IES Annual Review 2012

The financial year 2011/12 was a year of achievement and stability after the turbulence of 2010/11.

While the impacts of austerity and public spending cuts are ever apparent, the Institute has successfully adapted to a major change in its funding environment and is well placed to move into the next phase in its development.

The Institute’s largest work stream remains its research and evaluation work on UK public employment policy. The amount of funding available for public policy-related work in the UK has settled down at a new level, much lower than that prevailing in recent years, and there are further reductions in the pipeline.

There was also some evidence during the year that the commitment to evidence-based policy-making had begun to weaken, at least in some parts of the UK administration.

Despite this, IES has maintained its position as a major provider ofhigh quality research and evaluation services to the UK government and public bodies, and our charitable mission to improve employment policy and practice remains at the heart of what we do in this and other areas of our work.