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• Connexions is seen as more coherent than adult services, although younger clients are unsure about transition at 19+. They often have little awareness of adult services; • in general, clients appreciated follow-up and after care, although this was far from standard practice across all agencies. Subsequent contacts to check on progress provided evidence of a caring service and promoted coherence. SIGNPOSTING AND REFERRAL 19. The terms ‘signposting’ and ‘referral’ are used inconsistently. However, signposting is used most often to describe situations in which clients are made aware of the services of another adviser or provider at an early stage of the process – similar, in practice, to information giving. Referral tends to be used when clients are directed towards a different adviser or service to facilitate further progress, after an initial exploration of the needs as presented. 20. In terms of patterns of referral:- • specialist IAG providers tend not to refer clients to each other, other than where specific services (e.g. psychometric testing) are not offered by the first provider; • IAG providers are very likely to refer clients to providers of education and training. The reverse happens less frequently, presumably because several education and training providers have IAG services in-house; • referrals are made in both directions between IAG providers and other types of support agency (e.g. for housing, health or financial queries); • Jobcentre Plus clients are referred to contracted providers, in most instances; • referral patterns are often influenced by familiarity with, and trust in, other providers. 21. There is a variety of practice in terms of the formality of the referral process. Clients had differing views as to whether they preferred appointments to be made on their behalf or whether they were happy to access the other service in their own time. Some advisers accompanied clients personally, especially when the latter lacked confidence. 22. In general, client records were not transferred between agencies. From time to time, summaries of guidance given were sent on, but only with the express approval of the client. Advisers in Jobcentre Plus and Connexions follow up referrals to ascertain whether appointments have been kept and what progress has been made, but this does not involve transfer of records, other than where clients are moving to another area (but this is a different context for referral). 23. One IAG Partnership (IAGP) was exploring an area-wide system for client referral and tracking. This had several attractions, but ran the risk of appearing intrusive, from a client perspective, and of making additional demands on providers’ administrative systems. LINKS BETWEEN PROVIDERS 24. In general, links between providers were positive. IAGPs were widely regarded as having a beneficial impact on inter-agency relationships. 25. Advisers had a pragmatic view towards maintaining and developing links with other providers. They recognised it was time consuming, if done effectively. In practice, therefore, they tended to maintain closest links with organisations in a similar field (mutually beneficial exchanges on professional development aspects) or offering complementary portfolios of services (potential for referrals in both directions). The 7
development of directories and databases by IAGPs made it straightforward to contact providers outside the immediate circle, if need be. BARRIERS AND GAPS 26. The point was made earlier that clients found it easier to describe examples of a lack of coherence, than to discuss coherence as a concept or a principle. By extension, their examples of a lack of coherence were often difficult to disentangle from examples of straightforward bad practice that few would seek to defend - but which may or may not be construed as evidence of a lack of coherence. 27. In terms of ‘barriers or constraints’ to coherence, the following were noted:- • access issues (e.g. shorter waiting times sought); • information issues (e.g. problems with interpretation of data); • marketing issues (e.g. clients unaware of services of direct relevance to them); • inflexibility in the system (e.g. fixed times before Jobcentre Plus clients can be referred to training options); • provider attitudes (e.g. lack of encouragement); • client attitudes (e.g. lack of realism); • dearth of suitable opportunities (e.g. jobs within reasonable travelling distance). 28. In terms of ‘gaps in the system’, the following were suggested:- • work experience (e.g. for the long term unemployed); • ESOL provision with a vocational slant; • IAG services for: - those in work - ex-offenders - graduates moving away from the catchment area of their HE provider; • support services in fields such as: - mental health - housing - anger management. SPECIFIC TOPICS 29. The research team was asked to comment specifically on three topics, in addition to the general issues around coherence. These were: use of local labour market information (LLMI); basic skills provision; and advice on business start-up. 30. In terms of LLMI:- • both clients and advisers reported it was not used widely; • vacancy information is crucial for front-line advisers involved in job finding; • a lot of published LLMI is at too high a level of aggregation. Even data at local authority level may have a limited relevance to advisers working with clients in defined local communities; • ‘rough and ready newsletters’, which compile recent material from newspapers and other local sources, are often more useful than professionally produced bulletins showing historical trends. 31. Turning to basic skills:- • IAG providers were generally well informed on local basic skills provision; • clients were appreciative of the services provided; • training courses on awareness raising had helped front-line advisers to recognise basic skill needs. The difficulties lay in creating a climate in which clients felt 8
Page 1 and 2: RESEARCH Client Needs for Coherent
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS Chapter Page EXECUTIVE SUM
Page 5 and 6: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION 1. T
Page 7: • many clients said they would ha
Page 11 and 12: I: BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE INTRODUCT
Page 13 and 14: II: METHODOLOGY INTRODUCTION 201 Th
Page 15 and 16: 215 Several adaptations were introd
Page 17 and 18: III: CLIENTS AND PROVIDERS IN THE S
Page 19 and 20: Services Table 3.2: Breakdown of
Page 21 and 22: Services Table 3.4: Breakdown of cl
Page 23 and 24: 326 Our synthesis and analysis of c
Page 25 and 26: • a student who is part of a grou
Page 27 and 28: 420 In terms of patterns of referra
Page 29 and 30: RECOMMENDATIONS 434 We were not for
Page 31 and 32: targeted at them. This point was ma
Page 33 and 34: providers demonstrated a high level
Page 35 and 36: 536 Many clients do appear to find
Page 37 and 38: service can help them; rather it su
Page 39 and 40: esource management practice; thus s
Page 41 and 42: Transfer of client records 579 The
Page 43 and 44: who graduated several years earlier
Page 45 and 46: exacerbated by media pressure to ge
Page 47 and 48: • In practice, there are often di
Page 49 and 50: 621 Referral to learning providers
Page 51 and 52: was minimal. The main exception was
Page 53 and 54: 649 In some areas, the IAGP itself
Page 55 and 56: combine their visit with other acti
Page 57 and 58: 681 There was a lack of suitable pr
Page 59 and 60:
• Some advisers working with the
Page 61 and 62:
APPENDIX A KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
Page 63 and 64:
other providers, including a number
Page 65 and 66:
52. Many providers’ staff express
Page 67 and 68:
C. COHERENCE OF IAG SERVICES C.1 Pl
Page 69 and 70:
C.4 Are there links with HE careers
Page 71:
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