Pathways Support Adviser client views

As explained in Chapter 1, any evaluation of a new service needs to address the

counterfactual question of whether any outcomes for people who have engaged with a particular intervention would have happened anyway in the absence of the intervention. In this study we used the follow-up interviews to explore people’s own perceptions of the difference made by meeting with a PSA. We were interested in exploring the research question of whether PSAs were engaging and activating people who might otherwise have continued to receive beneits on a long-term basis.

5.3.1 How PSAs influence people’s decisions

The survey of the pilot participants took place around three months after their meeting with a PSA which meant it was not possible to explore the longer-term effects of the pilot. However, in one question, people who attended a meeting with a Jobcentre Plus adviser after seeing a PSA were asked if they thought they would have arranged such a meeting anyway. Table 5.1 presents the responses.

Table 5.1 Influence of PSA on Jobcentre Plus adviser visit

Whether respondent would have visited Jobcentre Plus without

seeing PSA %

Deinitely would have done anyway 22

Might have done 15

Deinitively did because of PSA 63

Weighted n 73

Base: All respondents who had visited Jobcentre Plus.

The number of people in the sample who had attended a Jobcentre Plus meeting by the time of the research interview was relatively small but over six out of ten did say that the meeting took place only because of seeing a PSA.

In the follow-up interviews with 45 people, the same question was addressed of how inluential people thought the PSA was in their subsequent progress towards work. Although qualitative sampling does not allow any generalisations to the population of Pathways Advisory Service users, it was noticeable that all of the sample who were in work at the time of the follow-up interview (nine people) said that the PSA had been inluential in their route back to work.

There was also other evidence of the difference made by PSAs from the follow-up interviews. In the sample, people on beneits other than IB had not accessed the sort of support available through Pathways to Work before nor had they expected to. This was relected, for example, in a comment from one person that PSAs did a lot more than ‘typical Jobcentre things’. These people commonly said that they would not have proactively approached Jobcentre Plus directly, either because they would not have known about the provision that might have been available or because they did not feel comfortable in the Jobcentre Plus ofice.

Also, many of the IB claimants in the follow-up sample, who in principle had access to Pathways to Work support either through compulsory or voluntary WFIs, said they had not been offered Pathways provision previously. It appears, therefore, that PSAs were providing access to work-focused help and support to a range of people who had not previously been aware of it and were unlikely to access it elsewhere.

In one case, for example, a person with a physical disability in receipt of DLA had been ineligible to access Pathways to Work support until the pilot. When she explained to her GP that she had been unsuccessful in looking for work, he suggested that she see the PSA. The patient was subsequently referred to a Disability Employment Adviser who organised a work placement that the person found useful in updating her skills and clarifying future work options. Another example was a person who had been in receipt of SSP at the time of meeting the PSA. He was signposted to the Disability Rights Commission by the PSA and provided with referrals to both the CMP and to a work psychologist who he believed

would help sustain his return to work. He commented that the PSA did more than Jobcentre Plus advisers he had encountered previously. A further example is of a man on IB who said he had not previously been offered work-focused support but had been referred to an IB personal adviser and the CMP by his PSA. He was later given support to access voluntary work by his Jobcentre Plus adviser and made signiicant progress towards work. He commented that he would not have come across this help and support if it was not for meeting with the PSA.

Even where people had been aware of information about available help and support, for example, through previous contact with a Jobcentre Plus adviser, the meeting with the PSA was useful as an opportunity to explore more fully the options available, because there was time to talk through all the possibilities in detail.

5.3.2 The importance of locating PSAs in surgeries

Locating PSAs in GP surgeries did appear to engage a range of people who were unlikely to have accessed support through Jobcentre Plus. Some people, particularly those with mental health conditions, said they felt more relaxed and comfortable in this setting. For example, one person said that it was useful to see the PSA in the GP surgery as she was not comfortable going ‘anywhere unusual’. People also discussed the importance of being seen in a private room, with some contrasting this positively to the expectation that they would be asked to discuss sensitive and personal issues in an open plan setting at Jobcentre Plus. Others said that either they disliked going to the Jobcentre Plus ofice or that they would not have made the effort.