JobsPlus: what are we learning from Year 2 of the pilot?

Eighteen months into JobsPlus, a clearer picture is emerging of what it takes to support residents in social housing communities to move closer to work and what this tells us about the role of local, place-based relational approaches in shaping engagement and progression.

This comes at a time of growing policy focus on economic inactivity, with the Milburn Review highlighting that around one million young people are NEET, nearly 60% of whom are economically inactive. Initiatives such as Get Britain Working, Pathways to Work and Youth Trailblazers signal a growing emphasis towards more integrated, place-based approaches that bring together employment, health and skills support.

Originally developed and evaluated in the United States, JobsPlus demonstrated how strong partnerships between landlords, residents and local services can improve employment outcomes. The UK pilot builds on this evidence, adapting the model across ten housing‑association‑led sites with high levels of worklessness and diverse contexts. Findings are drawn from interviews, participant surveys and programme data collected between July 2024 and January 2026. An overview of the findings can be found in this blog. Read the full evaluation report here.

A place‑based model

JobsPlus is a voluntary, hyper‑local employment programme delivered in ten social housing communities across England. It is led by Learning and Work Institute and evaluated by the Institute for Employment Studies, in partnership with Communities that Work and MDRC, and funded by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Youth Futures Foundation.

The model brings together four elements:

• Onsite employment support: personalised, one‑to‑one support in community hubs within or near to housing estates
• Community support for work: resident‑led outreach and community champions
• Financial incentives: a £400 Into Work Bonus for sustained employment
• Place‑based saturation: open to all working‑age residents in the local area

Delivering support in community settings reduces logistical barriers and shifts services from formal, transactional models toward more accessible, embedded provision.

How support is delivered matters as much as what is delivered. Across sites, a consistent pattern is emerging: accessible, highly flexible, community‑based provision supports initial engagement; trusted relationships sustain that engagement over time; and this in turn enables improvements in confidence, wellbeing and stability, which often precede movement into work.

Trust built from within the community

A defining feature of JobsPlus is the use of community champions: local residents who promote the programme and share their own experiences. Their involvement brings a level of trust that formal services often struggle to achieve. Champions connect with neighbours, support local activities, and show that progress is possible in ways that feel authentic and relatable. For many residents, this peer‑to‑peer connection is the starting point for engagement, particularly when there is initial hesitation stemming from past negative experiences with employment or statutory services. It helps overcome scepticism, reduces stigma, and builds confidence to take a first step.

Reaching people who are often underserved

Year 2 data show that JobsPlus is engaging residents with multiple, often overlapping needs. Most participants (81%) were out of work at registration, alongside high levels of caring responsibilities (39%), long‑term health conditions (33%) and low wellbeing (33%). A high proportion were also claiming Universal Credit (63%) or had low or no qualifications (25%), highlighting the complexity of support needs.

JobsPlus has been particularly successful at finding and engaging young people, including those whom other support services are not reaching. One-third (31%) of JobsPlus participants were aged 16–24, compared to young people making up 12% of residents at sites overall. This strong representation of younger residents is reflected in delivery approaches, i.e. targeted youth events (such as GCSE results celebrations with food, music and advice), using peer-led approaches including referral incentives and encouraging young people to attend with friends, and adopting more hands-on, activity-based sessions alongside regular check-ins to build confidence and sustain engagement.

In addition, 24% of participants were from Black ethnic minority backgrounds, reflecting wider patterns in social housing communities where multiple barriers can make engagement with mainstream employment support more difficult. It underlines the importance of locally based, flexible support and trusted relationships in reaching these groups.

What progress looks like

For many residents, moving into work is not immediate. Progression is often non‑linear, with participants taking different pathways from relatively quick transitions into work to longer, wellbeing-led journeys. This challenges employment support models that assume rapid job entry and highlights the value of recognising intermediate outcomes as part of progression.

Participants described gains in confidence, motivation and social connection, alongside better routines and clearer goals. For many, these improvements in wellbeing came before movement into work, showing they are a core part of the pathway to employment.

Alongside these wider outcomes:

• 9% moved into volunteering
• 15% gained new qualifications

These are important steps that often underpin sustained employment.

Employment outcomes

Year 2 provides a more developed view of outcomes:

• 27% of participants moved into employment or changed roles
• 29% of those out of work at registration entered employment
• Nearly a quarter of job outcomes occurred within one month
• Participants who were not in work at registration and joined at the start of the programme’s delivery period (July to September 2024) had higher job entry rates than later cohorts, with 44% moving into employment.
• Early participants were more likely to report health difficulties, suggesting that sustained, longer-term engagement can help individuals with complex needs make progress. Early joiners may have been more motivated and had more positive attitudes towards work, reflecting the programme’s voluntary nature.
• 61% sustained work for at least three months
• 58% entered permanent roles

Most participants moved into sectors such as retail and hospitality (32%) and health, education and social care (20%), reflecting accessible routes into employment.

Financial incentives played a supporting role, with around 45% of those moving into work qualifying for the £400 Into Work Bonus.

Outcomes also vary across participant groups. Early findings suggest that women, those aged over 55, people with parental or caring responsibilities, and those with substantial health issues were less likely to move into work. This reinforces the importance of flexible, longer‑term support and realistic expectations around the pace of progression.

What is making the difference

Across sites, stronger engagement and progression are linked to a set of delivery features that enable the model to work effectively. These include:

• Strong alignment with housing and community infrastructure – integrated work with housing teams and established partnerships support consistent delivery.
• Sufficient staffing capacity – enabling a balance of outreach and one‑to‑one support, and allowing deeper personalised engagement.
• Continuity of staff and relationships – stable advisor relationships build trust and sustain engagement.
• Employer engagement tailored to local labour markets – relationship‑based approaches create realistic job pathways, build employer confidence, and match support to local sectors.
• Community champions and discretionary support – trusted connectors and flexible financial support remove practical barriers and help maintain participation.

These features show that outcomes depend not only on the model itself but on the conditions that enable effective delivery including staffing, partnerships, and local labour market alignment.

Delivery challenges and considerations

Year 2 also highlights several delivery challenges. These include balancing outreach with sustained engagement, managing caseloads while maintaining personalised support, and navigating differing local labour market conditions. Participants with more complex needs often require longer support, shaping both the pace and extent of outcomes. Partnership working has been a key enabler of effective delivery, particularly where strong relationships with Jobcentre Plus and local organisations have supported referrals and access to wider services. Variations across sites underline the importance of building and sustaining local partnerships to ensure consistent delivery as the model is replicated and scaled up.

Looking ahead: building on what works

The JobsPlus model has strong potential to expand, provided the conditions for effective delivery are maintained.

These include:

• time and longer‑term funding to build trust in communities
• skilled staff and manageable caseloads
• strong partnerships and local governance
• flexible, personalised support for residents facing multiple barriers

While the model can be replicated, its effectiveness depends on preserving what makes it distinctive, including a strong local presence, trusted relationships, and support that reflects people’s wider lives, not just their employment status. More broadly, these findings reinforce that employment support in communities facing complex challenges is not simply about job matching, but about sustained, trust‑based engagement that enables people to move forward at a pace that reflects their circumstances.

Join the conversation

On Wednesday 24 June at 11:00am, IES is hosting a webinar to share the Year 2 findings from the national evaluation of JobsPlus.

The session will:

• explore how the model is working on the ground
• draw out implications for policy and delivery
• reflect on what this means for the future of place‑based employment support

You will hear from the evaluation team, programme funders from DWP (Jonathan Turner) and YFF (Chris Mitchell), and MDRC’s Jim Riccio, who developed JobsPlus in the US. Register here

The authors would like to thank Naomi Clayton for her input to this blog.