Reflections: Comparing traditional employment support with an outcomes-based approach

Having worked both at government-funded national employment support service, Jobcentre Plus, and in one of the largest housing and independence outcomes partnerships in Europe, BOP’s Kirklees Better Outcomes Partnership, Matteo Di Maio Zaffino reflects on why the traditional approach to employment support is not working – and how an outcomes approach is seeing long term positive impact.

As the senior employment and skills coordinator at BOP, I provide guidance and coaching across several of our outcomes partnerships, supporting people experiencing a range of challenges to achieve meaningful skills and employment outcomes (such as training qualifications, new jobs). Prior to BOP, I worked as a civil servant to also deliver employment support.

Prioritising the process doesn’t work

It’s been my privilege to collaborate, both through Government and at BOP, with people of similar demographic and economic backgrounds. Yet despite similarities in cohort and ostensible objective – to support these people into work – approaches and delivery by each could not be further apart…

Based on my experience carrying out both, I’m convinced that the impact of a person-centred, outcomes-based approach is far more significant than a process-driven one focused on fortnightly 10-minute work search reviews – particularly for the long-term unemployed.

A JCP Work Coach operating in Jobcentre Plus, one of the UK’s national employment support services, is extremely limited; the service is not set up to create the deeper, more meaningful engagement that is essential to making a lasting difference in someone’s journey back towards the labour market and sustained independence.

Meaningful relationship-building hindered by rigidity and imbalance

At its peak, my role at Jobcentre Plus involved managing a caseload of 200+ claimants at any given time.

Naturally, attempting to work closely with each individual was a real challenge – it felt like firefighting, not support. Yet sadly, this was the norm. Balancing extremely high caseloads, scheduling appointments back-to-back, left little time to genuinely engage with the person sitting in front of you, or to deal with important individual issues which might arise during the conversation.

The rigid, fast-paced environment made it difficult to build a meaningful, productive relationship between claimants and JCP work coaches; trust must be earned. Yet, the presence of a power imbalance, whereby a claimant’s sole/family income is essentially in the hands of the professional sitting across from them, is hardly conducive.

“Yet the ‘revolving door’ was impossible to ignore: many claimants who were pushed into accepting a job that was not right for them soon returned to the service.”

These dynamics often lead claimants to feel vulnerable and reluctant to fully engage. As a result, conversations tend to be transactional – a tick box exercise – and claimants regularly hold back important information. Ultimately, it is difficult to truly understand a claimant’s unique circumstances or to help them in a meaningful way because of this.

This way of working reinforced a cycle of disengagement, where JCP work coaches struggle to offer the right guidance required to prevent challenging circumstances – such as deteriorating mental health, substance misuse, the risk of homelessness – from getting worse, directly impacting a claimant’s chances of securing and sustaining employment.

Redefining performance: person-centred progress

At Jobcentre Plus, performance was measured strictly by the number of appointments held each day and the number of referrals made to outsourced ‘support’ provision. It always made me question why there wasn’t a focus on the quality of service, or the number of people that were helped to actually progress into employment.

And while appointment numbers were closely monitored, there was no tracking of whether people successfully sustained their new jobs, let alone progressed into stable careers. Yet the ‘revolving door’ was impossible to ignore: many claimants who were pushed into accepting a job that was not right for them soon returned to the service. This short-termist, assumed ‘any job – better job – career’ pathway does not lead to sustainable employment solutions.

In contrast, BOP’s support workers take a different, person-centred approach which has a profound impact on the way that we work with individuals (deliberately ‘individuals’, or ‘participants’, not ‘claimants’). We provide local, strengths-based, person-led support, empowering them to take ownership of their own journeys. Catering to much smaller caseloads is one of the ways we make this possible; collecting data securely to build individual pictures and track progress is another.

This alternative approach creates genuine trust between participants and their frontline worker: building confidence and a sense of empowerment, enabling staff to guide participants more effectively through the relationship. The approach is holistic, covering all aspects of someone’s life – recognising that the range of factors influencing a persons’ willingness and ability to work is broad and interlinking – taking these into account when determining which job is right for them.

“This alternative approach creates genuine trust between participants and their frontline worker: building confidence and a sense of empowerment”

Indeed, our young person-centred Manchester-based homelessness prevention service, GMBOP, has demonstrated that 91% of those achieving housing outcomes did so after having secured employment during the programme. Of the 400+ young people referred to GMBOP via the Department for Work and Pensions, 63% improved financial stability, and 44% improved their financial stability through employment.

Instead of the number of appointments or standalone job obtainments, performance is measured as tangible, meaningful outcomes: for example an individual entering into training, education or employment; successful sustainment of a new job for a specified minimum number of months, etc.

We also work closely with local business employers to strengthen available pathways and opportunities locally, contributing to a clearer sense of accountability and responsibility, and to strengthen community ties and the local economy.

Finding the right job, not just any job

An outcomes-based approach gives people time to feel seen and supported, to work through tasks and concerns that are personal to them – like budget plans, personal circumstances, housing challenges, CVs, and their work search. This dedicated time to work closely with each participant enables a deeper connection and removes any power imbalance, allowing for real collaboration.

Employment support is not just about finding a job; it is about finding the right job and building a sustainable, long-term future for each person. Time and rapport is paramount. When there is trust, time investment and a feeling of connection between coach and participant, then sustained, positive change is far more likely to occur.

This way the underlying causes of worklessness can be effectively addressed, enabling people to break their dependence on support and lay the foundations for long-term economic participation.