Welfare Reform Team Evaluation of European Social Fund pilot project 2014-2015

Management information
There was a requirement to collect and report management information (MI) on all
participants in the project. MI was collated and reported to the managing authority on
a quarterly basis in accordance with the guidelines supplied to the team by the ESF
department at the DWP.
Primarily this information was recorded by caseworkers at the initial face to face
meeting with each participant in the project. In certain instances this information was
collected at a subsequent meeting, on a phone call, or was reported to us by a
referring local partner with the participant’s permission.
The participants’ questions fall into two distinct categories:
i) MI that was required by the DWP to aggregate the outcomes of the pilot
projects and measure the diversity and demographics of the participants
ii) A series of questions on entering the project expressing the participant’s
confidence around work readiness, personal budgeting and financial
management, IT skill levels and access to the internet.
The required MI is date of birth, post code, level of qualifications passed,
employment status on entering the project and ethnicity.
Documentation
Day to day project management was documented on Excel spreadsheets with drop
down fields and standardised data capture.
Participant data was collected in two ways. First, data from the participant when we
first interviewed them (the triage process). Secondly, with consent we obtained data
from the partners that participants are referred to.
Performance data was captured in Excel files so validation could be carried out (e.g.
ensuring all variables add up to the total number of participants). Participant data
was also separately collated in our case management records.
Data was held on a dedicated server within the City Council’s intranet, which can
only be accessed by authorised users with a password. Any data provided by way of
evaluation was anonymised for reporting purposes.
Physical copies of all documents are stored in logged and tagged storage boxes in
the secure document storage facility at the council offices in St Aldate’s.
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