Working for Families
Working for Families is a Scottish Government initiative whereby funding is given to local authorities to set up projects to help parents and carers move into, or nearer to, employability. Although the implementation by local authorities varies, as it reflects their own priorities, the general model that has evolved is for link workers to be employed. They recruit clients, identify the barriers that they face if they are to move into employment or training and then help to overcome these by working with other specialists. Given the importance of childcare many projects also have some form of childcare subsidy scheme. As many of the clients are on benefits money advice is also generally provided.
In total 20 local authorities receive Working for Families funds, with the amounts ranging from £350,000 to £2,500,000 a year.
We were initially involved with Working for Families in 2003 when it was commissioned by the Scottish Government to undertake the formative evaluation of the initial 9 projects that were set up in 2 local authorities. As a result of this work a number of Recommendations were made that were incorporated into the main programme. The key one was that Working for Families funds should be channeled through economic development departments or their equivalents otherwise the focus on linking childcare to employability might be lost.
We have subsequently undertaken work for a number of local authorities. For example:-
- For Edinburgh City we helped to develop the City’s Working for Families Strategy. This involved extensive consultation with senior politicians. Council officers, other agencies and potential clients (who were consulted through a number of Focus Groups across the City). We were also involved in a number of major workshops at which the approach that was proposed was presented and discussed with stakeholders;
- For Clackmannanshire Council we undertook a mid-term evaluation of the Council’s Working for Families programme. This involved analysis of client data, interviews with project staff and key players, focus groups with clients and the production of a number of good practice case studies that looked at client’s progress; and
- For Dundee City We are currently undertaking an evaluation of the City’s Working for Families programme. As well as looking at progress toward objective attainment, a number of future funding scenarios are being developed. These will contain recommendations as to which projects should continue to be supported if different levels of funding were to be available after March 2008, when the current funding allocation comes to an end.
Our experience of Working for Families is complemented by a variety of evaluations that have looked at the impact of childcare initiatives and evaluations of employability programmes.
The report of the first phase of the evaluation of the pilot projects is available at:-
www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/03/19002/33800
Sheffield