Pathways to Work - DWP research confirms 'creaming' and 'parking'

A new research report on the "impact of outcome-based contracting" in provider-led Pathways contains awkward conclusions about the effects of outcome based delivery. It shows that providers have been driven towards "creaming" and "parking" of clients. And it concludes that "providers should be paid on the basis of a wider range of outcomes".

Produced for DWP by researchers at the Policy Studies Institute (PSI), the report says that providers were not meeting their performance targets and service fees were insufficient to cover running costs. It reveals that:

• prime providers and their partners experienced financial strain as a result of the contractual agreements.
• primes tended to serve customers more likely to enter work
• partner agencies tended to serve the non work-related needs of customers who were not immediately ready for employment
• there “was little evidence that prime providers were developing in-house provision to enhance the quality of customer services” and that partner agencies were increasingly used to address specialist service needs.
• service innovation on the part of prime providers “was largely focused on reducing operational costs and achieving performance efficiencies.”
• a focus on job ready clients was leading to less time being spent by advisors with clients who are further away from work

The report says that a culture of “business survival and job security” led to creaming being considered “as appropriate behaviour” in a target-setting environment. Equally, ‘parking’ was seen as acceptable “where there was a clear management steer, for disengaged clients lacking in motivation and for clients who were seriously ill or awaiting treatment.”

The PSI team concluded that “supply chain experiences raise a number of concerns” that were “indicative of an imbalance of power in prime provider and supply chain relationships.” They also recommend stronger client feedback mechanisms to counteract the “division” of roles between primes and partners and the effect of creaming and parking. In the current economic climate, the report questioned the “adequacy of resources” and whether “the contracting framework should be more tightly linked to wider conditions in the overall economy”. They argue that “adequate resources need to be made available for organisations working with clients with more complex needs.” The report also concludes:

• administrative processes need improving, including pre-referral health
assessments, job outcome evidence and monitoring of referral flows
• that providers should be paid on the basis of a wider range of outcomes,
“recognising both the nature of client journeys and the nature of the front-line
adviser role in supporting those journeys.”

The report is at http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rpor...