Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The Give Us a Chance Consortium’ (GUAC) is a voluntary association of 45 social landlords who are committed to tackling worklessness and promoting employment amongst their residents.

Historically, social landlords have always engaged in a range of activities to support the social and financial inclusion of their residents.  However, it is only in the last decade or so that landlords have begun to make concerted efforts towards supporting their residents to prepare for, find, and enter work.  This presentation will explore how landlords’ role in employment and welfare support has evolved over this time, the drivers for those changes, and a range of current good practices in delivering employment-focused support.

 The paper will focus in particular on how social landlords are working in partnership with other services and agencies to deliver support.  This will cover examples of different forms of delivery, which include working as sub-contractors within government employment programmes, delivering bespoke commissioned programmes for local government agencies, and funding their own interventions as part of their community development and regeneration activities.

 The paper will look at specific examples of different intervention models and how these have been designed and developed to support different local and institutional priorities.  In particular, it will explore the experience of members of GUAC in developing and implementing a transitional jobs programme for unemployed young residents.

 Finally, the paper will explore models of partnership working between social landlords and wider actors in the employment and welfare system – in particular Jobcentre Plus, local authorities, health authorities, and those providing skills and employment support.