Guidance

Annex 7.6: Sharing information with stakeholders in the course of local-level engagement

Updated 18 July 2024

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

Summary

1. Two-way sharing of information and insight between stakeholders and providers can help to align provision, facilitate joint working and avoid duplication of effort.

2. The Department recognises that it will often be useful for providers to share their own service delivery information. The Department supports such sharing of information and insights where it can contribute to Participants being able to benefit from better, more joined up services, maximising their chances of achieving a job outcome.

3. Providers:

• must not share Departmental performance data
• should only share their own management information and insights
• should be clear that any information shared is not accredited by the Department; and,
• should avoid using written products and absolute numbers where unnecessary

Introduction

4. This annex to Chapter 7 sets out guidance from the Department on how to respond to stakeholder requests for service delivery information. It suggests some examples of information that providers may collect which could be useful to share, and gives guidance on the appropriate caveats.

5. This guidance does not apply to DWP performance information, including numbers of referrals, numbers of starts, number of job outcomes and Customer Satisfaction Survey results. Providers must not share DWP performance information.

6. This guidance does not alter or concern the areas of the contract which cover data sharing: Clause F7 from the Consolidated Full Terms and Conditions Schedule 8; and, Schedule 11.

7. This guidance does not pertain to the sharing of Participants’ personal data or sensitive personal data.

Prospective information/insights

8. The table below provides a non-exhaustive illustrative list of different types of information and insights that it may be useful to share and discuss with stakeholders. It is not an instruction or requirement to capture the information listed.

9. The Department expects that providers will seek to review the information they capture and share over time as more Participants are supported.

10. Effective conversations with stakeholders will involve a two-way sharing of information and insight, with stakeholders sharing their own insights which may support the Restart Scheme service delivery. Providers may wish to consider what sort of information they might find useful to receive from stakeholders, including making use of the insights of Jobcentre Plus (JCP) Group Partnership Managers.

11. Stakeholders have indicated that, from their perspective, information will be most useful when broken down to Local Authority level.

Anonymised, Aggregated Participant information

Information/Insight	Possible Usage
Locations of Participants – Where, according to providers’ service information, are there concentrations of referrals, and thus greater long-term unemployment and labour market challenges?	Enables mutual sharing of intelligence on hotspots for where provision (either Restart Scheme provision or locally commissioned) needs to be targeted.
Participant characteristics – For example: age, gender, ethnicity, disability	Using characteristics to anticipate common barriers to work. For example, lack of digital capability potentially more prevalent for older workers.
Insight on barriers faced – For example: Skill levels (including, digital, literacy and numeracy) – Mental health issues – Health conditions/disabilities – Addiction and/or substance misuse – Motivation – Cultural (and language) – Childcare – Debt and financial issues – Housing issues – Transport/accessibility	Sharing of intelligence on barriers that individuals are facing should enable collaboration between providers and stakeholders on the commissioning of additional services aimed at targeting those barriers.
Service usage – How many Participants are currently participating in certain areas of the service? – How any many receiving skills training? – How many in work placements?	Such a breakdown could help to give a sense of demand for particular types of support, therefore aiding discussions on how to allocate resources moving forward.

Local labour market insights

Information/Insight	Possible Usage
Vacancy information – Where (location, sector) are the highest concentrations of vacancies?	Enables discussion on the planning and coordination of employer engagement.
Outcome information – What employers/sectors are producing job outcomes, giving the best chance for sustained work for Participants?	Enables discussion on the planning and coordination of employer engagement.
Employer engagement insights – For example: Where will new vacancies be announced? – Any employer training schemes to take advantage of? – What sectors/occupations appear to be growing employers for Restart Scheme Participants? – Knowledge of employer recruitment practices, Local travel to work areas	Enables discussion on how to help Participants in accessing emerging opportunities.
Area/region specific barriers – Transport, Digital Exclusion, Rurality	Enables discussion on how to commission/target support to tackle common barriers to work.

Commissioning

Information/Insight	Possible Usage
Early sight of planning – Sharing plans for commissioning of additional services – Sharing plans for how many Participants providers are planning to signpost/refer to provision funded/delivered by local organisations in the Contract Package Area (CPA)	Supports the elimination of duplication, allowing best use of resources. Enables the management of demand for services, avoiding overloading smaller scale local organisations.

What works

Information/Insight	Possible Usage
Insights from service delivery – For example: What innovative approaches are working to support Participants? For example, app usage, web portals, skills provision, interview training etc. What areas could be improved? How can stakeholders and providers work together to make improvements?	Supports future commissioning choices. For example, what to buy more of, what to increase, what to stop. Helps to drive continuous improvement in providers’ offers and provision commissioned by local stakeholders.

Sharing format, guidance and restrictions

12. The Department’s intention is for stakeholder engagement to focus on working together to align services and maximise job outcomes for Participants. Information and insight should be shared to this end, rather than reporting against targets or via other means that would imply a performance management consideration.

13. In line with this approach, where the objective can be met via oral information sharing – particularly with respect to more sensitive topics such as anonymised participant characteristics or barriers faced – this would be preferred. Where the objectives of the conversation can be achieved without using absolute numbers (for example, replacing with percentages), this would be preferred. We acknowledge that absolute numbers would sometimes be required (for example, in ascertaining how many referrals to a particular service are planned, or in ascertaining the extent of the need).

14. Sharing the information is at providers’ discretion. In considering whether or not to share, providers are encouraged to consider requests with an open mind, and make decisions based on whether they consider that sharing the information and insights would genuinely improve joint working and local tailoring and therefore improve outcomes for Participants.

15. Providers would need to be clear that the information is their own, and therefore not accredited or sponsored by the Department in any way. Providers would be responsible for any and all sharing agreements or infrastructure required to share the information.

16. Any written information/presentations shared with local stakeholders containing providers’ service delivery information should also be copied to the DWP Performance Manager.

Information sharing queries

17. Should providers wish to share information and feel unclear on whether or not this would be acceptable to the Department, providers should contact their Performance Managers in the first instance, who will endeavour to provide clarity as soon as practicable.

Should you require an accessible version of any of the Restart Scheme forms listed in this guidance you will need to request them via email at: restart.providerenquiries@dwp.gov.uk