A4e's Pathways Delivery

As someone new to the welfare to work industry, Claire is travelling round providers across the UK, recording her impressions. Last Friday's visit was a bit different. Instead of focusing on FND, she went up to Leeds to visit A4e's Pathways to Work delivery centre.

The A4e approach

A4e have a standard Pathways model which is used in most delivery centres, with three distinct adviser roles and three streams of support. However, there was a strong emphasis on local flexibility that was evident throughout the Leeds centre's delivery. The centre also displayed an informal, engaged approach to managing both staff and customers.

Before Local Service Manager Helen joined the team, A4e's Pathways office in Leeds were getting 12 people into work per month, and now it's 75. Changes instigated during this time include making the office much more open plan, introducing internal competition between teams within the office, and having celebrations for successes each month. From the employees to the customers, all have something to work towards. There is a real sense in this office that people come up against some very tough barriers, and a lot of people want to work, but just don't know how to get there, or what support is available for them.

A4e has a policy of allowing different offices trying out different approaches, and all of these implementations are agreed with management on a trial period. This in turn allows other offices delivering the same contracts to decide whether to adopt ideas without it being imposed on them. This localisation also means that not all of the services described below will be delivered in exactly the same way in every A4e office.

Delivery process

People entering Pathways to Work are placed in either the Green, Amber, or Red group as a result of a diagnostic interview at the start of their time with A4e. This looks at the barriers people may have, and may need help in overcoming in order to move them closer to the workplace. These could be a wide range of issues, such as health, finances, and child care.

Individuals then all go on a two day 'Directions' course. This aims to help break down some of the barriers people might face, such as self-confidence, and introduces customers to each other. The feedback A4e gain from this is very positive, and they have found that this course tends to benefit those classed as harder to help the most. However Leeds are launching a trial in January to make these more individually tailored to people's needs, and this will be discussed further on.

A4e also offer contact with an occupational support coach for customers at any time. This can be either on the phone, or face-to-face, and has had a lot of uptake so far in Leeds. The help and advice that the coach can provide totally depends on the situation, and Helen feels it has been very successful in working towards breaking some of those barriers down that many people face.

Informal environment

Mandatory customers have to come in once a month, but staff have found that they actually tend to come in much more often to use various services, and the average is once every ten days or so. Advisers are also in charge of their own timeslots, so can vary them to fit customer needs.

The office holds a 'job club' every Thursday, where people can come in for job related support, and where group work is encouraged. The environment is very informal, and aimed at helping people break down barriers and share experiences with each other. As a result, the 'job club' might include food, raffles and other activities.

Their adviser-customer set up is informal, with comfortable chairs in the office to help ensure there isn't a corporate feel. Advisers are even willing to go to different venues if that best meets the customer's needs. The office also contains a café to promote interaction and create a more relaxed setting for sessions with clients.

In a large organisation such as A4e, the question can understandably be asked whether those at the top have much involvement. Emma Harrison, founder of A4e, has visited the Leeds Pathways office three times in the last year alone. Helen was clear that managers and front line staff all mix together freely. She believes that this increases staff morale and helps employees to feel like they are a real part of the organisation.

Staff roles

The three standard delivery roles for A4e Pathways are:

• Pathways Personal Advisers are responsible from first contact to the point when the customer is work-ready
• These are followed by Employment Coaches, who then find jobs for the customer
• Finally, Employer Engagement Consultants bring employers and customers together

Making use of A4e's flexibility, the Leeds office doesn't follow this model. Instead, customers have one dedicated 'dual adviser', who brings the positions of Personal Adviser and Employment Coach together. This different approach is centred around the belief that building up rapport and trust is vital to helping people on Pathways improve their position, and help them to overcome barriers, even if they do not find permanent work.

There is a lot of internal communication between staff on all levels. This includes weekly team meetings, and a 'huddle' each morning to go over the aims and objectives of the day.

Supporting the hardest to help

Where there is streaming, there is a natural risk of creaming and parking occurring. However, when it comes to Pathways at least, the Red group actually spend more time on site than the Green clients. The fact that each pathway will be tailored to different group's needs as of January, is something Helen thinks will go even further to ensure that creaming and parking does not happen.

They feel this is also supported by the existence of a sustained work target, which looks at how many people a provider places remain in work 6 months on. In work support is also available for customers, and their employers, for up to a year later, but A4e have found that once in work people don't tend to need this support beyond 6 months, implying the programme really does work. Their Leeds Pathways office has been meeting the target of 70% of people still being in work after 6 months.

Customer power

By building relationships with employers and setting up guaranteed interviews, A4e are able to offer a broad range of employment options to their clients. The day before my visit, they had managed to place eight people with ASDA. A real plus to this approach is that customers often end up working together, which can help break down barriers in itself for those who have been out of work for a while.

Customers also pick which jobs they want to go forward for, and are not just encouraged to apply for any available jobs. A4e place a lot of focus on customer experience, try and see things from the perspective of those coming in. This can be seen in the detail of their offices, for example in having flowers around in order to make it a more welcoming environment.

Feedback from customers is sought on a regular basis, with an anonymous suggestion box on hand that has even led to A4e buying in lemon and honey in the winter.

The aim is to provide tailored support where possible, e.g. by matching individuals who are over 50 with advisers of a similar age range, and matching lone parent advisers with lone parent customers. These efforts, A4e feel, are what helps make the sometimes daunting process of entering a new, unknown environment just that bit easier.

Tailored trials

The Leeds office are trialling a new scheme for 3 months from January. Instead of everyone going on the same 'Directions' course, each individual will have their first work focused interview, and then undergo a diagnostic test to work out how close to the job market they are, alongside what barriers may need to be overcome. As a result of this, each person then follows a set course for each streamed group, working up through the streams as they complete each course successfully. They then have a 'better off in work' calculation in the amber stage, which involves CV help and interview technique support. This is then followed by their third work focused interview, leading to intensive job search as they reach the final part of the 'journey'. This process may well take different amounts of time for different people, but this way Helen feels that they will be better placed to tailor support to the individual's needs.

They will also soon be offering higher level professional posts, in part due to a change in their client base. People coming in with disabilities who have recently been made redundant are much more likely to be nearer the job market than those who have not, for example, and may wish to return to a similar level position.
Funding is available to help out all customers, helping them travel to interviews, buy suits, and get haircuts and tools. There is no strict list of what people can be given financial support for, and this flexibility once again allows A4e to treat each customer as an individual.

Delivery challenges

As the contract has been rolled out, and tested on the ground since 2007, changes have been made to improve the scheme. At A4e they have changed the model slightly, and made it 'fit for purpose', bringing in a much more individualised approach.
However, Leeds has seen the number of inappropriate referrals massively increase as high numbers of people are being sent to them who will never be able to work. These have even included the terminally ill.

There is certainly a correlation between the introduction of ESA and the increase in inappropriate referrals. 90% of individuals referred to A4e in Leeds have not had the medical test yet due to backlog. They are, however, building up a list of inappropriate referrals which get fed back to DWP and Jobcentre Plus in regular meetings. The general sense is that ESA has not made anything easier, both for employees in terms of being able to spend less time helping those they need to, and for the people sent over who needn't have been. The last thing staff in centres like these want to do is make anyone's situation worse, and so they are understandably frustrated with the current issues.

Interestingly, the office has seen the flow of customers massively increase in the last month. The sense is that this could possibly be due to the recession, ESA, or for some yet to be seen factors. Their intention is to see whether this is indeed a long-term increase, in order to react properly.