Projects

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, NHS England (NHSE) and NHS Improvement (NHSEI) commissioned the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) to conduct a series of three Snapshot Surveys of the Primary Care Workforce to provide a ‘temperature check’ of the wider workforce at key moments. The findings of these surveys offered valuable insight for NHSE and NHSEI into the wellbeing of the workforce as it coped with the demands the pandemic had on services. The purpose of this piece of work is for IES to assist NHS England in continuing to understanding the wellbeing of the Primary Care workforce over time. IES will conduct three bi-annual online surveys of the Primary Care Workforce at approximately six-month intervals to provide a ‘snapshot’ of wellbeing, resilience and burnout levels, and intention to leave, within the workforce.

The project will supply workforce diversity and inclusion research. IES will conduct qualitative research to identify sector specific reasons driving the underrepresentation of certain groups of Londoners in the workplace, and lead a supporting evidence review. The relevant sectors are: Green Economy, Creative and Cultural Industries, Digital & Tech, Health and Social Care and Hospitality.

The project involves a pilot study of a literacy intervention called Catch Up Literacy® run for foster or kinship carers with children in Year 5 or 6. The project includes an impact assessment (run by our partner NIESR), with the primary measure being literacy measured by the York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension (YARC). IES will also run an implementation and process evaluation involving surveys of children in care and foster/ kinship carers, and interviews with foster carers and the delivery team (those running the training) to find out about foster carer and child experiences of taking part in the project and changes in reading confidence and skills over time.

IES is designing and implementing an impact evaluation of the newest offer in NHS England and NHS Improvement’s suite of coaching support offers for primary care staff. To capture longer term impact we will be using a multi-method approach including a series of on-line surveys, prompted journalling and career tracking.

This project has been funded by the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington and is part of the Mercers’ Company Early Years special initiative. It is evaluating a 10-week intervention to upskill Early Years practitioners with the confidence, knowledge & skills to help parents encourage the foundations of STEM through everyday activities and interactions, and to support STEM skills in their settings. The project is being delivered by Peeple in collaboration with the University of Oxford and Sheringham nursery. The project is taking place from April 2021 to March 2024 and the evaluation will be using theory of change development, interviews, observations and outcome data analysis.

The Skills Accelerator, incorporating Local Skills Improvement Plans trailblazers and a pilot £65m Strategic Development Fund (SDF) was announced in the Skills White Paper. Within varied contexts, the SDF pilot will provide capital and programme grant funding to build capacity and explore how education providers can work together most effectively, with employers and other partners, to respond to local skills and innovation priorities. This project will provide early evidence on successful SDF applicants’ collaboration and how they begin to make use of funding. IES will undertake 35 in-depth interviews with successful applicants and relevant partners/stakeholders to inform the Spending Review.

IES is undertaking research for Central London Forward to establish a definition of ‘green jobs’ and ‘green skills’ based on best practice that works in a central London context, and will analyse current and future needs for green jobs and skills in central London using the agreed definitions. IES is leading on the analysis of green skills, and will engage with local FE and HE providers in central London to understand current provision, any barriers to offering green qualifications, and priorities for future green skills provision.

The question Timewise would like to answer is ‘to what extent have part time workers been disproportionately negatively impacted by covid?’ We will use two-quarter longitudinal Labour Force Survey data to explain the impact of covid on part time workers and those who work in a more flexible manner, compared to full time workers. This data source looks at flows from one quarter to the next. The analysis will be similar in manner to the longitudinal LFS analysis IES undertook in December on the impacts of coronavirus on the labour market. We will benchmark to 2019 quarters to assess the difference between usual seasonal trends and the effect of the pandemic.

In partnership with Ipsos Mori, IES is evaluating the extended and more flexible government Traineeships programme. The surge in youth unemployment makes Traineeships a key pre-employment pathway for young people and the new flexibilities are intended to encourage employers to provide high quality opportunities and secure employment for young people as the economy recovers. The process evaluation includes interviews with training providers, employers and trainees, and the use of digital ethnography.

Following development of new organisation values the Home Office is seeking support to understand how best to ensure the values become the ‘lived experience’ of leaders, line managers and staff at all levels. IES are supporting the Home Office with this research project by undertaking a review of external, publicly available data and conducting interviews with examplar organisations to create a view of best practice approaches to embedding values in organisations.