Research and analysis

The Work Programme Evaluation 2020 (HTML)

Published 18 February 2022

1. The Work Programme Evaluation 2020

• The Work Programme (2011-2017) provided support to nearly 2-million unemployed people between 2011 to 2017 to find sustained work.
• It had an overall cost of £2.9-billion and saw 630,000 employment opportunities lasting 13 or 26 weeks.
• When individuals joined the programme, they received support for two years from a designated provider, regardless of changes in employment.
• These designated providers came from public, private and third sector organisations.

2. Methodology

• An impact evaluation and cost-benefit analysis were used to analyse this programme.
• The gap between the end of the Work Programme (March 2017) and the start of the Work and Health Programme (April 2018) was used for comparison.
• Two groups formed from individuals eligible for the Work Programme before its end and those who would have been eligible after the programme closed.
• Propensity Score Matching (PSM) was used to compare small individual differences between these two groups.
• For two years, employment and benefit status were tracked of these two groups.
• Cost Benefit Analysis was used to estimate the social cost of the programme.

3. Findings

• Those who took part in the Work Programme had 46 additional days in employment where they didn’t receive benefits over the two years.
• They also received out of work benefits for 70 fewer days than those not on the programme.
• Considering this, the Cost Benefit Analysis found a return of £3.21 for each £1 spent on the Work Programme.

Cost Benefit ratio estimates using in employment and not in receipt of an Out-of-W benefit:

		Participant	DWP	Exchequer	Society
Impact of participation	2 year observed	£1.25	£0.83	£1.50	£1.75
	3 year extrapolated	£1.26	£1.31	£2.38	£2.68
	4 year extrapolated	£1.26	£1.76	£3.21	£3.51
Range of Impact	2 year observed	£1.22 to £1.27	£0.56 to £1.10	£1.00 to £2.01	£1.16 to £2.31
	3 year extrapolated	£1.23 to £1.27	£0.89 to £1.72	£1.60 to £3.15	£1.82 to £3.48
	4 year extrapolated	£1.23 to £1.27	£1.21 to £2.32	£2.17 to £4.25	£2.42 to £4.51

4. Impacts

• The evaluation contributed to DWP’s understanding of contracted provision effectiveness for addressing unemployment. It demonstrated that contracted provision could deliver value for money.
• The learning from the programme, alongside other evaluation evidence, informed a substantial part of the evidence base for Restart.

5. Links

• Read the main evaluation report