unemployment

Evaluation of the Enhanced Housing Options Trailblazers programmes run by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) with support from the Department of Work and Pensions,

The programmes aim to develop innovative approaches to delivering housing options/advice services. They offer housing advice to people with low and medium housing need as well as those with acute need, and link housing and wider advice about a range of issues such as training and employment, financial management, and access to benefits.

Report on the current youth employment crisis in the UK and recommendations for reducing unemployment.

This is the third edition of Youth Tracker, the quarterly newsletter looking at how Britain’s young people are faring in the recession, and what we can do to support them. A lot has happened since the last edition: Britain is now formally out of recession and a general election campaign is in full swing. Nevertheless, around 900,000 young people remain out of employment, education or training, with a serious risk of being ‘left behind’ by society.

The second edition of the Youth Tracker – a quarterly newsletter looking at how Britain’s young people are faring in the recession, and what can be done to support them. The aim of the newsletter is to focus on what the recession – and the recovery when it comes – mean for the most disadvantaged young people, particularly those not in employment, education or training.

This study examines international evidence on sanctions within welfare systems where benefits are conditional on claimant behaviour. It considers the impact of sanctions, the wider literature on how they have been used and the experiences of claimants. It also discusses how this evidence relates to political justifications given in support of sanctions.

This report is the latest in the Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion in Scotland series, which has been published every two years since 2002. It is shaped as a response to key developments since the last report was published in 2008. The first of these is the recession, most of which (in terms of the fall in economic activity) occurred in 2008/09. The second is the post-2007 policy framework for poverty in Scotland, in particular Achieving Our Potential.

Report of a study which attempted to improve understanding of the role of post-industrial decline on the health of Scotland through making comparisons between Scotland and other areas of Europe which have experienced a similar process of industrialisation and de-industrialisation.

Paper dealing with the social evils of UK society as experienced by people whose voices are not usually heard. Workshops/discussion groups with lone parents, ex-offenders, unemployed and other vulnerable and socially excluded people were used to explore personal experiences of living and coping with social evils. Ideas for overcoming them suggest a combined individual and collective responsibility to take forward social change.

Report assessing the magnitude of the social and economic costs of mental health problems in Scotland and arguing that greater mental health promotion and prevention work could bring considerable benefits in the form of improved outcomes, increased recovery rates and decreased prevalence of mental health problems.

Paper highlighting the difficulties and barriers faced by ex-offenders when seeking employment and documenting the social and economic consequences of this situation, both for the offender and wider society. To help remove these barriers it argues for measures such as a network for employers to share their experiences of employing ex-offenders.