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Bulletin: March 2004

Spotlight on DWP

Department for Work and Pension Objectives

• Ensure the best start for all children and end child poverty in 20 years.
• Promote work as the best form of welfare for people of working age, while protecting the position of those in the greatest need.
• Combat poverty and promote security and independence in retirement for today's and tomorrow's pensioners.
• Improve rights and opportunities for disabled people in a fair and inclusive society.
• Modernise welfare delivery so as to improve the accessibility, accuracy and value for money of services to customers, including employers.

Social researchers in DWP work closely with a wide range of analysts - economists, statisticians and operational researchers to provide integrated analytical support to the Department in its key delivery objectives. Social research is split into six main areas:

Work and Welfare

This is a major focus for Departmental research and includes:

• Jobcentre Plus evaluation, performance, business delivery and continuous improvement
• Programme research and evaluation (for example New Deals) tailored to help key client groups such as disabled people, lone parents, older workers and partners of benefit claimants into sustainable employment.
• Research into barriers facing those out of work, and how to support people making the transition.
• Children in workless households

Pensions and Older Workers

The demand for pensions research has increased dramatically over the past year. We now have three pensions research teams covering research on today's pensioners and customer service in the Department's new Pension Service; future pensioners' retirement saving behaviour and understanding of pensions; pension provision; and labour market participation among older workers.

Children, poverty and Housing

There is a wide range of research on child poverty and child support reforms, financial exclusion and the reform of housing support. The large Families and Children Study (FACS) underpins a number of policy areas. Researchers also work in a mixed analytical and policy division carrying out work on child poverty measurement and developing indicators of poverty and social exclusion.

Sickness and Disability

Teams in this area provide analytical support on the Disability Discrimination Bill and the accessibility of services for disabled people, and on disability, health and work issues. At present work includes a feasibility study for a longitudinal disability survey, research on sickness certification and the evaluations of the Job Retention and Rehabilitation Pilot (JRRP) and the Incapacity Benefit Reform pilots.

European Social Fund

European Social Fund programmes support over 3 million people and we have responsibility for evaluating the impact of, in particular the ESF Objective 3 programme and the ESF EQUAL programme.

Public Service Reform

This team undertakes strategic analytical work around the principles of Public Service Reform, and work includes the evaluation of private sector led provision in Employment Programmes and research on reform in other public services at home and abroad.

The Department also carries out research on cross-cutting issues such as benefit modernisation, ethnicity, and civil partnerships.

The Department for Work and Pensions has recently published the first part of its Social Research Programme for 2003/4. For further information on DWP research please contact Paul Noakes in the Department'Research Support team.