Evaluation Partner for Greater Manchester's Economic Inactivity Trailblazer
SQW has been appointed as the evaluation partner for Greater Manchester’s Economic Inactivity Trailblazer by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).
This builds on over a decade of evaluation of employment support interventions in Greater Manchester, starting with the Working Well Pilot. The new evaluation will be delivered in collaboration with Alma Economics.
The Trailblazer spans around 40 interventions, designed and led by Greater Manchester’s ten local authorities. These range from single access points, hubs and navigator roles to investments in the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector, and Intermediate Labour Market programmes amongst other things – all aimed at better identifying, recruiting and progressing economically inactive residents.
This work takes place against a backdrop of major change in Greater Manchester, including the implementation of Live Well, its Integrated Settlement and new Prevention Demonstrator status.
Year 1 of the evaluation will focus primarily on process evaluation: understanding what’s being delivered, what works, and for whom. It will also explore the feasibility of a future impact evaluation and value-for-money assessment, alongside testing an AI-driven evidence review to develop insights into how effective (or not) a tool it can be for future design of interventions.
SQW are also continuing to evaluate multiple of GMCA’s Working Well programmes, including the Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care programme and the Work and Health Programme, with the latter finally coming to an end next year."
For further information regarding SQW’s work on the study, please contact Graham Thom via GThom@sqw.co.uk.
