What support do employers need to recruit and retain those from disadvantaged groups and what are the barriers employers face?

Background

Improving employment outcomes is central to DWP’s role in supporting opportunity, financial security and economic growth. Understanding what works, for whom and in what contexts, alongside emerging trends is essential. We want to understand how to support people to enter work, remain in work, progress in work and access the skills, training and support they need across life stages, careers and local labour markets. Understanding the barriers to, and enablers of, entering employment, sustaining employment, and in-work progression across our priority groups is central to this, alongside explaining how interactions between services across the wider support system shape outcomes. This is particularly important in the context of the increasing devolution of employment support to regional and local government (which the DWP and ESRC-funded 'What Works Centre for Local Employment Support' in particular is intended to support).

Next steps

Send correspondence and further questions to [email protected]

Related UKRI funded projects

  • Inclusive Employment - Innovating Businesses

    Chelmsford College: **Steps 2 Inclusive Employment** -- Innovating Businesses **For adults with learning disabilities and Autism with ambitions of gaining paid work, the Inclusive Employment programme will enhance the o...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: CHELMSFORD COLLEGE

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project specifically addresses the support needed by employers to recruit and retain those from disadvantaged groups.

  • Measuring inequality-driven skills gaps in the UK labour market

    To unlock the full potential of the UK economy, structural inequalities within the UK labour market must be addressed. To do this, we must understand how structural inequalities shape the skills that workers within the l...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: The Alan Turing Institute

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project directly addresses the question by examining how hiring discrimination impacts worker skills and outcomes.

  • Feasibility study for a tool to promote linguistic and cultural inclusivity in the career development sector.

    CareerEar are the developers of software that is used by career support teams to support job seekers find employment, the platform is currently used by a number of employability teams and programmes including Reed In Par...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: CAREER EAR LIMITED

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on promoting inclusivity in the career development sector, which is related to supporting disadvantaged job seekers.

  • An innovative data-driven platform that uses AI to create effective corporate DEI strategies and improve career opportunities for marginalised groups

    Clusivity is a UK-based people analytics SME led by Meera Somji (project lead) and Andrew Carney (technical lead). The many corporate benefits of DEI include attracting top talent and improving financial performance. Wi...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: CLUSIVITY LTD

  • Recruitment Artificial Intelligence for Social Equality (RAISE)

    Currently labour supply is on a demand-led basis. This is extremely slow and inefficient at dealing with economic and social change and also does not identify people who are currently "under employed" (those wh...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: LABOUR XCHANGE LTD