Topic guide: Personal Adviser in-depth interviews, Tranche One

Explanatory note

The focus of the interviews was on how Personal Advisers work with clients. The objective was to improve understanding of the relationship between Personal Advisers’ approaches and the achievement of pilot project outcomes as currently measured, by:

· exploring Personal Advisers’ views of desirable objectives and criteria for assessing outcomes;

· exploring Personal Advisers’ perceptions of their clients’ needs and of the appropriate role of the Personal Adviser Service in meeting those needs; and

· identifying difficulties and constraints experienced by Personal Advisers in practice, and their suggestions for overcoming them in the light of their experiences so far. The issues explored were broadly similar to those covered in the Tranche One interviews with Personal Advisers, while taking account of organisational differences (notably

partnership working and targets)and policy changes, such as the introduction in April 1999 of financial incentives for incapacity benefits claimants; and building on what had been learned from the Tranche One interviews, in respect of seeking exemplification with cases from experience.

Issues relating to Personal Advisers personal approaches were explored by discussing with each Personal Adviser a case selected by them from their own experience, which they had found complex and challenging. The case study was a heuristic device for exploring Personal Advisers’ assumptive worlds, the experience which informed their approach, the role of other pilot staff, and the constraints imposed and opportunities created by how the pilot scheme had been framed. Consideration of the case served as a spring-board for discussion of approaches taken in similar or different cases. It was not the aim to gather 12 detailed studies for reporting.

TOPIC GUIDE

Note: at all points in the guide, the researcher should ask how typical the example is, and seek illustrations of instances where different approaches have been taken

Initial interviews

1.1 Can we start by going back to the time just before the first interview with the client. - What, if anything, did you already know about the client?

- Had you formed any idea of what the client might be like before you met him/her? - Had you any particular concerns about the case before you met the client?

- Looking back, would it have made a difference if you had known more/less about the client at the start?

1.2 Could you please briefly tell me how the first interview went.

3 _{The programme was first implemented in six pilot areas and delivered by the Employment Service. This is} sometimes referred to as Tranche 1.

- So, how did the client seem to you as the interview developed? (Confident/unsure, well-informed/uninformed)

- During the interview, what views did you form about whether and how the client could benefit from the NDDP?

- What seemed to be the barriers to employability/employment for the client? - How typical was this client and the barriers facing him/her?

- What do you think had been achieved by the end of the interview? - What was good or bad about the interview?

- If you could start again, in what ways would you conduct the interview differently? - How different was this case from others which did not progress beyond this stage? 1.3 What other contacts, if any, did you have with the client, before action planning

began?

- What were the reasons for further contacts? - Who suggested them?

- What did they achieve?

1.4 At what point did you decide to ‘case-load’? - did you have any concerns about this?

1.5 Looking back over the whole of the initial interview stage (up to case-loading) - what do you feel about the time it took?

- how well equipped did you feel to handle the issues arising?

- what about the resources available to you? (e.g. input from other staff) - were there points at which the client might have left the project? - what was similar to and different from other cases?

Action planning

2.1 When action planning started, what were you working towards? (Intermediate outputs/final outcomes; increasing employability/paid work )

2.2 Could you explain how further action was planned:

- who suggested the elements of the plan(s) (client, Personal Adviser, other staff?) - what was proposed and why?

- did you or the client identify any obstacles to implementation? - what other ideas or options were considered or rejected?

2.3 Can you explain how the action plan(s) was implemented and how progress was recorded:

- where did responsibility lie for carrying out the planned actions? - how easy or difficult was it to carry them out?

- how easy was it to say whether aims had been achieved? 2.4 Looking back over the action planning process:

- what do you feel about the time it took?

- how well equipped did you feel to handle the issues arising?

- what about the resources available to you? (e.g. input from other staff) - what were the similarities to and differences from other cases? Increasing employability (where relevant)

3.1 Please elaborate on what increasing employability involved in this case - what did you think needed to be done?

3.2 How much success has there been in increasing employability?

- how are you assessing how employability has increased (what criteria or measures are used)?

3.3 In an ideal world, what do you think should be done so that this client’s employability increases?

- what are the obstacles and constraints? (Probe for individual, labour market and service factors; environmental and social barriers)

Assessment of input to case

4.1 Thinking about the Personal Adviser Service, what inputs have been most useful in this case?

- Prompt for practical help, money, emotional/psychological support, financial advice, etc

4.2 What other inputs from other people/organisations have been helpful? - Prompt for family, other professionals, services

4.3 At what stages have these inputs been most useful?

4.4 Looking back, were there other things that the client needed which the Personal Adviser Service did not or could not offer?

- what were the obstacles?

- how could the Personal Adviser Service be changed to improve the service to the client?

Added value of Personal Adviser Service

5.1 What differences has the Personal Adviser Service made to the client in your view? 5.2 If asked to describe the case to a colleague, how would you sum it up?