How will Labour Transform our Employability Services?

The Labour Party’s return to power marks a significant opportunity to transform the UK’s approach to employability services and welfare policy. Central to Labour’s vision is creating an inclusive, equitable society where support is available to all who need it. This ambitious agenda should involve ensuring that professional standards and quality improvement are at the forefront of service delivery while adopting a person-centred approach in service design and commissioning. I am keen to explore how the new government plans to realise these ambitions, ensure inclusivity across the UK, maintain high professional standards, and leverage devolution to support its goals.

Labour’s Vision for Employability Services and Welfare Policy

Their vision for government in general and more specifically, employability services and welfare policy, is grounded in the principles of social justice, equity, and inclusivity. There is an aim to create a comprehensive support system that empowers individuals to achieve their potential while ensuring that no one is left behind.

Key aspects of this vision should include:

1. Universal access to support – An aim to ensure that employability services and welfare support are accessible to everyone, regardless of their background or circumstances.
2. Person-centred approach – The government should intend to design services that are tailored to the needs of individuals, recognising that a one-size-fits-all approach is ineffective.
3. High professional standards – There needs to be a commitment to maintaining high professional standards in the delivery of services, ensuring that staff are well-trained, and services are of high quality.
4. Quality improvement – Continuous improvement of services is a priority, with mechanisms in place to regularly assess, accredit, assure and enhance service delivery.
5. Inclusivity across the UK – Understanding that support needs to be available across the entire UK, addressing regional disparities and ensuring that all communities have access to high-quality services.

Ensuring Inclusivity and Accessibility

To ensure that services are inclusive and available to all, the government will need to address several key challenges and implement effective strategies:

1. Addressing regional disparities – The government must tackle the significant regional disparities in access to employability services and welfare support. This includes increasing funding for under-served areas and ensuring that resources are distributed equitably across the UK.
2. Digital inclusion –  In an increasingly digital world, ensuring that all citizens have access to online services is crucial. We will need to invest in digital infrastructure and digital literacy programs to ensure that no one is excluded from accessing support due to a lack of internet access or digital skills.
3. Partnerships with local authorities – Strengthening partnerships with local authorities is critical to ensure that services are tailored to the specific needs of local communities. Local authorities have a deep understanding of their communities and can play a crucial role in delivering targeted support. This is even more appropriate given the devolution agenda, in making sure that as the design and nature of employability services changes, no one falls through the cracks when they need support the most.
4. Community outreach – Engaging with communities through outreach programs can help identify individuals who may not be aware of or are hesitant to access services. The government should invest in community outreach initiatives to ensure that support reaches all who need it.

Implementing a Person-Centred Approach

A person-centred approach should be fundamental to the government’s vision for employability services and welfare policy. This approach involves designing services that are tailored to the unique needs of individuals.

Key strategies include:

1. Individualised support plans – should implement individualised support plans for those accessing employability services and welfare support. These plans should be developed in collaboration with the individual, considering their specific needs, goals, and circumstances.
2. Holistic support services – Recognising that employability and welfare needs are often interconnected, the government should look to co-ordinate public services and provide holistic support that address multiple aspects of an individual’s life, such as health, housing, and education.
3. User feedback and co-design – Involving service users in the design and delivery of services is crucial for ensuring that services meet their needs. The government should establish mechanisms for regular user feedback and co-design processes, where service users can actively participate in shaping services.
4. Training for staff – To deliver person-centred services, staff must be well-trained in understanding and responding to the diverse needs of individuals. We should invest in comprehensive training programs for staff to ensure they are equipped to provide high-quality, person-centred support wherever service are delivered.

Maintaining High Professional Standards and Quality Improvement

Ensuring high professional standards and continuous quality improvement is essential for delivering effective employability services and welfare support.

We can achieve this through several key strategies:

1. Professional development for all staff – Ongoing professional development is crucial for maintaining high standards. We should provide regular training and development opportunities for staff to ensure they stay updated with best practices and new approaches in service delivery.
2. Quality assurance mechanisms –  We should utilise robust quality improvement and assurance mechanisms to regularly assess the effectiveness of services. This includes regular audits, peer reviews, and user feedback to identify areas for improvement.
3. Evidence-based practices – Services should be grounded in evidence-based practices. We should invest in research and data collection to identify what works and use this evidence to inform service design and delivery.
4. Innovation and pilot programs – Creating a collaborative market-place and encouraging innovation through pilot programs can help identify new and effective approaches to service delivery. The government should support pilot programs and initiatives that test new ideas and approaches, with successful programs scaled up and implemented more widely.

Leveraging Devolution

Devolution offers both opportunities and challenges for realising the government’s ambitions around employability services and welfare policy.

Key considerations include:

1. Supporting regional autonomy – Devolution allows regions to tailor services to their specific needs, which can enhance the effectiveness of support. The government is  supporting regional autonomy that empowers local authorities and combined authorities to design and deliver services that meet the unique needs of their communities.
2. Ensuring consistency across the UK – While regional autonomy is important, we  must also ensure that there is consistency in the quality and availability of services across the UK. This may require establishing national standards and guidelines that all regions must adhere to.
3. Collaborative approaches – Encouraging collaboration between regions to share best practice and learn from each other is important even when there is more autonomy. This can help ensure that successful approaches are replicated and that all regions benefit from the collective knowledge and experience of others.
4. Addressing funding disparities – Devolution can sometimes lead to funding disparities between regions. The government must ensure that funding is distributed equitably, and that no region is disadvantaged due to a lack of resources.

The Role of the Institute of Employability Professionals (IEP)

The Institute of Employability Professionals (IEP) can help in many ways with this ambition. The IEP Learning Academy is skilled at bringing the very best out of the employability workforce through its CPD, learning programmes and qualifications. The IEP Quality Improvement Framework (QIF) enables individuals and organisations alike to innovate and build better services through its ‘easy to use’ framework that complements well-established quality assurance methodologies and the Centre for Employability Excellence (CfEE) brings the best insights, data and practice from around the world into one place so it can be used to develop commissioning strategies and employability programme design.

Conclusion

The new government’s vision for employability services and welfare policy could be ambitious and far-reaching. By ensuring inclusivity across the UK, adopting a person-centred approach, maintaining high professional standards, and leveraging devolution effectively, we can create a comprehensive support system that empowers individuals and promotes social justice. Realising this vision will require a concerted effort, collaboration with stakeholders, and a commitment to continuous improvement. With these strategies in place, we can build a fairer, more inclusive society where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

By Scott Parkin FIEP, Group Chief Executive, Institute of Employability Professionals (IEP)