Research into the Youth Offer

What is this project about?

■       This research will help us understand people’s experiences of the service they have received from Youth Employability Coaches and the Youth Employability Programme. The aim of the research is to improve these services for young people looking for work.

■       We would like to hear your views on the support you have been offered, whether it has helped you in your search for employment and how it can be improved.  

■       The research has been commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions and is being undertaken by independent research companies called the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) and Ipsos

■       A summary of our research findings will be shared with DWP. The findings will be anonymised, so you will not be identified. What you say will not be shared with anyone at DWP or your local Jobcentre and will not affect your benefits in any way.

What happens if I decide to take part?

Taking part will involve a 45 minute telephone interview.

The conversation will cover:

■       What support you have been offered by Jobcentre and partner organisations to help you find work

■       Your views on this support and whether you felt it could benefit you

■       How well the support worked for you in practice

■       What you got out of it and whether the support can be improved in anyway

If you do choose to participate, we offer a thank you gift for your time - a £30 voucher.

What are my rights if I take part?

■       It is up to you whether you take part. We would really like to hear about your experiences, but you don’t have to take part and your decision to do so is completely voluntary. Whether you take part or not will not affect your dealings with the DWP, Jobcentre, or any other government agencies, and the benefits you may be claiming will not be affected in any way.

■    The researcher will ask whether they can record the conversation they have with you. We will store the record of what you have said safely and will not share it with anyone else. We may want to include something you say during the interview in our research findings, but we will not mention your name or anything that could identify you. If you do not want us to include anything you say, then that’s ok too.

■       You have the right to privacy. We don’t share anything that would identify you (like name or address) with anyone outside the research team. When we share the findings with DWP, we might use quotes from you, but never with your name.

■       You have the right to decide how much you share. You can choose not to answer questions that feel like too much - or take breaks - or stop if that feels right for you.

■       You have the right for your data to be held safely. We make sure there is no way you can be identified by taking part, and that your privacy is not compromised.

■       You have a right to change your mind if you no longer wish to take part. This can be before, during, or after the conversation. If afterwards you decide you do not want us to use what you shared, please email rosie.gloster@employment-studies.co.uk and ask us to delete your data, and where possible, we will not process this data. This can be done up to 2 weeks after the interview date.

What happens to the information I share, or ‘my data’?

■       If you take part, and with your permission, we’ll record our conversation (audio) and take notes.

■       We only keep 1 file with your name and other identifying information (like your phone number) so we can reach you. This is held securely on our server and not shared with anyone outside the research team. Anything else you share is labelled anonymously (for example, as ‘Participant 1’).

■       We will write a summary of the findings and share this with DWP. They will not know who we have spoken with, and we will not include anything that identifies you (like your name).

■       To protect your privacy, we delete the audio recording of our conversation and the file with your name and other identifying details after the project is completed. Any transcripts, handwritten notes taken during the interview, and anonymised notes from all interviews will be securely deleted from the IES and Ipsos systems by January 2023. Anonymised interview notes will be sent to DWP for use in future research on DWP’s Youth Offer.

■       Further information on how your data will be used is available on our privacy notice for the project

Who can I talk to about the research?

If you have questions about the study, or would like to remove the information you have provided, please contact:

Who can I contact with a query about how my data will be used?

Further information on the rights available to you is also available from the Information Commissioner’s Office - the independent body responsible for regulating data protection within the UK. They can also deal with any complaints you may have regarding our use of your data: Tel: 0303 123 1113, Email: casework@ico.org.uk,

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF