Radical Efficiency a Practical Guide - Nesta

CASE STUDY 5: MAKE IT WORK 23CASE STUDY 5:MAKE IT WORKTackling worklessness in SunderlandIn 2007, 26 per cent of the working age population inSunderland was economically inactive. Sunderland CityCouncil was spending a significant amount on potential‘solutions’ like Job Centre Plus and on benefit claims, yet verylittle progress was being made. The council put out a tenderasking for new ideas to tackle the issue. They awarded thecontract to Livework – a service design company – on thestrength of their distinctive approach to understanding andtackling the problem of worklessness from the perspective ofSunderland’s economically inactive population.“Livework’s approach is to think about services from aservice user perspective, so we used ethnographic researchmethods, travelling with people, talking to people.”Ben Reason, Director, LiveworkThis exploration quickly revealed that the journey into workfor many people is complex and comprised of several stages.(Figure 6). As Livework observed, it is hardly surprising thatjob centres, which prepare people for the latter stages of thisjourney only, seem doomed to failure in many cases.