Self employment performance figures
The recent publication of performance figures for New Deal did not include performance for Self Employment. To rectify that, here are the figures up to the end of March 2009.
There's not much to note about these when it comes to comparing providers - many of the contracts have such low numbers that their performance is statistically worthless when taken alone.
When it comes to overall performance, though, the margin of error is much lower. What they're saying is that New Deal Self Employment provision gets 71% of leavers into work. This figure is far, far more than mainstream New Deal courses.
This does not mean that NDSE is better than New Deal - a comparison of these figures to NDYP and ND25+ would have to take into account different job entry criteria, different costs and fee structure, and the fact that many customers don't want to start a business. However, for the 5% or so of customers that are interested in self employment, it does raise questions as to the sidelining of self employment in provision procurement. There may also be a case to make that the wider economic benefit of new business creation deserves recognition in any payments model.
| Provider | Region | District | Starts | Leavers | Job outcomes | Job entry rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham Chamber Training | West Midlands | Coventry & Warwickshire | 73 | 58 | 58 | 100.00% |
| Avanta | North West | Cheshire & Warrington | 12 | 7 | 7 | 100.00% |
| Birmingham Chamber Training | Wales | South Wales Valleys | 9 | 8 | 7 | 87.50% |
| Birmingham Chamber Training | South West | Dorset & Somerset | 143 | 108 | 91 | 84.26% |
| Birmingham Chamber Training | West Midlands | The Marches | 66 | 73 | 60 | 82.19% |
| Birmingham Chamber Training | Wales | South East Wales | 27 | 25 | 20 | 80.00% |
| Birmingham Chamber Training | West Midlands | Birmingham & Solihull | 36 | 45 | 35 | 77.78% |
| Birmingham Chamber Training | South West | West of England | 80 | 74 | 57 | 77.03% |
| Birmingham Chamber Training | South West | Devon & Cornwall | 61 | 55 | 42 | 76.36% |
| Birmingham Chamber Training | West Midlands | Black Country | 57 | 61 | 46 | 75.41% |
| Avanta | London | NE London | 92 | 94 | 70 | 74.47% |
| Avanta | East Midlands | Leicestershire & Northamptonshire | 68 | 62 | 46 | 74.19% |
| Avanta | North West | Cheshire & Warrington | 54 | 54 | 40 | 74.07% |
| Norfolk & Waveney Enterprise Services | East Midlands | (blank) | 185 | 157 | 115 | 73.25% |
| Avanta | North East | Tees Valley & Northumbria, South Tyne & Wear Valley | 518 | 478 | 350 | 73.22% |
| Avanta | London & South East | Central London, City & East London, Lambeth, Southwark & Wandsworth, N & NE London, South London, West London, Berkshire, Bucks & Oxon, Hampshire IOW, Kent, Surrey & Sussex | 1329 | 1180 | 864 | 73.22% |
| Truro College | South West | Devon & Cornwall | 57 | 52 | 38 | 73.08% |
| Birmingham Chamber Training | South West | Gloucester, Wiltshire & Swindon | 69 | 62 | 44 | 70.97% |
| Avanta | North West | Cheshire, Halton & Warrington, Grtr Manchester City, Manchester East & West, Merseyside, Cumbria & Lancashire | 680 | 615 | 434 | 70.57% |
| Birmingham Chamber Training | Wales | North & Mid Wales | 107 | 108 | 75 | 69.44% |
| Avanta | South East | Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire | 168 | 139 | 96 | 69.06% |
| Norfolk & Waveney Enterprise Services | East of England | (blank) | 314 | 237 | 151 | 63.71% |
| Avanta | Scotland | Edinburgh, Lothian & Borders, Highlands, Islands, Clyde Coast & Grampian, Forth Valey, Fife & Tayside, Glasgow, Lanarkshire & East Dunbartonshire | 173 | 164 | 104 | 63.41% |
| Quadrant | Wales | (blank) | 28 | 26 | 16 | 61.54% |
| Birmingham Chamber Training | West Midlands | Staffordshire | 32 | 31 | 18 | 58.06% |
| Norfolk & Waveney Enterprise Services | Yorkshire & Humberside | (blank) | 295 | 255 | 148 | 58.04% |
| Birmingham Chamber Training | Wales | South West Wales | 79 | 75 | 40 | 53.33% |
| Alba Self Employment | Scotland | Ayrshire, Dumfries, Galloway & Inverclyde | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00% |
| Business Development Advisers Ltd | Scotland | (blank) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00% |
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| ND_S3_Self_Employment_League_Table_Mar_09_LPM.xls | 14 KB |
Comments
Hi Daniel - some comments upon your comment.
The figures you give are from Stage 3 Test Trading only. Many Clients leave at Stage 2 and start trading - particularly Lone Parents and IB recipients who often cannot enter Stage 3. Impact of this is that some of the sub-contracted Providers within your Prime statistics have overall performance outcome figures that are consistently 10% higher than the scores given here!
Incidentally, who says that "5% of New Deal Clients want to start businesses"? In many areas it is much higher than that - and certainly within some specific groups. I know two areas where 50% of Lone Parents leaving benefit over some 5 years all went to Self-employment. ( Every Whitehall visitor to the now-defunct National Self-employment Provider Group used to say they could not separate Self-employment outcome figures - but the old-style JCP local and regional management could.....)
In terms of provision impact it also needs to be noted that in the rare circmstance that a Client does not sign-off at the close of Stage 3 it is even rarer that they do not continue their business - frequently signing-off later and not being counted as an outcome. (Changing the look-back term from 13 weeks to 6 weeks really affected this provision.)
One can only guess (and we frequently do) why NDSE is "sidelined". Personally, I think it is to do with discrimination and lack of real understanding and knowledge by the employed who make the policy. If there was some sympathy for the different culture and realities the SE Providers would not have to whinge so much about inappropriate rules, procedures and general nonsenses. When DWP/JCP Contracts amazingly decided that NDSE is not a "programme" - but three separate elements - it penalised Clients and Providers at the time, but also cancelled out all the TSC, ALI and Ofsted praise and attention to the management of the Client progression - a major element of making the programme processes work!
Last week I was discussing these issues and success rates with a Lone Parent Adviser who said: "of course, we do not get anything for it; we keep complaining to the District Manager but he does not want to know." What on earth is that all about? And why have I never ever found a reference to JCP Self-employment on a Jobcentre terminal? (During the last 15 years,90% of the limited literature I have seen was only there because the Provider placed it there.)
The 5% figure came from the head of Jobcentre Plus in London at the London Welfare to Work Convention last year, in response to Stuart Vere of Avanta pushing self employment as a solution to the recession. Will look at your other points in more depth later.
I would seriously question the 5% figure ...... as Piscator points out it is not high on JCP agendas. Have you ever seen a poster offering Self-Employment as an option in Job Centres? I placed some leaflets in our local Job Centre about this option (remember we are a contracted provider of this option) only to have them removed by the JCP Manager as it was "clutter"
In the last few years this New Deal route has become more and more sidelined. At one time Self-Employment providers had our own contracts and quarterly meetings with DWP in Sheffield. At one of these meeting the DWP staff openly admitted that they did not log Self-Employment as an outcome - you either left New Deal with a job or not - consequently we have become the Cinderella option!
I question if it is very high on the agenda of many of the Prime Contractors? Or, for that matter many New Deal Advisers - because it doesn't fit neatly into their boxes. To be fair, when a NDPA sees how it can work and help clients they, do become great advocates of this option.
I am currently working with a client that was made redundant over a year ago and at his first meeting with a member of JCP staff he said he would like to start his own business - is there any help? The response was negative and he was put through the usual job seeking procedure. At last he has got to us - the local Self-Employment provider. Only to find that as this option is ending in our area he can only get 3 months Test Trading. This guy will become a positive outcome. Sadly, his experience is not unusual and unfortunately I can cite many more examples!
Take the figures with a pinch of salt and consider the extract following from our DWP contract manager. "CEP would like to reiterate that we only publish the performance information we receive from suppliers, not the official figures captured through internal management information systems. Therefore this information must be treated as non-validated"
In addition I would add that to make anyone who is interested in Self-Employment wait 18 months before they can get support clearly demonstrates the complete lack of understanding of both Government and DWP for this provision.