Jobless women at the heart of a new 'journey mapping' scheme

Tackling the low employment rate for women in one of London's most deprived boroughs has meant developing a programme that focuses less on new services and more on reaching out and helping women better navigate the existing system. The two-year Careers, Advice, Support and Help (Cash) programme in Barking and Dagenham was set up to tackle high levels of unemployment in an area where some families have not worked for generations and more women than men are likely to find themselves out of work and on welfare. The gap in employment rates for women is also wider here than elsewhere in the London area. Taking on this challenge meant thinking differently and developing a programme with a strong user-focused and non-target approach, tailoring a package of services to suit the individual, and which could be used by public managers elsewhere. "It places customers at the heart of the design," says Andrew Lennox from Capgemini , who helped develop the pilot during a 10-week intensive project in June. "We went out and talked to these women. Some had no prior working experience or no English. Others had plenty of work experience but childcare difficulties. In some cases male partners did not expect women to work and there were these cultural issues. "Very often the public sector looks in terms of what government does - we provide this service and could make it better. But it's about understanding the issues and needs of the customer and what in their journey to work could be fixed … it's still surprisingly lagging in the public sector." Running alongside the borough's local job shops - high street centres that provide help with job searching and interview skills – Cash also runs as a community outreach scheme, providing support and guidance through a "spaghetti junction" of existing services. "The programme is about building up people's ability and employability over time," says Terry Regan, the council's group manager for employment and skills. "There are lots of support services out there and lots of initiatives but the impact on the ground can be a spaghetti junction. There's a need to streamline – it's about making things simpler." Some of the services brought together include welfare to work schemes, skills development and childcare, as well as drug and alcohol rehabilitation and mental health support. The Cash team is small - two full-time outreach workers and a part-time team leader, provided by Lifeline, a voluntary sector provider – who motivate participants and provide information and guidance. From there two coaches provide more in-depth help and ongoing support. Through the coaches, the Cash team don't just use their expertise to point women in the right direction but also take an active role in following their progress through the system and they hope to help around 200 women over the two years. It's not target driven so they can get as little or as much help as they need "They'll stay with a woman for as long as she needs help. If there's an issue with childcare for example, they'll actively hand over to that service," says Regan. "It's not just about signposting but staying with them and helping them to navigate the process. "It's not target driven so they can get as little or as much help as they need. Some will be job ready but some may need drug and alcohol referrals, which could take up to two years." The 10-week intensive research and development project was carried out under the government's Capability Building Programme, and included 'journey mapping'- tracking women within the system and identifying key points and problems in their route to employment. While Barking and Dagenham and Cabinet Office staff brought in public sector expertise, Capgemini's role included structuring the approach of the programme, providing coaching through the project and ensuring the programme could work on the ground. The team also identified eight categories, including women who had above and below Level Two qualifications, those with working partners and those with children below a certain age- all of whom would require a different set of services. As a pilot scheme –still in its early days since launching in September - the programme is as much about learning and sharing knowledge as it is about measuring success. The team hope that through the pilot they will continue to identify the barriers that stop women in the area from accessing services or returning to work. "Being able to share knowledge is a key part of the programme. For us it was also a way of building local government understanding of central government and vice-versa." Should the pilot prove successful, Regan says, the team will look at rolling it out elsewhere in the borough, and beyond.