performance

The DWP have released official statistics for Pathways to Work performance, available through their website and as attachments at the bottom of this article. These differ from monthly league tables by being more accurate and less up-to-date. Here are the headline figures:

Various reports and results on Pathways to Work have emerged in the past few days:

• Updated statistics on starts and outcomes, available on the DWP website here, and also as a spreadsheet at the bottom of this article for easier calculation. The new statistics were released this Tuesday, and cover starts to April 2009 and jobs to January 2009. I'll put together some analysis next week
• A research report on quantitative outcomes for JCP-led Pathways to Work delivery. The headline result is no statistically significant impact on benefit receipts in the 2006 areas, but some impact on the pre-2006 areas. This appears to be due to the pre-2006 areas measuring from initial enquiry, whereas the 2006 areas measured from start of claim. Thus the only effect of Pathways to Work on benefits would be to act as a deterrent to claiming in the first place. Take this claim with a pinch of salt - I'll look into it more closely next week
• A qualitative research report on provider-led Pathways to Work delivery. No major surprises: some good experiences on all sides, but also a feeling of target-driven, under-resourced delivery resulting from overly ambitious provider targets, and issues with the handling of referrals and exiting of customers who lose their IB claims. The report is summarised below

Update 5/11 - This analysis has been superseded by analysis of the figures released in October, available here

The DWP have released official statistics for Pathways to Work performance, available as a pdf on their website. These differ from monthly league tables by being more accurate and less up-to-date. Here are the headline figures:

Ever since Indus Delta started up, a major theme and recurring bugbear of the site has been the publication and analysis of welfare to work performance figures. After two years and a constant stream of Freedom of Information requests and leaked data, it appears the quest may be nearing its end.

Anyone who remembers the traffic light analysis from earlier this year might be interested in the latest release, placed in the House of Commons library a couple of weeks back.

The DWP released new Star Ratings for the 24 Employment Zones on 15th June. There's an in-depth analysis of how they work and what issues they face in this article, and the figures themselves are available here (pdf). I'll update this story with the results table once I've got a moment.

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.

This article builds on the analysis and explanations in Indus Delta's 2006-07 New Deal performance analysis. The figures used in this article cover every New Deal and Programme Centre contract in the country over the course of an entire year, end of March 2008 to end of March 2009. However, there are major added complexities on top of those faced in the previous analysis, that make a simple comparison table less useful.

As covered in this previous story, I asked the DWP for contract performance statistics on current provisions back in February. They did not respond within the legally required time, so, following a reminder request, I issued a formal request for an internal review of the lack of response to the initial request.

A key part of the Commissioning Strategy is the requirement for open performance information, so that providers can be held to account and customers can choose which provision to go for.

While it's not entirely clear whether the raw performance data will be published, one thing that is gearing up to take on the task is Star Ratings. Given their potential importance (think Star Ratings for hospitals and A-C grades for schools) and the questions swirling round them, we've put together a quick primer on the topic.

In December, the DWP announced that they would be publishing individual performance statistics for all provisions starting in January. Nothing appeared, so I submitted a Freedom of Information request asking for them.

Update 13/1 - now with analysis of the figures! The DWP have sent Alan Cave's traffic light reports through. I've extracted the main summary page below, and the Excel file is at the bottom of this story.

Performance for different groups

The April-September star ratings have just been released. Major headline? They're totally different to the previous set of ratings. To the point where it raises questions about whether they're worth looking at. I might put together an analysis of the results for next week if there's enough demand, but I can't guarantee that the analysis won't say 'ignore them'. Anyone interested?

I've just submitted an FoI request for the traffic light reports that the DWP put together each month. Wish me luck!

Following a recent FoI request, the DWP have e-mailed us copies of their current performance data under the 'Flightpath' system, which tracks contract delivery for New Deal, Programme Centres, and one or two other programmes. We've published the e-mailed documents as file attachments at the bottom of this article, so you can carry out your own analysis on the source data if you wish. All UK contracts are covered by the data.

Summary of data