Street-level practice, personalisation and co-production in employability: Insights from local services with lone parents

LINDSAY, Colin, PEARSON, Sarah, BATTY, Elaine, CULLEN, Anne Marie and EADSON, William (2019). Street-level practice, personalisation and co-production in employability: Insights from local services with lone parents. Social policy and society, 1-12.

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Abstract

Policymakers in the UK have promised to deliver personalised employability services for vulnerable jobseekers. However, unemployed people often describe their engagement with state-funded services as defined by: the offer of low cost, standardised job search services; and pressure to accept any job, irrespective of quality or appropriateness. This article argues that more progressive, co-produced alternatives are possible. We draw on an evaluation of local, third sector-led services targeting lone parents (LPs) in five local government areas in Scotland. Our research involved more than 100 in-depth interviews with both service providers and LPs. We find that partnership-oriented co-governance mechanisms facilitated collaborative approaches to the management of services and processes of co-production. LPs expressed positive views of the personalised services that were co-produced. We conclude that a commitment to collaboration and co-production may be more effective in promoting personalised services that are responsive to the needs of vulnerable groups.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1605 Policy and Administration; 1607 Social Work
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1017/s1474746419000174
Page Range:	1-12
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Elements
Depositing User:	Symplectic Elements
Date Deposited:	06 Jun 2019 11:14
Last Modified:	18 Mar 2021 05:11
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/24659

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