Projects

The focus is Phase 1 of the Teaching Industry Exchange (TIE), which aims to facilitate a two-way exchange between industry professionals and FE providers in order to improve the quality and relevance of FE provision and talent pipelines. The evaluation will assess how well the pilot is being implemented and what learnings can be taken forward as GLA expand the TIE into different sectors.

Ipsos and the Institute for Employment Studies are delivering qualitative research for the Department for Business and Trade to understand how UK employers use zero-hours contracts and other flexible working arrangements in workforce planning. The findings will provide practical evidence to support policy implementation, impact assessment and guidance for employers.

We are investigating how job mobility can help older workers in routine and semi-routine jobs to extend their working lives. Using mixed methods—an evidence review, analysis of Understanding Society data, and place-based qualitative research in the Leeds City Region—we will examine how job mobility can be improved, with implications for employers and local, regional and national policy.

The launch of the We Move FWD Academy marks an important shift from earlier phases of work undertaken by BBC Children in Need (CiN) to remove barriers and create opportunities for Black children and young people across the UK. At its heart lies a critical question: how can youth-led, culturally grounded approaches enable access to paid pathways, without losing the authenticity and agency that make them effective?

Led by IPA with IES and Coleg Cambria, this research aims to understand the current picture of collaboration between tertiary education providers and trade unions. The project will combine research and stakeholder engagement with practical tools, training, and pilot support to build stronger social partnership working across the sector.

Starting with a multi-stage desk-based approach using AI tools to map available careers guidance for adults in work in England, this research looks to identify a viable pilot intervention for the delivery of guidance to adults in work. This will include a deep dive of locally available guidance to highlight what can work. Finally, support will be given to help Gatsby host roundtable discussions including providing a summary of findings.

WECA design for its Youth Guarantee Trailblazer is tailored to the region’s specific needs, spanning system-level leadership (e.g. skills, support and employment system mapping) to targeted cohort support (e.g. rural access transport subsidies and SEND work placements).

A literature review followed by qualitative interviews with 20 older workers, to inform policy and employer guidance on encouraging and supporting older workers to continue working up to and beyond state pension age.

IES and Social Finance are delivering an independent evaluation and learning programme for the York and North Yorkshire Economic Inactivity Trailblazer. The project will aim to identify what works in supporting economically individuals, by reviewing delivery models and bespoke pilots. The project integrates mixed methods impact and process evaluation with a learning community that will create bespoke theories of change and case study outputs. Case studies and stakeholder interviews will contribute to recommendations to strengthen regional plans for future scale up.

IES, in partnership with Verian, are conducting a Feasibility Study of a planned Randomised Controlled Trial (“trial”) with Workwhile on behalf of Youth Futures Foundation (YFF). The trial would evaluate Workwhile’s DevelopMentor programme with the line managers of disadvantaged apprentices within Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs). This is the fifth commission within YFF’s Employer Trials programme of work.