Education and Industry at the University of Warwick. The latest (Pilot 3) evaluation will comprise a quantitative evaluation to assess the impact of the pilots on young people and their uptake of learning, training and work, and a process evaluation looking at how the pilots works in practice, including a number of studies focused on key themes such as value for money, working with JSA claimants, and the experiences of young people with learning disabilities or difficulties.

Project details

Client	Department for Education
Year	2009
IES contact	Becci Newton
Research partners	National Centre for Social Research, Centre for Education and Industry