The longer term outcomes of Work-Based Learning for Adults: Evidence from administrative data

Aim of the analysis
Work-Based Learning for Adults (WBLA) is a voluntary programme designed to help long-term jobless people on a range of benefits move into sustained employment. It offers jobseekers a variety of occupational skills and gives them the opportunity of working towards a recognised qualification that will increase their chances of finding work. After Jobcentre Plus started delivering the programme in 2001, an early evaluation study (Anderson et al. 2004) found mainly weak or insignificant employment effects for the first 12 months after the beginning of WBLA, based on a sample survey of participants beginning WBLA between January and April 2002.
Because of the short follow-up period and the restriction of the programme effect to employment outcomes in the earlier study, an additional analysis of the longer-term outcomes of WBLA was initiated by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) using data from administrative sources, in particular the programme data and the benefit and employment records from the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS). These data allow the identification of many more outcomes and can follow the participants of the original evaluation study for a much longer period (up to 40 months).
This report presents the results of this new evaluation study into the longer-term outcomes of WBLA on the basis of administrative data. Most of the earlier findings of the employment effects of WBLA were confirmed, but this report also estimates the influence of WBLA on a variety of benefit and employment outcomes and the sustainability of employment.